ETH Pioneer Fellowship

Launch your own ETH Spin-off with the Pioneer Fellowship Deep-Tech or Social Impact Incubation Program.

Enlarged view: Four young men presenting their startup

Important: You can apply for both programs, but can only receive one fellowship. You must apply for each program individually.


The Pioneer Fellowship Deep-Tech Incubation Program of ETH Zürich enables entrepreneurial ETH students and researchers in developing their research-based technologies into marketable products and services to launch a successful ETH Spin-off company.

Pioneer Fellows receive up to CHF 150’000 for 18 months (12 months for a team of 2 Fellows). In addition, they get coaching, entrepreneurial training, support by your host Professor, access to ETH infrastructure and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Funding is provided by external page ETH Zurich Foundation.

5 - 6 Deep-Tech Incubation Pioneer Fellowships can be granted per call.

Detailed information about the Program is available in the 

Download Pioneer Fellowship Deep-Tech Incubation Program regulations. (PDF, 261 KB)

The Pioneer Fellowship Social Impact Incubation Program of ETH Zürich empowers entrepreneurial ETH students and researchers in developing their research-based technologies into viable products and services with a social impact to successfully launch a scalable ETH Spin-off company. The Social Impact Pioneer Fellowship is awarded to projects that serve people living with less than 10 USD per day in low- and middle-income countries. All countries on the OECD DAC List 2024 are eligible (see Download OECD DAC-LIST 2024 (PDF, 640 KB)).

Pioneer Fellows receive up to CHF 150’000 for 18 months (12 months for a team of 2 Fellows). In addition, they get coaching, entrepreneurial training, support by your host Professor, access to ETH infrastructure and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

1 Social Impact Incubation Pioneer Fellowship is granted per call.

Detailed information about the Program is available in the

Download Pioneer Fellowship Social Impact Incubation Program regulations. (PDF, 262 KB)

Timeline

The next application deadline is September 1, 2024 (5 pm, Swiss time).

Approximately 4 weeks after the application deadline, the candidates will be informed whether they are invited to an interview.

The interview will take place in person at the ETH Zürich main building.

Deep-Tech Track interview: October 24, 2024 (8 am - 5pm)

Social Impact Track interview: October 30, 2024 (8 am - 11 am)

The exact time for the approx. 30 minutes interview will be announced approximately 2-3 weeks beforehand.


Final decisions about acceptance to the Pioneer Fellowship Program will be communicated about 3 months after the application deadline.

General Information

Applications for the Pioneer Fellowship will be accepted if the following main criteria are met:

  • 1-2 entrepreneurial qualified applicants who wish to commercialise results of research at ETH Zürich;
  • ETH Master or Doctoral students and ETH researchers
  • A company has not yet been incorporated;
  • The project is fully supported by a host professor of ETH Zurich;
  • A promising business case; 
  • for Social Impact Pioneer Fellowships only: a promising business case serving people who live with less than 10 USD per day in low- and middle-income countries. All countries on the OECD DAC List 2024 are eligible (see Download OECD DAC-LIST 2024 (PDF, 640 KB)).

The applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • How does the application fit in with the vision, mission and objectives of the Pioneer Fellowship?
  • How significant is the Pioneer Fellowship for the realization of the project?
  • What is the innovation degree of the technology compared to the State-of-Art?
  • Does the Technology Readiness Level meet the program requirements?
  • What is the Intellectual Property situation and freedom to operate?
  • Does the market readiness level meet the program requirements?
  • Is the serviceable obtainable market large enough to sustain a future company?
  • Are the planned project objectives comprehensible and realistic?
  • What is the project’s social and environmental impact?
  • What is the quality of the application and the entrepreneurial mindset of the candidate(s)?
  • What is the quality of the interview session (i.e. presentation and Q&A)?

 

The most promising projects are invited to an interview with the evaluation board. The interview takes place in-person at the ETH Zürich. You must reserve about 30 minutes for it.

Collaborators of the project are encouraged to also participate in the interview process.

Deep-Tech Track: October 24, 2024 (8 am - 5 pm)

Social Impact Track: October 30, 2024 (8 am - 11 am)

The  following CAS continuing education courses are an integral part of the Pioneer Fellowship:

  • CAS ETH Entrepreneurial Leadership in Technology Ventures (CAS ETH ELTV). Tuition fees apply.
  • For Social Impact Pioneer Fellows only: CAS ETH in Development and Cooperation (CAS ETH DC), free of charge.

Successful applicants will be awarded a lump sum of 150'000 CHF to cover salary costs of the applicant(s) and other expenses in support of the project. Pioneer Fellows are employed as Scientific staff of ETH Zürich (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende).

The Fellowship is up to 150'000 CHF, regardless of the number of applicants and level of education. 

After deducting salary expenses, Pioneer Fellows may freely dispose of the residual funds for their project expenses. All expenses must be clearly dedicated to the Pioneer Fellows’ project. 

Allowed expenses include e.g.:

  • running costs, 
  • travel/field expenses and industry fairs 
  • tuition fee for a Certificate of Advanced Studies 

Further details on allowed and not allowed expenses are listed in the guidelines.

As Pioneer Fellows are ETH employees, all intellectual property originated by them, such as patents, copyrights, models, trademarks, and so on (including new technologies, software, prototypes, etc.) is owned by ETH.

If you wish to commercialise the results from your Fellowship through your spin-off, a license agreement with ETH transfer will be negotiated, giving you rights to do so.

If a company is founded by the Pioneer Fellow(s), ETH Zurich receives 2% shares at incorporation in exchange for support and services received during the Pioneer Fellowship Program.

If no company is founded by the Pioneer Fellow(s), the Pioneer Fellowship does not have to be repaid.

At the yearly flaghsip event of the Pioneer Fellowship Program, the 3 Pi competition, Pioneer Fellows compete in a pitching battle with only Pi (3.14) minutes time to present their projects.

Next 3Pi compettiton takes place September 23, 2024 (by invitation only).

Application instructions

Before applying, please read the Program Regulations on this website carefully.

The applications must be submitted in the web-based ETH Zurich grant application system ‘eResearch’ .

The steps required for submission are outlined Download here (PDF, 264 KB).

The application portal closes on Sept 1, 2024 5pm. We recommend you submit your application a couple of days prior to the deadline to ensure proper processing. 

Documents and naming conventions

The following documents should be submitted as part of the Pioneer Fellowship application. Templates are provided where applicable and must be used. Templates for the next applications round (March 1, 2025) will be provided in January 2025.

All documents must be submitted as PDF files (max. 15 MB in total) unless otherwise stated. Please use the following naming conventions for your documents and do not forget to add your family name:

FamilyName_Project_Summary
FamilyName_IP_Situation
FamilyName_Applicant_CV
FamilyName_Co-applicant_CV (if applicable)
FamilyName_Publication_List
FamilyName_Support_Letter
FamilyName_Supplementary_Info

Video presentation upload

Please upload your video presentation as MP4 to the Polybox. The video should not exceed 2 minutes. Generate a link to the video and paste it into the respective field in the eResearch application tool.

Apply here for the ETH Pioneer Fellowship Deep-Tech and Social Impact Incubation Program

Note: You can apply for both programs, but can only receive one fellowship. You must apply for each program individually.

For further information and questions contact

Current Pioneer Fellows

Visit the page with the current Pioneer Fellows and find out what projects they are working on.

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