Search result: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2020

Management, Technology and Economics Master Information
Recommended Elective Courses
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
363-1103-00LLean Startup Academy – From Idea to Startup Restricted registration - show details
More information & application process via http://www.kickbox.academy
W3 credits2GD. Hengartner
AbstractThis course puts you right at the center of the entrepreneurial action. Equipped with a Kickbox, the innovation toolbox of Swisscom, you will learn how to get from an idea to a tangible prototype and real customer feedback. You will work with state-of-the-art “Lean Startup” methodologies from Silicon Valley, that are used by successful entrepreneurs globally and learn entrepreneurial competences.
ObjectiveAfter completing this course:
1. Students will be able to validate an own startup idea with “Lean Startup” methodologies and tools.
2. Students can explain and apply different “Lean Startup” methodologies and tools to validate startup ideas.
3. Students can identify advantages and challenges of different “Lean Startup” methodologies and tools.
4. Students can outline the different steps of validating problem and solution behind their startup idea.
5. Students can test the market in qualitative and quantitative way with “Lean Startup” methodologies and tools.
6. Students can conceptualise, produce and hold a startup pitch presentation in front of a jury.
ContentHave you ever considered becoming a successful startup entrepreneur after finishing your studies? Are you interested in entrepreneurship and want to learn how to work in a startup? Do you just have a great startup idea and want to validate its business potential? If you answered one or more of these questions with “yes”, the Lean Startup Academy might be the right course for you.

This course will be put right at the center of the entrepreneurial action. Equipped with your own Kickbox, the innovation toolbox of Swisscom, you will learn how to get from an idea to a tangible prototype and real customer feedback. You will work with state-of-the-art Lean Startup methodologies from Silicon Valley, that are used by successful entrepreneurs globally. It is project-based learning and you will apply everything you learn right away to validate your own business idea or the idea of another student.

At the beginning, you will reflect on your motivation and get the chance to pitch your startup idea to the whole class. Your goal is to recruit a team of other students to validate your idea. Every team will receive a project budget of CHF 1'000.- to validate the startup idea. You don’t need to pitch an idea and not all presented ideas will be validated during class.

The next module will focus around the problem behind your startup idea. You will do research and define different personas. Then you apply quantitative and qualitative methods to engage with potential customers and find a “problem worth solving”.

Now you will start prototyping your first solutions and test them on the market to get real customer feedback. You will be surprised how fast, cheap and lean you can do that with the tools and methods that are taught in class.

In the next phase you will design the vision, strategy and business model of your startup idea and define your MVP (Minimal Viable Product) and PoC (Proof of Concept).

Finally, you will present your validated startup idea to an investor jury. Beforehand you will learn how to structure a pitch, convince your audience and become a successful presenter.

But this is not the end – hopefully you were bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and this was just the beginning of your startup journey. In the final class you will learn about the different options to turn your startup idea into an actual startup.

This class is taught at the Swisscom Pirates Hub by corporate entrepreneurship experts, who coach intra- & entrepreneurs on a daily base and provide you with hands-on training and mentoring. The course builds on experiential learning and you will do things rather that listening to concepts and theories. That means, high levels of motivation, commitment and energy are required to take part in this course and move the entrepreneurial ideas forward. As a reward you will learn how to work in a startup environment and develop strong entrepreneurial competences.

Due to space limitations a maximum of 32 students will be admitted to the program. If you are interested in participating, please apply via http://www.kickbox.academy/ and join the waiting list in eDoz.
Prerequisites / NoticeMore information & application process via http://www.kickbox.academy

Please don't forget to also register for the waiting list via myStudies.
376-1178-00LHuman Factors IIW3 credits2VM. Menozzi Jäckli, R. Huang, M. Siegrist
AbstractStrategies, abilities and needs of human at work as well as properties of products and systems are factors controlling quality and performance in everyday interactions. In Human Factors II (HF II), cognitive aspects are in focus therefore complementing the more physical oriented approach in HF I. A basic scientific approach is adopted and relevant links to practice are illustrated.
ObjectiveThe goal of the lecture is to empower students in designing products and systems enabling an efficient and qualitatively high standing interaction between human and the environment, considering costs, benefits, health, well-being, and safety as well. The goal is achieved in addressing a broad variety of topics and embedding the discussion in macroscopic factors such as the behavior of consumers and objectives of economy.
ContentCognitive factors in perception, information processing and action. Experimental techniques in assessing human performance and well-being, human factors and ergonomics in development of products and complex systems, innovation, decision taking, consumer behavior.
LiteratureSalvendy G. (ed), Handbook of Human Factors, Wiley & Sons, 2012
363-1100-00LRisk Case Study Challenge Restricted registration - show details
Does not take place this semester.
W3 credits2SA. Bommier, S. Feuerriegel
AbstractThis seminar provides master students at ETH with the challenging opportunity of working on a real risk modelling and risk management case in close collaboration with a Risk Center Partner Company. For the Spring 2019 Edition the Partner will be Zurich Insurance Group.
ObjectiveStudents work on a real risk-related case of a business relevant topic provided by experts from Risk Center partners. While gaining substantial insights into the risk modeling and management of the industry, students explore the case or problem on their own, working in teams, and develop possible solutions. The cases allow students to use logical problem solving skills with emphasis on evidence and application and involve the integration of scientific knowledge. Typically, the risk-related cases can be complex, cover ambiguities, and may be addressed in more than one way. During the seminar students visit the partners’ headquarters, conduct interviews with members of the management team as well as internal and external experts, and present their results.
ContentGet a basic understanding of
o The insurance and reinsurance business
o Risk management and risk modelling
o The role of operational risk management

Get in contact with industry experts and conduct interviews on the topic.

Conduct a small empirical study and present findings to the company
Prerequisites / NoticePlease apply for this course via the official website (Link). Apply no later than February 15, 2019.
The number of participants is limited to 14.
860-0015-00LSupply and Responsible Use of Mineral Resources I Restricted registration - show details W3 credits2GB. Wehrli, F. Brugger, K. Dolejs Schlöglova, S. Hellweg, C. Karydas
AbstractStudents critically assess the economic, social, political, and environmental implications of extracting and using energy resources, metals, and bulk materials along the mineral resource cycle for society. They explore various decision-making tools that support policies and guidelines pertaining to mineral resources, and gain insight into different perspectives from government, industry, and NGOs.
ObjectiveStudents will be able to:
- Explain basic concepts applied in resource economics, economic geology, extraction, processing and recycling technologies, environmental and health impact assessments, resource governance, and secondary materials.
- Evaluate the policies and guidelines pertaining to mineral resource extraction.
- Examine decision-making tools for mineral resource related projects.
- Engage constructively with key actors from governmental organizations, mining and trading companies, and NGOs, dealing with issues along the mineral resource cycle.
Prerequisites / NoticeBachelor of Science, Architecture or Engineering, and enrolled in a Master's or PhD program at ETH Zurich. Students must be enrolled in this course in order to participate in the case study module course 860-0016-00 Supply and Responsible Use of Mineral Resources II.
363-1095-00LCommercializing Science and Technology Restricted registration - show details W3 credits2GJ. Thiel
AbstractThis is the first knowledge module within the CAS ELTV. During this module, we (1) introduce the CAS and ETH, (2) will learn more about each participant and their business projects, and (3) will also discuss the core themes of this module on important considerations of strategy formation in technology ventures.
ObjectiveThis module will enable participants:
- To understand and select from commercialization strategies available to them (e.g., licensing, partnering, and vertical integration) and respective business model choices
- Assess and generate development options for key internal enabling factors such IP strategy and key resources and capabilities
- Understand different market research and developments tools (lean start-up vs. technology broadcasting) and select appropriate methods and related KPIs
ContentThis CAS ELTV module focuses on elements of entrepreneurial strategy formation and implementation in nascent markets and/or industries. Participants will study commercial options available to them, e.g., technology broadcasting, licensing and partnering, and vertical integration, which is complemented by a practical view on IP strategy, driven by business strategy rather than arbitrary choices.

The module also includes the introduction to lean innovation methods incl. agile product development methods and core tools of the lean startup approach.

This 2-day module is extended by the kick-off event for the leadership coaching.

For more information, see also our online platform.
Lecture notesSee Online Platform
LiteratureSee Online Platform
Prerequisites / NoticeThis module is only for CAS ELTV participants.
363-1043-00LMarketing AnalyticsW3 credits2SS. Tillmanns
AbstractStudents will use extensive customer data from an insurance company in order to develop prediction models for e.g. customer revenue and churn in a prediction challenge. They will work in groups and give a final presentation.
The class will be held by Andrea Ferrario (Mobiliar Lab for Analytics/Chair of Technology Marketing) and Sebastian Tillmanns (Chair of Technology Marketing).
Objective- Participants of this class will gain an understanding, how value can be generated out of customer data.
- Participants will learn how to prepare real customer data.
- Participants will be able to develop prediction models autonomously.
ContentStudents of this class will gain an understanding how to extract value from customer data autonomously by participating in a prediction competition. Therefore, they receive real customer data from an insurance company. Students are free to prepare the provided data and develop prediction models in the way they consider the best. Their freedom of choice covers all statistical methods, software packages and data that are available to them. At the end of the class, their predictions will be compared with the real development of the customers in the provided sample. Furthermore, students will give final presentations at the end of the class, which will be joined by representatives of the insurance company. Students will have to write a short paper, in which they describe how they proceeded. We expect that students test different prediction models against each other to justify their proceeding.
At the beginning of the class, students will be able to visit several lectures, which will help to work on the given prediction task. These lectures involve fundamentals of marketing analytics and data analytics with common software packages. Throughout the lecture, several time slots are provided, where students can discuss their prediction models with the lecturers Andrea Ferrario (Mobiliar Lab for Analytics/Chair of Technology Marketing) and Sebastian Tillmanns (Chair of Technology Marketing).
The data handling and prediction skills students achieve in this class are not limited to marketing applications, but can be easily extended to other fields where predications of continuous or binary metrics are useful.
363-1117-00LFactory Planning and DesignW3 credits3GR. Binkert, T. Netland
AbstractThis course deals with the complex process of planning and designing manufacturing factories and warehouses, from idea conception to operation. It provides students theoretical knowledge as well as practical insights into various aspects that need to be considered when managing factory planning and design projects.
ObjectiveThe general objective of this course is to enable students to effectively participate in real factory planning and design projects. Specifically, after completing this course:
1. Students can outline the basic factors to be considered when planning a new factory.
2. Students can explain and apply methods for factory planning and design.
3. Students can identify issues and difficulties in factory planning and design.
4. Students can select suitable material handling systems.
5. Students have a basic understanding of the tasks and how to face them when a new factory and its systems are being built and put into operation.
ContentThe planning and design of factories and warehouses is a truly interdisciplinary task and a central activity for any manufacturer and logistics service provider. A factory is much more than just a building or a working space. Factory planning and design is a strategic task that will have a long-lasting effect on a business’ ability to create value. Many aspects must be carefully considered. Among the most important ones are location, size, capacity, technology, factory floor layout, materials flow, resources flow, human factors, and construction aspects.

In this course, students will learn about the planning and design of factories through the introduction of theory and real-life examples. Basic principles of this discipline will be introduced and discussed in class. Students will learn concepts about project methodologies, layout planning, process management, materials flow, and building specifications. In addition, various real project examples will be presented.

In the beginning of this course, students will be given a realistic factory planning and design case which they solve through group work. The necessary knowledge and methods to solve the case will be covered throughout the course. Finally, the groups hand in their solution in written form and present their solution in class.

This course is taught by a practitioner with longstanding project experience in planning and designing factories all over the world and in different industries. Students are encouraged to reflect upon the course content and actively engage in class discussions.
Lecture notesLectures notes by René Binkert.
LiteratureWiendahl, H-P; Reichart, J. and Nyhuis, P. (2015) Handbook Factory Planning and Design, Springer Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. ETH has full e-access at Link
Prerequisites / NoticeThe course Production and Operations Management is highly recommended, but not a prerequisite.
363-1114-00LIntroduction to Risk Modelling and ManagementW3 credits2VB. J. Bergmann, D. N. Bresch, J. Teichmann
AbstractThis course provides an introduction to various aspects of modelling, dealing and managing risk across different industries, contexts and applications. Classes will alternate between risk professionals from industry and government and academics coming from different disciplines.
ObjectiveStudents get familiar with the building blocks of risk modelling: uncertainty, vulnerability, resilience, decision-making under uncertainty. The course looks at different approaches to modelling and dealing as well as mitigating different kind of risks in different industries and get to understand the relation to the decision-making process in business and the value chain of a company. Cases range from enterprise risk management, natural catastrophes, climate risk, energy market risk, risk engineering, financial risks, operational risk, cyber risk and more. An additional emphasis will be on the data-driven approach to smart algorithms applied to risk modelling and management. After taking this course, students should be able to demonstrate that they can identify and formulate a risk analysis problem with quantitative methods in a particular field.
ContentThe course covers the following areas:
1. Fundamentals of Risk Modelling: Probability, Uncertainty, Vulnerability, Decision-Making under Uncertainty
2. Fundamentals of Risk Management and Enterprise Risk Management
3. Risk Modelling and Management across Different areas with invited Speakers
The list of Speakers can be found here: Link
Lecture notesLecture notes and slides will be provided via moodle
363-1115-00LEnergy Innovation and Management Restricted registration - show details W3 credits1VA. Stephan, G. Mavromatidis
AbstractFundamental changes in the energy sector, such as more decentralized energy production, challenge the existing business models of organizations such as utilities or technology providers. This course adopts quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore innovation and managerial, organizational and decision-making aspects in the energy sector for the transition to a low-carbon energy system.
ObjectiveAfter completing the course, students will be able to:
• Understand the challenges occurring in the energy sector and that companies (in or relying on the energy sector) are facing
• Understand the basics of managerial/organizational aspects in the energy sector with a particular focus on energy innovations
• Identify and use the appropriate quantitative energy tools for strategic decision-making in the energy sector
ContentThis course explores innovation and managerial, organizational and decision-making aspects in the energy sector for the transition towards a low-carbon energy system. The course is split in two parts with a quantitative and a qualitative focus, respectively.

In the first part, students will learn about aspects such as the financial valuation of energy investment decisions and the ways that quantitative energy models of different types can be used to assist with strategic decision-making in the energy sector. Students will be introduced to two types of models: (1) techno-economic analyses of renewable energy generation and storage technologies, and (2) an energy market game which simulates the behavior of utilities in an electricity market. This part of the course will include individual and group assignments.

In the second part, guided by questions like “how does the energy industry change and why” or “how would you make the decision if you were the head of a utility”, the students will understand how firms manage innovations and why they can be difficult to manage even for established firms in the energy sector. This part of the course will be guided as an interactive case study.
363-1116-00LClimate FinanceW3 credits2GV. Stolbova
AbstractThe course will focus on understanding the impact of climate on the financial system, as well as how financial actors contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.
ObjectiveThe objectives of this course are threefold. First, it aims to provide participants with an overview of the state-of-the-art situation in matters of the impact of climate on finance and the impact of finance on the environment. Second, it introduces current challenges in the fields of sustainable finance, environmental finance and climate finance, and familiarizes participants with existing methods to solve these challenges. Third, it equips participants with knowledge and tools in climate-finance data analysis which could be applied to the real-world cases by calculating climate-related risks and gains for specific market players.
ContentIt is comprised of three parts:

The first part will give an overview of the relation between finance and climate. It will start with an introduction of the nature of climate change phenomenon and its financial implications. Several types of climate-related financial risks will be considered including physical risks of climate change (financial risks associated with natural disasters), and transition risks (associated with transition to a low-carbon economy, climate policies and regulations, stranded assets). In addition, risks and opportunities associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy will be discussed for institutional sectors (banks, investment funds, pension funds and insurance sector), individual market players, and the real economy.

The second part will allow the participants to acquire knowledge of existing methods and tools in financial climate-related risk assessment including both state-of-the-art academic research methods and current industry practices. It will also discuss instruments available to market players for financing the transition to a low-carbon economy (e.g. green bonds, climate funds, concessional loans) and existing measures of assessing environmental impact of investments. Participants of the course will have an opportunity to apply these methods to real-case portfolios of selected market players.

The third part will address economic and financial effects of climate policies and environmental regulations. It will start with an overview of implemented and widely debated climate policies. Then, it will discuss existing models for development of economic sectors considering various climate policies and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets. Finally, the course will address the impact of climate policies on financial institutions, real economy, individual investors, and provide main arguments on the heated debate on “winners and losers” on the way to decarbonization.
LiteratureThe main reference of the course is the set of lecture notes; students will also be encouraged to read some influential books and academic articles dealing with the issues under study:
[1] “Environmental finance: A guide to Environmental Risk Assessment and financial products”, Labatt, S. and White, R. 2002
[2] “Carbon Finance: the financial implications of climate change”, Labatt, S. and White, R., 2007
[3] “Handbook of environmental and sustainable finance”, Ramiah, V. and Gregoriou, G., 2015
[4] “Greening Economy, Graying Society”, Bretschger, L., CER-ETH Press, Zurich, 2018, 2nd edition
[5] “Natural Resource & Environmental Economics”, Perman, R., Ma, Y., McGilvray, J, Maddison, D., and Common, M., 4th edition, Longman, Essex, 2011
Additional literature:
[6] “Breaking the tragedy of the Horizon - climate change and financial stability”, Carney, M., 2015. Speech given at Lloyd's of London by the Governor of the Bank of England.

[7] “A climate stress-test of the financial system“, Battiston, S., Mandel, A., Monasterolo, I., Schutze, F., Visentin, G., 2017, Nature Clim. Change 7 (4), 283–288.

[8] “Vulnerable yet relevant: the two dimensions of climate-related financial disclosure”, Monasterolo, I., Battiston, S., Janetos, A., Zheng, Z., 2017, Clim. Chang. 145 (3-4), 495–507.

[9] “Rolling the “DICE”: an optimal transition path for controlling greenhouse gases”, Nordhaus, W.D., 1993. Resour. Energy Econ. 15 (1), 27–50

[10] “A Financial Macro-Network Approach to Climate Policy Evaluation”, Stolbova, V., Monasterolo, I., Battiston, S., Ecological Economics, 149, 2018, 239–253
363-1122-00LFrom Entrepreneurial Thinking to Market Relevance - How Startups Scale Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 40.
W3 credits2GA. Sethi
AbstractThis elective is relevant if you’re planning to join or start a startup in the near future. It will help you recognise how value is created and captured. This includes go-to market, marketing & visibility across verticals & across the supply chain for sustained value capture & business model sustainability.

In short, it’s the journey of how to create a billion dollar startup.
ObjectiveAt the conclusion of the course, the students are able to:

1. The difference between technology and market relevance
2. Recognise challenges that startups face when they move from technology to commercialisation
3. Addressing the failures of startups in scaling, and how early decisions limit scaling and value capture
4. How recognising market need can help startups to create value and strengthen valuation with investors
ContentTechnology startups face challenges in identifying market relevance in the course of commercialisation. Additionally, once they have matched their offering with market needs, they face additional challenges when scaling up since they get locked in early. Due to this, technology startups plateau off as niche.

Platform startups, on the other hand, struggle with retaining relevance. Due to these aspects, failure rates are very high.

This course addresses students who want to become entrepreneurs or want to join startups. They may come from business or science & technology backgrounds. The course will enable the students to identify the relevance of seeing the technology from an early stage startup from the market relevance perspective and use this to help the company drive revenue and relevance. The students will also get an overview of how platform startups can retain relevance. The students will have exposure to investors and entrepreneurs (with a focus on ETH spin-offs) through the course, to gain insight to commercialisation and subsequent scaling up of the technology.

Topics cover idea validation, technology and market size validation and assessment of market relevance, assessing time-to-market, customer focus, perceived value for customers, and finally, opportunities of maximising relevance of technology idea into sustained market traction. There is a particular emphasis on market validation on each step of the journey, to ensure relevance.

The course comprises lectures and talks from invited investors / entrepreneurs regarding the aforementioned elements. Additionally, students will form teams and will support an existing startup over the course of the semester. This will allow them to gain first-hand experience and insights into the dynamics of a early stage company. By having such real-life exposure, the course content will be transferred from theory to practice.

Grading of the course will be based on in-class presentations as well as the student teams' performance and support of their selected startups.
Literature“From Science to Startup” by A. Sethi
363-1017-00LRisk and Insurance EconomicsW3 credits2GI. Gemmo
AbstractThe course covers economics of risk and insurance. Topics covered are fundamentals of risk, individual decision making under risk, fundamentals of insurance, information asymmetries in insurance markets, and the macroeconomic role of insurers.
ObjectiveThe goal is to introduce students to basic concepts of risk, risk management and economics of insurance.
Content- fundamentals of risk
- individual decision making under risk
- fundamentals of insurance
- information asymmetries in insurance markets
- the macroeconomic role of insurers
LiteratureMain literature:

- Eeckhoudt, L., Gollier, C., & Schlesinger, H. (2005). Economic and Financial Decisions under Risk. Princeton University Press.
- Zweifel, P., & Eisen, R. (2012). Insurance Economics. Springer.


Further readings:

- Dionne, G. (Ed.). (2013). Handbook of Insurance (2nd ed.). Springer.
- Hufeld, F., Koijen, R. S., & Thimann, C. (Eds.). (2017). The Economics, Regulation, and Systemic Risk of Insurance Markets. Oxford University Press.
- Niehaus, H., & Harrington, S. (2003). Risk Management and Insurance (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill.
- Rees, R., & Wambach, A. (2008). The Microeconomics of Insurance, Foundations and Trends® in Microeconomics, 4(1–2), 1-163.
363-1130-00LDigital Health Restricted registration - show details W3 credits2VT. Kowatsch
AbstractToday, we face the challenge of chronic conditions. Personal coaching approaches are neither scalable nor financially sustainable. The question arises therefore to which degree Digital Health applications are appropriate to address this challenge. In this lecture, students will learn about the need, design and assessment of digital health interventions.
ObjectiveNHS teams up with Amazon to bring Alexa to patients (The Guardian, July 2019), Contactless cardiac arrest detection using smart devices (Nature Digital Medicine, June 2019), Apple Heart Study demonstrates ability of wearable technology to detect atrial fibrillation (Standford Medicine News, March 2019), Digital health companies raised a total of $4.2B across 180 deals through the first half of 2019. If this pace holds steady, the sector is on track for an $8.4B year in 2019 - and may even top 2018's record-breaking annual funding total. Sean Day, Rocket Health, 2019 Midyear Digital Health Market Update

What are the rationale and implications behind the recent developments in the field of digital health?

Digital Health is the use of information and communication technology for the prevention and treatment of diseases in the everyday life of individuals. It is thus linked to topics such as digital health interventions, digital biomarker, digital coaches and healthcare chatbots, telemedicine, mobile and wearable computing, self-tracking, personalized medicine, connected health, smart homes or smart cars.

In the 20th century, healthcare systems specialized in acute care. In the 21st century, we now face the challenge of dealing with the specific characteristics of chronic conditions. These are now responsible for around 70% of all deaths worldwide and 85% of all deaths in Europe and are associated with an estimated economic loss of $7 trillion between 2011 and 2025. Chronic diseases are characterized in particular by the fact that they require an intervention paradigm that focuses on prevention and lifestyle change. Lifestyle (e.g., diet, physical activity, tobacco or alcohol consumption) can reduce the risk of suffering from a chronic condition or, if already present, can reduce its burden. A corresponding change in lifestyle is, however, only implemented by a fraction of those affected, partly because of missing or inadequate interventions or health literacy, partly due to socio-cultural influences. Individual personal coaching of these individuals is neither scalable nor financially sustainable.

Against this background, the question arises on how to develop evidence-based digital health interventions (DHIs) that allow medical doctors and other caregivers to scale and tailor long-term treatments to individuals in need at sustainable costs. At the intersection of health economics, information systems research, computer science, and behavioral medicine, this lecture has the objective to help students and upcoming healthcare executives interested in the multi-disciplinary field of digital health to better understand the need, design and assessment of DHIs.

After the course, students will be able to...

1. understand the importance of DHIs for the management of chronic conditions
2. understand the anatomy of DHIs
3. know frameworks for the design of DHIs
4. know evaluation criteria for DHIs
5. know technologies for DHIs
6. assess DHIs
7. discuss the advantages and disadvantages of DHIs
ContentTo reach these learning objectives, the following topics are covered in the lecture and will be discussed based on concrete national and international examples including DHIs from the Center for Digital Health Interventions (Link), a joint initiative of the Department of Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich and the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St.Gallen:

1. Motivation for Digital Health
- The rise of chronic diseases in developed countries
- The discrepancy of acute care and care of chronic diseases
- Lifestyle as medicine and prevention
- From excellence of care in healthcare institutions to excellence of care in everyday life

2. Anatomy of Digital Health Interventions
- Just-in-time adaptive interventions
- Digital biomarker for predicting states of vulnerability
- Digital biomarker for predicting states of receptivity
- Digital coaching and healthcare chatbots

3. Design & Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions
- Overview of design frameworks
- Preparation of DHIs
- Optimization of DHIs
- Evaluation of DHIs
- Implementation of DHIs

4. Digital Health Technologies
- Technologies for telemedicine
- Mobile medical devices
- Virtual, augmented and mixed reality applications incl. live demonstrations
- Privacy and regulatory considerations

The Digital Health lecture is structured in two parts and follows the concept of a hybrid therapy consisting of on-site sessions and complementary online lessons. In the first part, students will learn and discuss the topics of the four learning modules in weekly on-site sessions. Complementary learning material (e.g., video and audio clips), multiple-choice questions and exercises are provided online.

In the second part, students work in teams and will use their knowledge from the first part of the lecture to critically assess DHIs. Each team will then present and discuss the findings of the assessment with their fellow students who will provide peer-reviews. Additional on-site coaching sessions are offered to support the teams with the preparation of their presentations.
Literature1.Chaix, B. (2018) Mobile Sensing in Environmental Health and Neighborhood Research Annual Review of Public Health (39), 367-384.
2.Collins, L. M. (2018) Optimization of Behavioral, Biobehavioral, and Biomedical Interventions: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) New York: Springer.
3.Corneta, V. P., and Holden, R. J. (2018) Systematic Review of Smartphone-Based Passive Sensing for Health and Wellbeing Journal of Biomedical Informatics (77:January), 120-132.
4.Coravos, A., Khozin, S., and K. D. Mandl (2019) Developing and Adopting Safe and Effective Digital Biomarkers to Improve Patient Outcomes Nature Digital Medicine 2 Paper 14.
5.Katz, D. L., E. P. Frates, J. P. Bonnet, S. K. Gupta, E. Vartiainen and R. H. Carmona (2018) Lifestyle as Medicine: The Case for a True Health Initiative American Journal of Health Promotion 32 (6), 1452-1458.
6.Kvedar, J. C., A. L. Fogel, E. Elenko and D. Zohar (2016) Digital medicine's march on chronic disease Nature Biotechnology 34 (3), 239-246
7.Nahum-Shani, I., S. N. Smith, B. J. Spring, L. M. Collins, K. Witkiewitz, A. Tewari and S. A. Murphy (2018) Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) in Mobile Health: Key Components and Design Principles for Ongoing Health Behavior Support Annals of Behavioral Medicine 52 (6), 446-462.
8. Sim, I. (2019). Mobile Devices and Health. The New England Journal of Medicine, 381(10), 956-968.
363-1129-00LHumanitarian Operations and Supply Chain Management Restricted registration - show details W3 credits2VS. Wagner, S. B. Thakur-Weigold
AbstractAs both manmade and natural disasters are on the increase, the humanitarian sector has been growing accordingly. Because logistics typically comprises 70-80% of mission budgets, efficient operations and supply chain management are critical to maximizing impact. This course explores the emerging theory and best practices which address this need.
ObjectiveUpon completion of this seminar, participants will be able to differentiate between the commercial and humanitarian operational context and recognize the distinct phases of an intervention. They will be able to assess the humanitarian program as a system with constrained resources, and analyze logistics and supply chain processes fit to purpose. The course will involve both, research and practice, to ensure a realistic and rigorous understanding of humanitarian operations and supply chain management.
ContentThe seminar will review the strategies and core processes existing in a humanitarian supply chain, emphasizing how these are different from the commercial context, and explore success factors in practice. The instructional design will combine lectures and readings with videos, reports from the field, simulations and case studies.

1. Introduction to the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), and the specific requirements of the humanitarian sector, together with what these imply for operations and supply chain management. How does HumOSCM differ from the commercial context? We will review what it means to be a refugee, an IDP, or a person affected by a natural or manmade disaster, the key stakeholders in a humanitarian intervention, current trends in the sector, and the role of the logistics cluster.

2. Humanitarian interventions follow a lifecycle whose distinct phases create different requirements for logistics and other activities. We will review and discuss the characteristics of each phase and their respective strategies as well as fundamental types of intervention (emergency response vs. ongoing missions vs. development projects).

3. The activities in a humanitarian intervention must be understood as a system in which material can only be delivered properly if information flows. We will emphasize how collaboration and coordination are key to successful field operations, and experience the effects of broken feedback loops and poor system design.

4. Review of the core processes of the humanitarian supply chain: procurement, planning (preparedness), transportation (fleet management), inventory management (pre-positioning), donor management and reporting, and performance management.

5. Special topic / deep dive: Applying lean principles to humanitarian operations, with a report from the field.

6. Special topic / deep dive: How technologies (such as retinal recognition, drones, GPS mapping, cash programs), are changing the way aid is delivered, with a report from the field. When considering the impact of technological innovations, we will discuss the importance of process innovations as well.
Lecture notesThe course material will be made available for download on Moodle:

Link

All organizational matters will be handled by the teaching assistant Lysann Seifert (Link).
LiteratureThere is no obligatory or recommended textbook.

Readings that you might consult during the course will be provided for download.
Prerequisites / NoticeThe final course grade will be a weighted average of the following:
- Study of a current humanitarian intervention or disaster scenario and presentation of an appropriate HumOSCM strategy, including written summary (group work): 60%
- Written summary of a case study analysis with findings and solution (individual work): 40%

The course is limited to 20 participants. Application and pre-registration is necessary.

Please register by January 24, 2020 at the latest via myStudies and send your CV and a one-paragraph motivation for taking the course to the teaching assistant Lysann Seifert (Link). All registrations will be assigned to the waiting list, and students will be informed about the selection outcome by February 10, 2020.
363-1132-00LBusiness Models for a Circular Economy Restricted registration - show details W3 credits1.5GC. Bening-Bach, N. U. Blum
AbstractThis course leads students through the process of re-thinking an existing product in a circular way. At the end of the course students will come up with new, circular business models for their products. The course consists of an overview of circular economy principles, research, diverse workshop formats and team work.
Objective1) Students familiarize themselves with the principles of a circular economy
2) Students critically reflect on the limits of a circular economy
3) Students experience a re-thinking process of an existing product along circular economy principles
ContentThis course is aimed at people with a keen interest to understand and solve societal and environmental problems employing the principles of a circular economy.

The seminar consists of a mix of lectures, workshops, individual working sessions, and team work. Critical reflection is an integrative part of the process.

The course tackles a topic that in the light of climate change, resource scarcity and decreasing biodiversity, gains traction in industry, policy and academia: Circular economy. A circular economy is a regnerative system that uses as little resources as possible in the most efficient way. The implementation of a circular economy offers different ways to do so, e.g. by re-design, re-use, re-cycling. Along these different "cycles" new business models arise.

In this course students evaluate different products on their potential for a circular economy by considering - among others -the product's technical, economic, and legal environment. Once they strengthened their knowledge on the product and oh circular economy principles, they will develop solutions and business models in teams. The course ends with a pitching event, where the teams will present their solutions and business ideas.
363-1128-00LPricing - Theory and Practice Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 25.
W3 credits1GF. Uhrich, F. von Wangenheim
AbstractPricing is much more than just a price: lt is about how to convert interest into transaction. Pricing combines like almost no other business discipline quantitative and analytical rigor with qualitative and psychological aspects.
This course explains the underlying economical and psychological concepts that influence price setting and price perception.
ObjectiveUnderstand underlying theories and concepts of price setting and price perception. Learn how to master pricing from strategy to execution.
See how diverse pricing can be across industries.
Content- Introduction to pricing
the relevance of pricing & the profit formula

- Pricing theory—3 lenses on pricing & a holistic view on pricing:
cost-based pricing, customer/value-based pricing, competitive pricing & the holistic view on all pricing layers (pricing strategy, pricing execution, pricing enablers)

- Price elasticity—theory & reality:
price elasticity curves, break-even elasticity, typical elasticity values

- Behavioral pricing—cognitive biases:
value perception (loss aversion, transactional utility, precise pricing, power of free), reference frames (anchoring, asymmetric dominance, extremeness aversion, unit framing), certainty effects (IKEA effect, social proof, endowment effect), and flat-rate bias

- Pricing practice—key concepts by industry:
B2B (pricing power, price realization, surcharges, long-tail pricing, one-shot pricing, contract pricing), B2B2C (multi-channel pricing, price waterfall, trade spend, cross-border pricing), B2C (Promo effectiveness, psychological prices, good-better-best pricing, end-of-lifecycle pricing, non-profit/social pricing), eCommerce, digital/software/subscriptions (internet of things, land & expand, freemium, bundling/unbundling, lifecycle)

- Pricing diagnostics & price monitoring:
price clouds, price-mix-reporting, basket analysis

The course is a mixture of front lecture and student homework and presentation.
Supplementary Courses
The students have to deepen their knowledge in the area(s) of engineering/natural sciences in consultation with the responsible professor (tutor) and must choose the tutor by the end of the first semester. Core courses and electives of D-MTEC can not be used as supplementary courses.
» Course Catalogue of ETH Zurich
Industrial Internship
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
363-0879-00LPractical Training Restricted registration - show details O6 creditsexternal organisers
AbstractThe practical experience gained by the student complets the studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and prepars her/him for future activities in industry.
ObjectiveThe practical experience gained by the student complets the studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and prepars her/him for future activities in industry.
Master's Thesis
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
363-0600-00LMaster's Thesis Restricted registration - show details
Only students who fulfill the following criteria are allowed to begin with their master thesis:
a. successful completion of the bachelor programme;
b. fulfilling of any additional requirements necessary to gain admission to the master programme;
c. internship fulfilled;
d. academic writting course has been completed
O30 credits57DSupervisors
AbstractIn the Master Thesis students prove their ability to independent, structured and scientific working. The master's thesis is supervised by the tutor and normally deals with a subject contained in the major fields. The research will be performed normally within a private company or at the ETH Zurich.
ObjectiveIn the Master Thesis students prove their ability to independent, structured and scientific working. The master's thesis is supervised by the tutor and normally deals with a subject contained in the major fields. The research will be performed normally within a private company or at the ETH Zurich.
363-1063-00LAcademic Writing Course Restricted registration - show details
Compulsory for all MTEC MSc students.
O0 credits1GR. Mihalka, S. Milligan
AbstractThis course for MTEC MSc students focuses on developing and refining students' English writing skills and their understanding of the requirements and conventions of academic writing. The course is particularly designed to support students during the writing process, so participants are expected to bring work in progress (reports, semester papers, etc.) to the workshops.
ObjectiveThe aim of this course is to improve the academic writing skills needed to complete academic texts successfully and efficiently. The course provides theoretical input, practical writing exercises, and detailed individual feedback organised into one group lecture and four workshops in smaller tutorial groups.

Initially, the lecture provides an overview of the range of demands on writers of reports, papers, and MSc theses and outlines the academic expectations that students must meet. Guidance is then provided in the workshops on planning the writing process effectively, and individual feedback is provided to enhance writing ability.

The course develops a range of practical and transferrable writing skills. Students can use these skills to improve the overall quality of their academic writing and to produce their reports, papers, and theses more rapidly and efficiently. The writing skills developed here can be used beyond the MSc, whether students go on to complete a PhD or to produce reports and other documents in industry.
ContentGroup lecture:
an introduction to writing at MSc level in D-MTEC
anglophone expectations of academic writing
avoiding plagiarism

Workshop 1:
the writing process
overview of common academic text structures
building academic vocabulary

Workshop 2:
writing methods sections
embedding figures and tables
structuring sentences and paragraphs
noun phrases and articles

Workshop 3:
introductions; results and discussion sections
analysis v description
writing critically
relative clauses

Workshop 4:
abstracts and conclusions
editing your own text
punctuation, spelling, and grammar
Lecture notesNotes will be available after registration.

The course is highly recommended to all MTEC MSc students once they have begun writing assignments such as reports and semester papers.
Prerequisites / NoticeIt is also compulsory for students who started in Spring 2015 or later. It is offered each semester (spring and autumn).
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