Pulling Together

Around 20 students are sitting in a circle. In turns, each one presents their idea for a project or start-up. They talk about the problem they want to solve and how they would go about it. The participants then break out into small groups to explore and flesh out the most promising ideas.

Among them is Gregor von Rohr, a student of political science and economics. He is fascinated by the idea presented by a medical student who envisages a web platform that makes it easier to find participants for clinical trials throughout Switzerland. The group is formed and gets to work developing the idea, identifying technical obstacles, discussing potential cooperation partners and poring over financing. 

All this takes place at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, a course run by the UZH Innovation Hub. Before the students form groups for specific projects, they complete a course that equips them with a basic knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship. It is designed to be interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, establishing points of reference that cross disciplines and also include non-academic content.

UZH teaching staff in psychology, education and economics are involved, as are practitioners from the world of business. The bootcamps are designed to get students excited about innovation and entrepreneurship and to equip them with the right skills and the ability to apply them in practice. 

Gregor von Rohr is not a complete stranger to the world of entrepreneurship, having set up a small business with his classmates back in high school. When he embarked on his studies at UZH in the fall of 2024, the 21-year-old knew that he wanted to learn more about innovation and management. The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp came along at just the right moment. 

He was particularly interested in learning about communication within an interdisciplinary team and conveying information in an effective and impactful way with team members. At the bootcamp, he learned a great deal about how to communicate across disciplines, how to give constructive feedback, and what makes creative and productive teams. 

“The bootcamp brought people together from different subject backgrounds who probably would never have met otherwise,” says the student. It allowed him to break free of the usual ways of thinking and influences. It also helped that the students weren’t competing with one another. “We were like one young family, all pulling together,” says von Rohr. “At the beginning, a start-up is a bit like a needy baby that needs help to get going. And you have to work together to do so.”

Whether the start-up baby ever actually sees the light of day is secondary, as the bootcamp is primarily a training and practice ground. When students simulate the process of starting a business in a realistic way, they can acquire valuable skills – for example organizing themselves effectively in interdisciplinary teams. 

“We want to empower graduates of the program to think and act in an innovative and entrepreneurial way across different disciplines,” says Maria Olivares, head of innovation at UZH. “It doesn’t matter whether they become business owners or employees, the working world of the future will be all about interdisciplinary collaboration in projects and innovations.” 

The skills that will matter, she says, are primarily those acquired in heterogeneous teams: being open-minded, thinking critically, identifying problems and working with others to develop solutions. Olivares adds: “Exciting and successful innovations usually arise when people from different technical backgrounds share their perspectives and come up with new ideas together.” This is why the bootcamps are designed to be both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. 

More than 150 students from UZH have already participated in a UZH Entrepreneur Bootcamp since 2019. This format is set to be offered in a new and improved form in future. To further promote interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching, starting in the 2026 Fall Semester, UZH will be offering an additional three-semester minor study program in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, initiated by the Vice President Research Elisabeth Stark. “This project is a strategically important step to promote the teaching of innovation and entrepreneurship and to integrate it in academic education at an early stage – it’s a pioneering boost for the University of Zurich,” says Elisabeth Stark. It is designed not only to strengthen interdisciplinary teaching, but also to create an environment that is conducive to fostering entrepreneurial talent. 

The program is a standalone minor aimed at students who are keen to delve deeper into the topic and also want to acquire broader methodological knowledge. The previous bootcamp modules are being further developed and integrated into the minor program in a new form. But they can still be chosen as individual modules for students who don’t want to dedicate a whole minor to the topic of innovation. 

Referring to what the two programs have in common, entrepreneur and start-up consultant Jan Fülscher says: “As with the bootcamps, we want this to appeal to students from all disciplines.” Fülscher is helping Maria Olivares’s team design future courses that are geared toward business and entrepreneurship. As opposed to other institutions that often focus too heavily on high-tech, UZH wants its innovation courses to appeal to students of all disciplines. As Jan Fülscher says: “Innovation is relevant across all sections of society and the economy. We need innovative lawyers just as much as we need innovative biologists.”

Gregor von Rohr also intends to stay true to what he has learned on the course: engaging with other disciplines in an open-minded way and being intellectually curious. His next step will take him to the US for an exchange year. When he returns to UZH, he will continue to look for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary courses to make sure he has the skills he needs to take control of his future and find his own path. Because to him it is clear that life is not mapped out as a straight line and has many opportunities and surprises in store. So he wants to be prepared.