On the 23rd of last month (local time), at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Dübendorf, about a 30-minute drive from downtown Zurich, Switzerland. As we entered the giant rectangular box-shaped "Space Hub" building, rockets roughly 5 meters long stood in place. Each rocket bore the logos of Swiss space corporations such as Beyond Gravity, Maxon, and Keller. Rocket engines and robotic models for space exploration were placed throughout.
At first glance it looks like a research lab for space corporations, but this is the "base camp" of ARIS, a student space engineering group affiliated with ETH Zurich, Albert Einstein's alma mater and often called the "MIT of Europe." ARIS began in 2017 in a classroom at ETH, and about 300 students are now taking part in three projects. Their goal is to verify the theories learned in class through hands-on projects. ARIS's rocket research team, "Asteria," developed and launched the reusable rocket "NICOLLIER," equipped with a guided recovery system, and it was featured on CNN in the United States.
ARIS started at ETH, but all project operations, including fundraising, are up to the students. The university provides faculty advice as needed and counts students' hands-on research hours toward credit. Richard Ludin, 22, deputy manager of Polaris, the team at ARIS that builds space exploration robots, said, "This project is part of the university curriculum and is very important in the learning process." He said, "All of us aim to become engineers, so practical experience is essential. You cannot put an engineer who has learned only theory straight into the field," adding, "We handle expensive real equipment ourselves to build experience, and we are preparing so we do not make big mistakes later on site."
◇ A university that turns failure into an asset
Hands-on experience through in-house projects is not a privilege for only a few students. About a dozen teams like ARIS are stationed at the ETH Space Hub, integrating theory with practice. On the ETH campus there is also the "RobotX Lab," which focuses on space exploration robots. Student-led projects are yielding results, to the point that the insect-like jumping robot "Space Hopper" developed here successfully completed a test flight with the European Space Agency (ESA).
Other Swiss universities also run various systems to give students practical experience. The "MAKE project" at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is a prime example. When the Space Center, EPFL's organization overseeing space research and education, provides space and some funding and connects a supervising professor, students take charge of team formation and operations. Students select undergraduates and graduate students based on their own criteria and contact corporations directly to obtain funding. Notable groups include the "Rocket Team," which develops small rockets; the small satellite team "Space Craft"; and "Explore," which builds Mars exploration robots.
The higher the autonomy, the more the students bear responsibility for failure. But the students we met at EPFL on the 26th did not greatly fear failure. Paloma Garcia, 23, a member of the Rocket Team, said, "The year before last, our parachute failed to deploy at the European student rocket competition, and we botched the landing. Last year's results were not what we hoped for either, but everyone was happy that the parachute worked properly," adding, "We place meaning in achieving anything at all and learn from that experience what to improve at the next stage."
These experiences naturally lead to startups. Since 1973, ETH has produced 661 startups, and EPFL has spawned more than 500. "ClearSpace," known for space debris removal technology, spun out of EPFL. For Switzerland, with a population of not even 10 million, to establish itself as an innovation powerhouse, it helps to have a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) talent development system that verifies theory in practice and accumulates failure as an asset.
◇ Field education starting in the teens
Switzerland's system for fostering innovative talent begins before university. Because people are the core of innovation competitiveness, talent development does not stop at higher education. In Switzerland, at the end of compulsory education upon graduating middle school, only about one-third of all students choose the general education track for university admission. The rest choose the vocational education and training (VET) track, which combines practice and theory. VET apprentices spend one to two days a week learning theory at school and three to four days receiving hands-on training at corporations.
As shown by the cases of President Guy Parmelin of Switzerland and Sergio Ermotti, chief executive officer (CEO) of UBS, the country's largest financial group, who both went through the VET track and rose to top posts, vocational education also delivers strong outcomes. A key advantage of this system is that students can find career paths suited to their aptitudes and interests before entering university. The program currently operates across about 250 occupations. Some apprentices go on to university after completing the track for advanced study.
Luca Gauci, 18, a second-year polymechanic apprentice we met on the 25th, is gaining hands-on experience by working three days a week at the space research and precision mechanics lab at the University of Bern. "Schoolwork was difficult and not very interesting, but working in the field sparked my interest in space engineering," he said. "After I complete the VET track and obtain university entrance qualifications, I plan to study at a university."
The VET track goes beyond individual career exploration and forms the foundation that supports Switzerland's industrial competitiveness. Sirpa Tschimmel, global marketing director at the Swiss Business Hub (Switzerland Global Enterprise), said, "Switzerland has a dual education system in which world-class universities run in parallel with vocational education," adding, "This structure develops hands-on talent who can be deployed straight to industrial worksites."