2020

Professor Torbjørn Netland and his team (D-MTEC) have won the Bronze Award in the Virtual/Augmented Reality category of the 2020 Reimagine Education competition. Their project, FactoryVR, enables students to remotely explore production facilities.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Gudela Grote, Professor at the Chair of Work and Organisational Psychology, observes a vicious circle in social professions. As recognition and compensation is too low, people working in the social sector are encouraged to look for other jobs. If this happens, the burden on those who stay will be even greater.

Department MTEC offices are closed for the Christmas and New Year holidays between Thursday, 24 December 2020 and Friday, 1 January 2021.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Logistics are pivotal for the efficacy of aid programmes. Bublu Thakur-Weigold, a researcher at the Chair of Logistics Management, examines the supply chains for medical products of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Based on a ten-year dataset the analysis aims at improving ICRC’s delivery of medical relief supplies.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. 9% of Swiss apprentices did not receive any training at all in their companies during the shutdown, reports Ursula Renold, Professor of Education Systems. She urges the newly created Vocational Training Taskforce to think about how to support apprentices over the next six months.

ETH Zurich celebrated its 165th year at this year’s ETH Day on 21 November 2020. The annual celebration provides an occasion to honour outstanding achievements of the past year. At this year’s ETH Day D-MTEC lecturer Dr Johannes Meuer was awarded VSETH’s Golden Owl award for dedication and excellence in teaching.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Lehrstellen-Puls, an apprenticeship platform co-developed by D-MTEC’s Chair of Education Systems, tracks an increase of 13 percent of applications for apprenticeship in Switzerland compared to last year. Especially the apprenticeships in the commercial sector are popular among the young applicants.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Gudela Grote, Professor of the Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology, states that good relations between employers and staff allow for more flexible working in Switzerland than elsewhere, but there is room to improve.

The D-MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Yngve Abrahamsen, a researcher at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, notes increased savings among Swiss people of up to 19% in total volume caused by a lack of spending opportunities. At the same time, his colleagues Heiner Mikosch and Florian Eckert report a rise in Swiss bankruptcies.

D-​MTEC experts engage with issues that affect society, the economy and business. The D-​MTEC Media Update provides links to recent articles, interviews and commentaries. Switzerland is well-suited to green its economy, however, production at scale remains a bottleneck, says Massimo Filippini. He is Professor of Energy and Public Economics and encourages the formation of green companies forming consortia to foster transformation towards both a greener economy and society.