ETH
Regional profile
A town called
science
An ambitious project in Switzerland aims to create the
world’s first fully integrated science city.
Yfke Hager reports
52 | Chemistry World | February 2008
Overlooking Zürich, the Hönggerberg
is home to the former wineproducing village of Höngg, annexed
by Zürich in the 1930s. But the
hill also houses the city’s latest
ambitious science venture: a hightech campus known as Science City.
An innovative urban development
strategy aims to develop the
Hönggerberg site into a campus that
will completely integrate science
and society, create a vibrant social
scene, and give the public an insight
into scientists’ lives.
Science City is the latest
pioneering project of an institute
that has always placed a high
value on innovation. Since its
foundation in 1855, Eidgenössische
www.chemistryworld.org
In short
 ETH Zürich (the Swiss
Federal Institute of
Technology)is pioneering
a project to build an
integrated ‘Science City’
 The site, located about
seven kilometres from
Zürich city centre, will
provide an academic
environment within an
integrated campus that
is also open to the public,
with a programme of
demonstrations and
tours
 ETH focuses on
research that spans
scientific disciplines. It
also provides a platform
for dialogue between
science and the business
world to encourage
innovation
The new ETH site located
on Hönggerberg, a
wooded hill just northwest of Zürich
Technische Hochschule (ETH)
Zürich (the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology) has been a magnet
for creative scientific minds from
around the world. These include
Peter Chen, professor of physical
organic chemistry, recently
appointed as vice president of
research at ETH Zürich.
Thirteen years ago, Chen left
Harvard University to take up a full
professorship at ETH Zürich after
receiving an invitation from the
institute to fill a position. While he
was impressed by what he saw when
he came for his interview, the biggest
factor in Chen’s decision to move
to Zürich was the organisation of
funding in Switzerland. ‘In the US,
www.chemistryworld.org
professors can get high quality labs,
equipment money, and a reduced
teaching load,’ he says, ‘but what you
can’t get is unrestricted money for
innovation – in the sense of purpose,
not amount.’ At most institutions,
he explains, it’s extremely difficult
for researchers to obtain a grant
to do research in an area that
they don’t already have extensive
expertise in. According to Chen,
the funding situation in the US is
stifling innovation. ‘When I came
to Zürich at the end of 1993, I saw
the possibility of obtaining funding
for what I call academic venture
capital,’ he says.
Chen’s research career has
certainly benefited since his move
to Zürich. In the US, his track record
for obtaining grants was above
average; about one in three of his
grant applications was awarded
funding. ‘My success rate here, in the
past 13 years, has been 100 per cent,
as compared to the typical 40 per
cent at the Swiss National Science
Foundation,’ he says. ‘Here, I can
innovate at will, and I can innovate
continuously. And that was why I
came to ETH Zürich.’
Starting young
The 21 Nobel laureates who have
taught or conducted research at
the institute attest to its scientific
pedigree. ‘A key aspect of our
success is the high quality of people
here,’ says Chen. The fact that
full professors at ETH Zürich
are considerably younger than
those at most other institutions
– in chemistry, most of the full
professors are aged under 40 when
they are appointed – may be another
factor contributing to its scientific
success. By appointing fairly young
professors, Chen points out, the
institute taps into the most creative
phase of most scientists’ lives.
ETH Zürich has made a
considerable contribution to
the explosive diversification of
chemistry and related sciences
around the turn of the last century.
‘This was mainly due to great
leadership in the early 20th century,’
Chen says. He points to the strategic
vision of Leopold Ružicka, winner of
the 1939 Nobel prize for chemistry,
and head of the Laboratory of
Organic Chemistry at ETH during
the 1940s and 1950s. ‘Ružicka
recognised that the future of organic
chemistry lay in its fusion with
physical and biological sciences. Of
course, this has since happened at
many institutions, but to have seen
this in the early 1950s was visionary,’
Chen says. The Laboratory of
Organic Chemistry founded both the
Laboratory of Physical Chemistry
and the Institute of Biochemistry at
ETH Zürich, illustrating the origins
of interdisciplinary research at the
institute.
When the expanding institute
suffered a shortage of space in the
centre of Zürich during the late
1960s, the federal government
decided to build a second campus
on the Hönggerberg, a wooded hill
just north-west of Zürich. In 1971,
theoretical physicists moved into
the first buildings on the new site,
located seven kilometres from the
institute’s historic main buildings in
the city centre.
Chemistry World | February 2008 | 53
ETH
Regional profile
New teaching and research
facilities, housed in a building
shaped like a five-toothed comb
with gleaming geometric façades
of stainless steel and glass, were
completed on the Hönggerberg
site in 2001. The five distinct but
connected laboratory areas enabled
the department of chemistry and
related research areas, including
pharmacy and materials science,
to be brought together in a single
facility. The move to the new
facilities also meant that the
chemistry department, originally
located in the city centre, joined the
physics and biology departments at
Hönggerberg. ‘Given the importance
of multidisciplinary research, it was
very important for the chemistry
department to move closer to
physics and biology,’ Chen says.
The number of interdisciplinary
collaborations has increased since
the move, he adds.
Beyond the useful
While the emphasis at ETH Zürich
has always been on fundamental
science, research applications come
naturally, especially for chemists.
‘Chemistry has a mixed blessing,’
says Chen. Chemistry research
receives funding because it’s a
‘useful’ science, with many potential
applications. But Chen believes that
it’s not sufficient for chemistry to be
merely useful. ‘We need to attract
the best minds to this field,’ he says.
‘If chemistry only has utility, what
will attract them? You do chemistry
Chemist Peter Chen
was recently appointed
as vice president of
research at ETH Zürich
because you love chemistry. It’s
fundamentally about making things
that never existed before. And that is
an intellectual challenge worthy of
spending your life on.’
This is precisely the kind of
message that Science City hopes to
deliver to the public. According to
Michael Salzmann, project director
for Science City, transforming the
ETH Hönggerberg site into an
integrated university campus is the
most important project to develop
ETH Zürich into a 21st century
university. ‘The plans for Science
City are to develop the second
location outside the city centre in
a more integrated way,’ he says.
‘We didn’t just want to build more
labs and buildings, but develop a
real campus.’ While the campus-
‘Chemistry is
about making
things that
never existed
before – that’s
an intellectual
challenge
worthy of
spending your
life on’
ETH
Breaking new ground
Peter Seeberger
Ari Helenius
Scientists at ETH Zürich carried
out award-winning research in
2007. Chemist Peter Seeberger
was awarded the 2007 Körber
Prize, a prestigious German
science award, for his research
on the synthesis of complex
sugars. He received the award
for constructing an instrument
that automatically synthesises
carbohydrates, which will
facilitate the production of
novel sugar-based vaccine
candidates against malaria,
54 | Chemistry World | February 2008
aids and tuberculosis. Ari
Helenius was awarded the
2007 Marcel Benoist Prize,
Switzerland’s most prestigious
science award, for his research
on novel mechanisms by
which viruses penetrate cells.
Helenius, a biochemist at ETH
Zürich, has discovered several
intrusion pathways used by
viruses to gain entry into host
cells. His research group has
also elucidated intracellular
quality control systems, which
ensure that newly synthesised
cellular proteins are correctly
assembled and folded. His
research has potential medical
applications, and he has
co-founded a biotechnology
company to develop new
strategies for anti-viral
medicines.
style university is common in other
countries like the US, he adds, it’s not
common in continental European
countries.
But the aim is for ETH Zürich
to become much more than the
traditional university campus found
in other countries; the goal is to
become an intersection between
science and society, with its doors
open to the public. ‘What is different
about Science City is that we have
programmes inviting people both in
and outside Zürich to come to the
campus and meet scientists – to see
an MRI scanner in action, or meet a
Nobel laureate,’ Salzmann explains.
‘There’s a huge programme to start a
dialogue between university people
and people outside the university.’
Science City programmes are usually
planned for weekends, Salzmann
says, and include short talks,
demonstrations and tours.
Chen agrees that Science City
represents an essential development
for a modern university. ‘ETH
Zürich is a public institute,’ he says.
‘Research here is largely funded
by tax payers’ money and, as such,
we have a responsibility to provide
objective, accurate information to
aid policy making, and to convey to
the public that science is a worthy,
exciting, honourable career. The
only way to do that is to be engaged
in a visible way.’
But convincing the public to take
an interest in science could be tough.
The European Commission’s 2005
Eurobarometer survey Europeans,
Science and Technology found that
40 per cent of Europeans hardly
ever or never read science articles,
while 90 per cent hardly ever or
never attend public meetings or
debates about science. Despite this,
Salzmann reports that Science City
has proved to be popular: since the
initiative started in November 2006,
over 10 000 people have participated
in a Science City event. In 2007, the
follow-up Eurobarometer survey
Scientific Research in the Media
found that the majority of Europeans
would prefer scientists to present
scientific information to the public
themselves, which may explain
the popularity of Science City
programmes. ‘People say that they
really appreciate the opportunity
to communicate directly with
scientists and see how they work in
the lab,’ Salzmann says.
In the city
ETH Zürich’s ambition to integrate
science and society extends
beyond inviting the public to
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ETH
special events. As part of the urban
planning strategy for the site, new
buildings are being planned with
the intersection between science
and the public in mind. Salzmann
lists some of the future plans, which
include a sports centre open to the
public and university members,
and a new guesthouse for visitors
to the university with a public
restaurant on the roof. ‘We plan all
new buildings to give the public
close proximity to our scientists,’
Salzmann says.
Science City will also encourage
open dialogue and collaboration
between science and the business
world. In recent years, the ETH
had averaged around 10 spin-out
companies per year, with a record
number of 21 in 2007. The total
number of successful spin-outs
to date is 130 – comparable to the
number from Stanford University
or the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in the US. ‘Some
planned lab buildings will have an
entire floor dedicated to new spinout companies,’ Salzmann says,
to foster an entrepreneurial spirit
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within the institute.
The investment in Science City
reflects the substantial growth of
the institute; the student body is
expected to grow by 20 per cent by
2015, with staff numbers increasing
correspondingly. It also aims to
expand the number of professors,
from the current 360, to 440 within
the next 10 years, Salzmann says.
Over the past decade, increasing
numbers of universities have turned
to private sector management
models in a bid to improve
performance. The new executive
board of ETH Zürich, in place since
1 September 2007, objects to this
trend. Universities should not be
treated as private sector companies,
says Chen, because they have a very
different role in society. So what will
ETH Zürich need to do to ensure
that it remains competitive in the
future? ‘We will continue to need
top quality faculty appointments
and students,’ Chen says. ‘For
faculty, we offer an excellent
infrastructure and an environment
where creativity is encouraged and
innovation is made possible. For
ETH Zürich’s historical
buildings in the city
centre
‘We plan all new
buildings to give
the public close
proximity to our
scientists’
students, we offer a broad palate
of courses, good teaching and high
quality of living.’
Neil Williams, associate director
of the European Science Foundation
and coordinator of the European
Young Investigator (Euryi) awards
scheme, agrees that the institute
provides an excellent academic
environment for young researchers.
‘For the first three years of the
Euryi awards scheme, ETH Zürich
won more awards than any other
institution,’ he says. ‘It’s certainly an
attractive place for excellent young
scientists from around the world.’
Whether ETH Zürich continues
to attract the best scientific minds
will depend in part on the success
of ventures like Science City. ‘The
future challenge for ETH Zürich
will be to define science and
engineering so that young people
see them as attractive endeavours,’
Chen says. ‘We will need to convince
young people that science offers a
promising and exciting career.’
Yfke Hager is a science writer based in
Manchester, UK
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