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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EPFLinnovators (The launch of a new industrial PhD programme at EPFL)

Teaser

Summary

EPFLinnovators is an industry-oriented PhD programme based in the dynamic environment of the EPFL campus. The programme aims to attract to EPFL highly-talented PhD candidates of any nationality with an interest in entrepreneurship. Specifically, it is intended to (i) increase their awareness â€“ from the very beginning of their PhD studies - of the possibility of initiating a start-up, (ii) increase the number of PhD candidates who create a start-up and become entrepreneurs/innovators, and (iii) increase the success of their start-ups once these have been created. To this end, the EPFLinnovators programme offers excellent PhD candidates the appropriate training, experience, and guidance to successfully start and develop their own company. To develop the innovation potential of PhD candidates, EPFLinnovators offers a rich and comprehensive training programme in combination with a long stay, of at least 6 months and up to 24 months, in the non-academic sector. 36 excellent PhD candidates were selected over 3 calls held in 2018 and 2019. They will be equipped with a broad set of scientific, transferable, and business skills and hence become true innovators.

Work performed

A. Dissemination
A global dissemination of the programme and its 3 calls was conducted with a view to attracting top-talent from all over the world. The calls were announced on the Euraxess website and disseminated through different channels. Details are given in the following reports:
- Report on dissemination activities Call 1 submitted on 12.03.2018
- Report on dissemination activities Call 2 submitted on 28.05.2018
- Report on dissemination activities Call 3 submitted on 28.02.2019
The EPFLinnovators website has been activated and regularly updated since the launch of the programme: https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/doctoral-studies-structure/customized-curricula/epflinnovators/
A total of 1840 applications were received over the 3 calls, which speaks for the attractivity of the EPFLinnovators programme considering that EPFL receives around 4000 PhD applications per year.

B. Management
A functional management structure was set up to ensure an efficient administration of the EPFLinnovators programme. Composed of representative\'s of the Doctoral School, the Registrar\'s Office, and the Research Office, the Office of the Programme meets on a regular basis (each Monday afternoon for a 1-hour meeting) to plan activities as well as coordinate and monitor the implementation of the programme.

C. Recruitment process
During the reporting period, 3 calls were organized.

Call preparation:
- Design of a detailed application process in coordination with the relevant stakeholders (Registrar\'s Office, Doctoral Programmes).
- Preparation and publication of comprehensive application guidelines.
- Adaptation and development of the online application platform IS-Academia according to the EPFLinnovators specifications.
- Selection of the expert members of the Intersectoral Excellence Committee (IEC)

Evaluation and selection process:
- Coordination of the evaluation process with the doctoral programme committees
- Coordination of the evaluation process with the Intersectoral Excellence Committee members
- Preparation of ranking lists
- Organization of the final decision meetings with the IEC

Award:
- Notification of decision to the applicants
- Ethical clearance of the selected projects
- Organization of kick-off meetings for the administrative assistants of the hosting labs to ensure correct implementation of the fellowship in the labs (Call 1, 23.05.2018; Call 2, 29.09.2018; Call 3, 27.08.2019).
- Organization of kick-off meetings for the granted fellows of Call 1(20.09.2018) and Call 2 (13.12.2018). Preparation of a kick-off for the fellows selected in Call 3 scheduled for 14.11.2019.

Post award:
- Collection of the first annual report of the 18 fellows who completed their first year during the reporting period
- Follow-up of the industry secondment by the Office of the Programme in collaboration with the Technology Transfer Office
- Support and advice provided to the EPFLinnovators fellows throughout their PhD at EPFL

36 EPFLinnovators PhD candidates have been recruited and 23 of them started their PhD at EPFL in the course of the reporting period. The remaining fellows will start their project in the next period.
The list of selected EPFLinnovators fellows can be found on the programme\'s website: https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/doctoral-studies-structure/customized-curricula/epflinnovators/selected-fellows/

Final results

During the period, two main deviations occurred:

1. At the end of Call 1, the Office of the Programme had received 19 project proposals for 18 fellowships to be granted. With 1 withdrawal and 2 candidates not granted, the programme only granted 16 fellowships for this call. To be able to grant 36 fellowships in total, the Office of the Programme proposed the following actions and changes for Call 2:
a) Shift the unfilled positions to the next call and grant 20 fellowships in Call 2;
b) Propose to the refused candidates of Call 1 to be transferred to Call 2 through an email confirmation before the Call 2 deadline (16 April 2018);
c) Increase the shortlist of the 40 best candidates to 80 candidates to potentially obtain more project proposals, considering that only 50% of the admissible candidates generally find a thesis director.

As agreed with REA Project Officer on 7 June 2018, these changes were implemented for Call 2.

2. At the end of the Call 2, the Office of the Programme had received only 8 project proposals for 20 fellowships to be granted. With 1 withdrawal and 1 candidate not granted, the programme only granted 6 fellowships. This rather low number was due to the fact that one month was very short for thesis directors to submit a project proposal, especially since it fell during the holiday period.

The total number of grantees from Calls 1 and 2 was 22. To be able to grant 36 fellowships in total, the Office of the Orogramme proposed the following actions and changes:
a) To launch a third call in January 2019 with a final decision in June 2019 and a starting date in autumn 2019.
b) To ask for a prolongation of the COFUND project past the original date of 30 September 2022 to keep 48 months of funding for all fellows. The EPFLinnovators programme is intended to run until 31 March 2024.

As agreed with REA Project Officer on 4 September 2018, these changes were implemented through an amendment request.

Following the successful implementation of a third call, we have now recruited the 36 EPFLinnovators fellows, and the project is progressing as planned.