Tanja Zimmermann is the new president of the Technopark Zurich Foundation

(CONNECT) Tanja Zimmermann is the new head of the strategic steering committee of the Technopark Zurich Foundation, the Foundation Board. According to its press release, she was unanimously elected as its new president on May 6, 2025. Zimmermann succeeds Prof. Dr. Lothar Thiele. He held this office for six years. The Board of Trustees currently consists of 16 members from science, business and the public sector.

Zimmermann has been Director of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) since 2022. There, she also headed the Functional Materials department, specifically promotes talent and start-ups and is committed to resource efficiency, the circular economy and CO2 neutrality. She is also a professor of materials science at the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and Lausanne(EPFL). According to the press release, she has "significantly developed" the research field of cellulose nanocomposites in Switzerland.

The outgoing Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Thiele, considers her to be "an ideal successor". She brings "experience, vision and a deep understanding of the importance of technology transfer." He is certain that it will provide decisive impetus for the further development of the Technopark.

"I am very much looking forward to this task and the opportunity to help shape the development of the Technopark ecosystem at a strategic level," Zimmermann is quoted as saying. "Technopark Zurich is a place where visionary ideas and scientific progress meet entrepreneurial drive - this dynamic inspires me." ce/mm