Finalist

Innovation and Collaboration Space of the Year Award

IMM Labs

Finalist of the Innovation and Collaboration Space of the Year Award

"Closing the gap between science and business"


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Summary

The Institute for Marketing Management (IMM) of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW pursues a value network approach. The institute’s performance derives from a motivated and interdisciplinary group of highly qualified expert researchers and lecturers that are driven to create value for students, industry partners, the research community, and society - identifying practical and entrepreneurial challenges and connecting these challenges to research- and teaching approaches. In 2014 the IMM Service Lab was founded as an innovation and collaboration platform to close the gap between science and business. In projects for more than 100 companies, the Service Lab served as a collaboration and co-creation space to bring science to business and open access for enterprises to applied scientific research. With the move to more suitable facilities in 2021/2022, the Service Lab has been developed further into Service Lab X and has been extended by six other labs (Product Management Lab, Content Lab, e-Commerce Lab, Behavioral Insights Lab, Martech Lab, and Sustainability Lab). These Labs embrace the most innovative and fastest developing topics in marketing. The IMM Labs are not purely a physical space but hybrid platforms that encompass the virtual world. This hybrid approach enables IMM Labs to increase its impact and cooperate internationally with universities, companies, researchers, or professional service firms. The IMM labs enable employees, students, scientists, companies, and start-ups to develop entrepreneurial competencies and become leaders in their areas of activity.

Key People


Sandro Graf
Head Service Lab / Head Center for Customer Experience & Service Design
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Prof. Dr. Brian Rüeger
Head, Institute for Marketing Management
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Dr. Adrienne Suvada
Head Center for Communication & Branding
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Prof. Dr. Frank Hannich
Head Center for Customer Management & E-Commerce
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Prof. Dr. Rainer Fuchs
Head Center for Product Management
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Dr. Michael Klaas
Head Center for Digital Marketing & Marketing Technology
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW



Dr. Steffen Müller
Head Center for Behavioral Insights & Pricing
Institute for Marketing Management,  ZHAW


Acknowledgements

The IMM Labs would not have been possible without the initial funding for the first lab idea. The IMM Labs team is grateful for the support of the management of the ZHAW School of Management and Law which laid the foundation for the activities with its positive decision back in 2013.

Images

IMM Labs collaboration network

IMM Labs communities and financials

IMM Labs room layout plan

IMM Team

IMM Labs ecquipment

Service Design Projects and Teaching at IMM Labs

Viewing pane at IMM Labs

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

The story of the IMM Labs started with a last-minute opportunity to apply for strategic funds at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. Sandro Graf, responsible for establishing the first lab, the Service Lab, recalls the initial situation: "We didn't have a detailed plan for starting the first collaboration platform, but we had a shared vision and a solution-oriented culture at our institute. We wanted to build a bridge between applied science researchers and practitioners. We were committed to offering companies an opportunity to work cooperatively with us to create new services with added value for customers, employees, and society. Important to us was the thought that it must be a two-way street, hence, a mutual, bidirectional relationship. Further, we had a common understanding that we needed to show evidence that our approach was working and make our vision tangible to our sponsor and, more importantly, our team at the institute, our students, and industry partners. After successfully establishing the first lab, we were eager to scale our approach and expand the access for companies thematically. All our expertise is now well represented in six more labs: Product Management Lab, Content Lab, e-Commerce Lab, Behavioral Insights Lab, Martech Lab, and Sustainability Lab. We are thrilled to see the multiplying impact of the labs' activities and meshing with the business community. A recent workshop generated numerous new business and spin-off ideas."

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

Successful ventures depend on various contextual, cultural, and behavioral variables. Prof. Dr. Brian Rüeger, Head of the Institute for Marketing Management (IMM), is a visionary strategic thinker and established a purpose-driven and solution-oriented culture with a lot of autonomy and responsibility for the IMM's members. Enabling employees, students, and companies is a substantial value of the institute's DNA, leading to business-oriented entrepreneurial thinking. Furthermore, as part of a university of applied sciences, it has always been important for the institute to be intertwined with the business community. Through our continuing education programs and national support instruments for companies, the institute quickly grasped the needs and requirements of practice partners. Finally, being successful in the operational activities positively impacted the institute's financial performance, which again gave freedom to explore new territories and think boldly.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

The Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW sets entrepreneurship and innovation promotion as one of the central goals for continuous development. The ZHAW aims to become the “Entrepreneurial University of Switzerland.” With the different Labs, the Institute for Marketing Management (IMM) sets the path to further strengthen this vision by iteratively developing ideas into concepts and concepts into step-by-step validated business models. The goal is to establish a business ecosystem with various stakeholders and encourage them to bring their business ideas and approaches to social issues to the lab and test them in a co-creation setting. By doing so, employees, students, and participants of continuing education courses, together with industry partners initiate start-up activities. Furthermore, the IMM is currently planning other teaching formats that span various fields of study at the different schools of the ZHAW and will scale the experience using the Labs in courses across the entire university. In addition, the experience in closing the gap between science and business enables the institute to also collaborate with entrepreneurial universities and industry partners internationally. Scaling the vision to encourage students, entrepreneurs, and business partners to positively impact society is what drives the IMM’s staff further.

KEY STATISTICS

Number of students in the program

In July 2022, more than 300 students on the MSc and continuous education level will have completed a Design Thinking training at the Service Lab

Number of Design Thinking projects completed

More than 100 companies generated ideas and business models at the IMM Labs

The number of government-funded innovation projects won

31 innovation projects with SME were won in the form of so-called innovation checks by Innosuisse and eight major cooperative Innosuisse research projects with companies were active (funding > SFr. 300’000 each).

Increase in turnover

Increase in third-party turnover (IMM) from 2,43 MEUR in 2014 to 6,26 MEUR in 2021

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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