Franz Barjak

Franz Barjak is professor for Empirical Social and Economic Research at the School of Business of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). He has led or contributed to numerous research projects in the fields of innovation research, technology transfer, science and technology studies, scientometrics, Internet studies and regional economics. His work has been sponsored by different Directorate Generals of the European Commission, Swiss and German public authorities, universities and academic institutions, companies, and industry associations.

Fabian Heimsch

Fabian Heimsch is Professor of Statistics and Business Analytics at the School of Business of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). His research focuses on applied statistics, econometrics and data science. He has led or collaborated on research projects in the areas of empirical social research, econometric modeling, technology transfer, science and technology studies. His work has been funded by various Swiss authorities, companies and industry associations. Fabian Heimsch holds a PhD in applied econometrics and, after a postdoctoral position at ETH Zurich, worked as a risk analyst at a major Swiss bank.

Martin Wörter

Martin Wörter heads the Innovation Division at the ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute and is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the field of innovation economics. Before coming to ETH Zurich, he worked at WIK (Scientific institute for communication services) in Germany, at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna and at the University of Innsbruck. As part of his dissertation, he also conducted research at SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) in Brighton (England) and at the University of Marburg (Germany).

Benoit Cornet

Dr. Benoit Cornet holds a PhD in finance from EPFL, and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Aviation and Space Competence of the University of St.Gallen. He also holds a Master in Management and a Master in Macroeconomics and European Policies. His research interests include finance, econometrics and innovation policy. Dr. Cornet previously worked as a consultant in strategy and management for KPMG, and as external experts for a private bank in Geneva. He is currently working closely with Prof. Foray on various innovation policy projects for the confederation and international agencies. He is lead author of several papers sent to top-tier journals (e.g. Technological Forecasting and Social Change) and conferences (Eu-SPRI).

Dominique Foray

Prof. Dr. Dominique Foray is professor emeritus at the EPF Lausanne. His research focuses on the microeconomics of innovation, of knowledge and of related institutions. He joined the National Center for Scientific Research CNRS (Lyon), was a professor at the Ecole Centrale de Paris, research director at CNRS and principal analyst at the OECD. Between 2007 and 2010, he chaired the European Commission’s Knowledge for Growth expert group, and since then has widely contributed to the development of the EU smart specialisation policy concept, of which he is the author. Between 2012 and 2015, he was the foreign member of the German Expert Commission on Research and Innovation (EFI), and has recently served on the Expert Group for the first Swiss National Report on Research and Innovation. He is a member of the advisory board of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute (KOF/ETHZ) and since 2016 also of the Swiss Science Council.

State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI

Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Agency

Swiss Medical Technology Association Swiss Medtech

Interpharma Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies in Switzerland

Swiss Bankers Association SBA

Swiss Fintech Innovations (SFTI)

Swiss Insurance Association (SIA)

Swico