Enterprise for Society Center

We train the next generation of leaders, inspire economic and social transformation, and activate change by strengthening startups and boosting innovation

Visit E4S website

Enterprise for Society Center

We train the next generation of leaders, inspire economic and social transformation, and activate change by strengthening startups and boosting innovation

Visit E4S website

Our mission

E4S is a competence hub which brings together three institutes of academic excellence that are internationally renowned in their own right: the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

The center will promote dialogue between researchers and practitioners working with technology and those focusing on socio-economic issues to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. E4S supports the alliance between management and technology and the need for innovation and adheres to the values of scientific excellence, ethical management, and the social responsibility of companies.

E4S will be a crossroads where scientific and technological developments are confronted with societal changes and where strategies are elaborated to ensure that the former lead to real gains in societal wellbeing.

Visit E4S website

Our vision

Train

Train the next generation of leaders by offering a master’s degree in Sustainable Management and Technology.

Inspire

Inspire socio-economic transformation by connecting more than 70 researchers at the three partnering institutions and beyond to produce knowledge and expertise with a direct impact on the global economy.

Activate

Activate by strengthening the local startup and innovation eco-system. The partner institutions will create a structure that will support startups and feed into the entrepreneurship and innovation tracks in new and existing teaching curricula.

We all have the same vision: to innovate constantly and to create research and educational opportunities that meet society’s needs. Through this joint initiative, we can draw on the best each school has to offer through cross-disciplinary projects and programs that will be more effective given together.

Jean-François Manzoni President, IMD, Switzerland

This is a unique opportunity to take our know-how in sustainability and our long-standing experience, through HEC, in business research and education and combine them with the core competencies of two major universities – one specializing in technology and the other in management and large corporations.

Nouria Hernandez Rector, UNIL, Switzerland

Our society has reached a tipping point. By pooling the right kinds of expertise, we can harness science and technology to take our society in the right direction. That is precisely what E4S has been set up to do.

Martin Vetterli President, EPFL, Switzerland