Voices

Dr Niowi Näf is Head of Corporate Development & Innovation at Hirslanden and an expert in strategic business processes. In the video, Niowi explains how important collaborations with start-ups and research groups are for Hirslanden, what is behind the new Compassana healthcare ecosystem and how Zurich is performing in the field of digital health.

What does it take for Zurich's manufacturing companies to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitisation and remain internationally competitive? What role do collaborations play? And what opportunities are offered by future technologies such as smart systems, artificial intelligence or robotics?

As part of the ETH study "Technological Change and Digitalisation in the Canton of Zurich", the implementation of digital technologies was examined at manufacturing companies and precisely these questions were addressed. The video offers an insight into the topic. The full study will follow shortly.

Georg von Krogh is a Professor at ETH Zurich and holds the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation. He specializes in competitive strategy, digital innovation, and organisational knowledge and has conducted research in several industries including financial services, media, computer software and hardware, life -​sciences, and consumer goods.

Alexander Nelles is Chief Information Officer at Kantonsspital Winterthur. The Kantonsspital Winterthur (KSW) is one of the ten largest hospitals in Switzerland and treats more than 250,000 patients each year - 28,000 of them as inpatients.

Digitisation at KSW is aimed at ensuring high capacity utilization, productivity and quality in the core business as well as further increasing agility in the organisation. The focus is on patient satisfaction and internal efficiency. This involves analyzing, simplifying or redesigning the patient pathway and the processes linked to it, and automating them with the help of modern technology, with the aim of also improving the exchange of information with you.

Gieri Cathomas is cluster manager at Health Tech Cluster Switzerland. The purpose of Health Tech Cluster Switzerland is to create beneficial networks between manufacturers, suppliers, research and educational institutions, service providers, start-ups and investors in the field of health technology.

Innovations are increasingly created in collaboration between different players. Many issues, e.g. in health, cannot be solved by one player alone due to their complexity. Strong innovation networks are needed for collaborations, in which companies find the right partner from business and science, build trust and jointly drive innovations forward. These networks form around innovation hubs in which large companies, SMEs and start-ups can exchange ideas and business and science can cross-fertilise.

Alfred Angerer is Professor of Healthcare Management at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. At the ZHAW, Alfred Angerer founded the "ZHAW Digital Health Lab" together with colleagues from various institutes to promote an interdisciplinary approach to digital health.

We asked Thomas Gemperle from Scewo, Mike Niekerk from Benchling and Angela Beckenbauer from ZHAW how they can benefit from Innovation Zurich.

Alfred Angerer is Professor of Healthcare Management at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. His research focuses on two areas: First, process optimization in healthcare organizations (Lean Healthcare) and second, the impact of Digital Health on healthcare management.

At the ZHAW, Alfred Angerer founded the "ZHAW Digital Health Lab" together with colleagues from various institutes to promote an interdisciplinary approach to digital health.
The ZHAW Digital Health Lab, together with other Swiss universities and industry partners, is now researching how hospitals can implement the digital transformation with the Innosuisse flagship project "SHIFT".

Stefan Lienhard, CEO of the digital health centre Bülach, explains what Digital Health actually is, what applications and technologies are associated with the term and how the Zurich digital health ecosystem is doing.

Thomas Gemperle, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Scewo AG, explains what innovation means to him and how innovation can come about.

Mario Jenni, Co-Founder and CEO of Bio-Technopark Schlieren, explains what innovation means to him and how innovation can come about.

Alexander Nelles, Chief Information Officer at Kantonsspital Winterthur, explains what innovation means to him and how innovation can come about.