ETH Pioneer Fellowships
A Pioneer Fellowship is awarded to an individual or groups of individuals intending to independently develop a highly innovative product or service to be exploited commercially and/or for the benefit of society.
Fellowships are the result of a competitive process to ensure the innovation potential of the successful application. The fellowships are not awarded for basic research, but must be based on the applicants own, previous research. By the proposed starting date of the fellowship, candidates must have earned a Master or Doctoral degree from ETH Zurich.
The evaluation criteria are:
- Innovation potential and economic attractiveness and viability: entrepreneurial suitability, market potential, feasibility, sustainability, as well as criteria of sociopolitical and environmental relevance
- Scientific quality: relevance, originality and timeliness of the underlying scientific work
- Individual aptitude: scientific record and performance of the applicant, personal motivation and entrepreneurial spirit
- A gender sensitive approach in the composition of the team, in the design of the service or the product and in the consideration of the market approach.