Aiming to provide a long-term future to their Wyss Zurich Translational Center, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have set up the non-profit Wyss Zurich Foundation.
University of Zurich (UZH) and ETH Zurich established non-profit Wyss Zurich Foundation yesterday with a view of securing the long-term future of accelerator Wyss Zurich Translational Center.
Wyss Zurich Translational Center was set up in 2015 as a joint programme between the two universities to help move research into regenerative medicine and robotics towards real-world applications.
The centre was established through a $120m donation from philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss. Going forward, the foundation will handle donations and the centre will be a recipient of funding.
The foundation’s board of trustees will be made up of a maximum two representatives for each of Wyss Foundation USA, UZH and ETH Zurich. The centre’s co-directors will continue to be Roland Siegwart and Simon Hoerstrup, representing ETH and UZH respectively.
Among the centre’s successes to date is spinout Wingtra, which produces drones that combine the user-friendliness of multicopters with the reach of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Wingtra doubled its funding through a $10m series A round in May 2019 backed by Credit Suisse Entrepreneur Capital, Investiere, Zürcher Kantonalbank, private investors and unnamed existing backers. Wingtra had raised $5.8m from undisclosed investors in January 2018.