Three key takeaways from the 斗牛棋牌在线 Growth Talk #12

  • Define for your company what you understand by innovation.
  • Establish a healthy error culture. You鈥檒l make progress only if you鈥檙e not afraid to make mistakes, but instead learn from them.
  • Enter into strategic research collaborations to develop your innovations.

They work in an extremely innovative environment: Enzo W盲lchli, CCO at the robotics company , and Jeannine Pilloud, Head of Innovation Partnerships at ETH Zurich. In the 斗牛棋牌在线 Growth Talk, the two experts talk about what they understand by innovation, why a positive attitude to mistakes is important, and what distinguishes an innovative company.

Watch the talk directly as a video (with English subtitles) or listen to the conversation as a podcast (in German):

Research and business hand in hand

With her extensive experience in the public and private sectors, Jeannine Pilloud is predestined for this job: Since 2023, she has been responsible for innovation partnerships at the interface between research and business at ETH Zurich. The aim of this newly created position is to make ETH Zurich more accessible to companies, as well as to promote an understanding of the corporate world within the university. Every year, ETH Zurich launches around 1000 new research collaborations with industry, public authorities, and non-profit organizations. 鈥淲e want to ensure that ETH Zurich鈥檚 expertise and research results in the area of innovation reach the corporate world even faster,鈥 says Pilloud. Not only lecturers and PhD students, but students too are given plenty of space to develop innovative ideas; several hundred students work in parallel on their ideas in what is called the Student Project House. 鈥淓specially in times of shortages of skilled labor, it can pay off for companies to work with students on innovation processes and integrate them into the company in due course,鈥 says Pilloud.

The takeaway: An (even) closer cooperation between ETH Zurich and the companies boosts the innovative strength and efficiency of the innovation process. This also counteracts the shortage of skilled labor.

We want innovations from ETH Zurich to reach the corporate world even faster.

Jeannine Pilloud, Head of Partnership for Innovation & Industry Relations at ETH Zurich

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Top-notch education and pioneering research at universities and colleges help to ensure that Switzerland remains innovative. That is why we support Swiss universities such as ETH Zurich.

Getting the best from research and entrepreneurship: ANYbotics

The work of ANYbotics also began in the robotics laboratories at ETH Zurich. That was around 2009. In 2016, ANYbotics was spun off from the research center. The vision of the young company: Robots that perform 鈥渄ull, dirty, and dangerous鈥 tasks 鈥 i.e., repetitive and potentially dangerous tasks 鈥 automatically. This frees up skilled staff to concentrate more on their business and on finding creative solutions to problems. And ANYbotics achieved this thanks to its focused strategy. The company is one of the few in the world with this expertise and has taken up a strong position on the international scene.

Enzo W盲lchli is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of ANYbotics and heads up all marketing, sales, and customer success teams in this role. The biggest innovation that ANYbotics has developed is undoubtedly the four-legged walking robot. The robot 鈥淎NYmal鈥 鈥 as the name suggests 鈥 looks and moves like an animal. In fact, this type of mobility is one of the most stable systems there is 鈥 鈥渏ust as we find it in nature,鈥 W盲lchli explains. For several years now, ANYbotics has been working increasingly with artificial intelligence. 鈥淲ith this technology, our robots teach themselves to walk,鈥 says W盲lchli. This is a huge step forward in mobility.

The takeaway: Combining the skills from research with an entrepreneurial spirit offers huge potential for innovation.

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Making innovation possible in the company

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really plan innovations,鈥 says Jeannine Pilloud. 鈥淏ut you can make it possible.鈥 This opinion is shared by Enzo W盲lchli. The corporate culture plays a key role for him: 鈥淚t must be constantly nurtured and reinforced,鈥 says W盲lchli. ANYbotics has a 鈥渢he best idea wins鈥 mentality, which Enzo W盲lchli explains as follows: 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter who comes up with the idea, whether it鈥檚 the intern or the CEO. Ultimately, innovations are made by people.鈥 A good error culture is also important for a strong innovative drive. 鈥淢istakes happen, that鈥檚 normal. It is important to learn from them,鈥 says W盲lchli. It goes without saying that the management needs to set a positive example and admit mistakes themselves. What Enzo W盲lchli often observes is that some employees initially find it difficult to deal with this 鈥渇ailure culture.鈥 鈥淭hey are fresh out of university and are used to not being allowed to fail,鈥 he says. 鈥淵ou have to learn to fail first.鈥 And another important point that W盲lchli talks about: diversity. 鈥淚f all the people working together in a team are similar, there can鈥檛 be as much innovation.鈥 Of that, he is sure. It is no coincidence that ANYbotics employs people from over 30 different countries.

The takeaway: The corporate culture is fundamental to the development of innovations. This includes allowing everyone to contribute innovatively, tolerating mistakes, and setting up diverse teams.聽

It doesn鈥檛 matter who comes up with an idea, whether it鈥檚 the intern or the CEO. Ultimately, innovations are made by people.

Enzo W盲lchli, Chief Commercial Officer ANYbotics

Flexibility and agility

For Jeannine Pilloud, it is crucial for every company to define for itself in advance what exactly is understood by innovation. Is it simply a good idea? Or a finished product that has been successfully launched on the market? For Pilloud herself, innovation begins when a unique idea is formulated in such a way that it is possible to imagine where it will lead and the benefits are recognizable in the market. Clear vision on the one hand 鈥 flexibility and agility on the other. 鈥淎n innovative company should be able to respond quickly if something goes wrong,鈥 says Pilloud. 鈥淥therwise, it can get very expensive fast.鈥

The takeaway: You need clarity about what you want to achieve with an innovation, as well as flexibility and agility in its implementation.

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Faster than the competition

Being able to respond quickly is also key for ANYbotics. The company develops 鈥渃utting-edge technology鈥; these technologies are still new and innovative, but 鈥渙lder鈥 than what are known as 鈥渂leeding-edge鈥 technologies. This means that a small part of the technical edge is exchanged for a little more security and support. 鈥淐utting edge鈥 is a good compromise if companies want to rely on new technologies, while minimizing risk at the same time. 鈥淚n every case, it is important that we protect our developments from abuse,鈥 says W盲lchli. ANYbotics has opted for the classic route of applying for patents. For strategic reasons, certain 鈥 potential 鈥 innovations are kept as 鈥渢rade secrets鈥 and not publicly announced. 鈥淭he speed at which we work also helps us to safeguard our technologies,鈥 W盲lchli adds. 鈥淓ven if the competition were to get hold of individual developments, at best we would already be at the next level.鈥

The takeaway: A fast pace of innovation helps to leave the competition behind.

Challenges for Switzerland as a center of innovation

In her role at the source of Switzerland鈥檚 capacity as an innovation center, Jeannine Pilloud has a good insight into what is going on in the research labs and on the market. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an impressive spectrum of topics in which we鈥檙e researching and driving developments. We can be proud,鈥 she says. And she has no doubt that it will be successful: 鈥淲e humans can look forward to a lot more progress.鈥 According to Pilloud, the really big innovation topics must be tackled in collaboration with others: 鈥淭o boost its innovation capacity, it is important for Switzerland to form alliances.鈥 She is fundamentally optimistic. 鈥淭he most important spice you can add to your daily dose of innovation is curiosity. And that鈥檚 something I feel a whole lot of,鈥 says Pilloud. Enzo W盲lchli is entirely in agreement: 鈥淲e are 鈥榟ungry for more鈥 鈥 that鈥檚 what drives us every day.鈥

The takeaway: The big innovation topics require collaboration with innovation partners.

Portrait of Jeannine Pilloud

Jeannine Pilloud

Head of Partnerships for Innovation & Industry Relations ETH Zurich

Jeannine Pilloud, lic. phil. I, studied architecture at ETH Zurich. She was CIO at the Bon App茅tit Group for two years and Senior Vice President Western Europe at Deutsche Telekom from 2003. From 2011 to 2017, Jeannine Pilloud was Head of Passenger Transport at SBB and a member of the Group Executive Board. In 2019, she was appointed CEO of the telco company Ascom. Since mid-July 2023, she has been responsible for partnerships with industry and institutions in her capacity as Vice President of Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations at ETH Zurich.

Portrait of Enzo W盲lchli

Enzo W盲lchli

Chief Commercial Officer ANYbotics

Enzo W盲lchli is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of ANYbotics and heads up all marketing, sales, and customer success teams in this role. The rapidly growing Zurich scaleup ANYbotics, with 150 staff, develops autonomous walking robots for industrial inspections. Enzo W盲lchli holds a double Master鈥檚 degree from the University of St. Gallen and has spent the last ten years in marketing, sales, and business development for innovative solutions in the oil and gas, energy, and construction industries.

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