PeKo ideas competition: The winners
In the summer, the ETH Zurich Staff Commission (PeKo) invited submissions for the ideas competition. Around 70 ideas were received and the 3 most promising ones have now been selected. The award ceremony took place in the AudiMax as part of an event celebrating 50 years of the PeKo.
In mid-2021, the ETH Zurich PeKo launched an ideas competition. It was a call for suggestions on how to optimise day-to-day operations at our university. The competition was open to the entire ETH community – and the response was most gratifying. “We received some 70 ideas, and we whittled these down to around 30 for final consideration,” said a delighted Christopher Sauder Engeler, PeKo President, at the awards ceremony, which took place as part of an event celebrating the PeKo’s 50th anniversary. “The sheer quality of the submissions made it hard for those of us on the jury to choose the winning ideas.”
1st prize goes to a continuing education platform
In the end, the jury – which was made up of PeKo members Jrène Müller-Gantenbein, Christopher Sauder Engeler, Stefan Karlen, André Blanchard and jury chair Roberto Pascolo – was indeed able to come to a decision, awarding 1st prize to Claudia Sigel (D-MATL). Her idea for a platform on which technical and administrative staff could offer each other internal continuing education courses won the day. As Pascolo explains: “This kind of employee platform goes beyond in-house knowledge transfer to also strengthen the ETH community as a network and as a unit. What’s more, this idea can be implemented quickly, effectively and for a reasonable investment. Claudia Sigel’s succinct submission really hit the nail on the head by proposing something that staff have long wished for.”
2nd and 3rd prizes: ETH card as means of payment and Mensa collection points
The runners-up also came up with promising ideas.
Second prize went to Amirmohammad Miran Zadeh, a doctoral student in D-ITET. His idea, Paying by Legi, involves expanding the function of the ETH card (Legi) so that it can in the future be used at ETH as a means of payment.
Third prize was awarded to a group made up of Christoph Frei, Enrico Manna, Karin Schneider and Franziska Tschudin (all D-BAUG) together with Harald Bollinger (retired). Their idea was about counteracting the problem of overcrowding in the Mensa: in the future, people should be able to order meals online and pick them up at collection points in front of the cafeteria buildings.
These were not the only creative ideas among the 30 or so submissions that made the final shortlist – all aiming to make daily life easier at ETH. The full list as well as more information about the competition is available here (in German).
What’s next?
But what’s going to happen to all these good ideas? “The three best ideas will now be developed in collaboration with the people who came up with them,” says PeKo President Christopher Sauder Engeler. “We’re already in touch with the offices here at ETH that can help us develop and implement these ideas. As soon as we have some concrete results, we will naturally spread the word.”