As Head of the Institute I have implemented and proven my entrepreneurial competencies and leadership across all my university activities, as well as throughout external activities by leading by example and enabling companies, students, employees, scientists, start-ups and entrepreneurs to develop strong entrepreneurial competencies and leadership.
Over the past 10 years I have grown the institute from a handful of employees to a lighthouse organisation within the ZHAW. Today the institute is a very healthy, highly profitable, modern and dynamic scientific organisation having a very strong impact on realizing science to business transfer but also working in the other direction from business to science. The vision of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences is to become the “Entrepreneurial University of Switzerland”. I have implemented this vision in the most radical way by not just talking about entrepreneurship but by doing and by proving entrepreneurial success in multiple cases. The leadership approach used is strongly guided by the principles of servant leadership. This results in the fact that the institute of marketing management is set-up and run like a start-up company, students are supported to have an entrepreneurial impact, start-ups are supported with innovation cheques (instrument from the Swiss government for the promotion of economic development, Innosuisse), employees are supported to generating new ideas and launching spin-offs and finally seven labs are used as platforms for co-creation and dialogue between science and business, resulting in value being generated on both sides, unleashing the potential in connecting science and business.