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Ralph Eichler, President ETH Zurich, Switzerland November 5, 2014

Global HR Forum 2014, Seoul, Korea Plenary Session III Youth Start-ups & Job Policies

Ralph Eichler Nov. 5, 2014 1

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Youth unemployment rates in OECD countries 2007 / 2012 (percentage of total youth labor force 15 to 24 years old)

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Source: OECD calculations based on the Short-term Indicators from Eurostat and various national sources. www.oecd.org/dataoecd/9/50/50305438.xlsx, download: Sept. 29, 2014

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Economic growth and school performance – positively correlated but …

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school graduates have to meet the requirements and needs of the economy and of society

the educational system has to be implemented in a way allowing to achieve these requirements

Source: ECONOMIESUISSE; Wössmann (2009)

PISA mean test score

Econ

omic

gro

wth

rate

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17 % of the Swiss educational degrees are university degrees → relatively low in the international comparison

Swiss higher education and dual apprenticeship going hand in hand

~ 400 federal vocational exams → Swiss vocational training system → 1st step on the lifelong learning ladder

High degree of permeability → building on existing basic knowledge and skills → anyone with sufficient capabilities can finally reach a university or ETH degree

Source: www.beobachter.ch/arbeit-bildung/lehre-studium/artikel/berufsbildung_was-taugt-die-lehre/

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Favorable youth employment situation – more than only low unemployment rates

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Source: U. Renold; T. Bolli: Die Arbeitsmarktsituation von Jugendlichen im internationalen Vergleich. Die Volkswirtschaft 2014; issue 9, p.13

Switzerland Germany Spain Ireland

Skills mismatch often the reason for unemployment

Youth Labor Market Index is an aggregate of several indicators

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Youth labor market – resisting crises if well-implemented

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Source: www.kof.ethz.ch/en/indicators/ylm-index/ Financial crises

Switzerland

Germany

Spain

Ireland

Evolution of Labor Market Index over time

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Youth labor market – resisting crises if well-implemented

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Source: www.kof.ethz.ch/en/indicators/ylm-index/

Switzerland Germany

Japan

Korea

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High permeability of the Swiss higher educational system

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ETH Zurich – top university in continental Europe

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37% international students 68% international faculty THE World University Ranking from the Times Higher Education: No. 13 in the world (2014/15) QS World University Ranking from Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd: No. 12 in the world (2014)

Academic Ranking of World Universities from Shanghai Jiao Tong University: No. 19 in the world (2014)

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… is part of the ETH innovation culture … contributes to the personal development of young scientific talents with

entrepreneurial ambitions – it empowers them to become successful company builders

… fosters the creation of high-tech spinoff companies that are more resilient, faster growing and more valuable

… helps promoting the transfer of ETH’s most promising research results from science to the market and generating a growing number of highly innovative spinoffs

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The ETH Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab Since 2012

Ralph Eichler Nov. 5, 2014

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The ETH ieLab vision has become reality

Two ieLab facilities operational since September 2012 Today, the ieLab hosting 22 Pioneer Fellows (17 teams),

4 interns (in 2 teams) and 8 focus project students (1 team) Already six spinoff companies created by ieLab teams (Upicto,

Glycemicon, Distran, Rehaptix, rqmicro and SwissLitho) Already 4 ieLab Pioneer Fellows supported by VentureKick, and 3

ieLab Pioneer Fellows belong to this year’s VentureLeaders

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ieLab – the place where innovation just happens

Ralph Eichler Nov. 5, 2014

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ETH Zurich’s important contributions to KTT

283 spin-off firms launched since 1996

Knowledge and technology transfer 2013 24 spin-offs 103 patents registered 319 cooperation agreements (> CHF 50,000) > 10 million CHF venture capital raised

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1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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Conclusions

Economic growth positively related to education performance

Appropriate skills needed by industry are key success factor

Establishing entrepreneurial spirit among students needs cultural change → took 15 years at ETH

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