On Wednesday, 27 May, we had the pleasure of celebrating a major milestone: 10 years of empowering students, fostering innovation, and building a vibrant community at the Student Project House.

The evening brought together donors, sponsors, current and former staff, sparring partners, supporters, alumni, and students from the SPH community. It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on a decade of growth and impact, and to celebrate the many people who have contributed to our journey over the past decade.

Honouring our Roots and Shaping the Future

A major highlight of the event was the official ceremony, which perfectly bridged our past foundation with our future goals.

In his speech, ETH Rector Günther Dissertori acknowledged the team who shaped this journey from the very beginning, paying special tribute to our former heads Martina Zinsli, Maria Hakanson, Stefan Hovestadt, and Moritz Mussgnug. He highlighted the unique mindset that defines the SPH: the willingness to make things happen before it is entirely clear how exactly they will work.

The Rector emphasised that the SPH relies on a vital 50:50 funding split between ETH and philanthropic support, extending his sincere gratitude to our donors and sponsors for making this ecosystem possible. Looking ahead, he also shared our upcoming milestones:

• An upgraded Makerspace featuring AI, XR, and IoT
• A cutting-edge Food Lab for sustainable solutions
• Our joint collaboration with the University of St.Gallen (HSG)

The Freedom to Fail and Grow

Following the Rector, student Lilly Malorny took the stage to represent project Octaris. She shared an honest and inspiring account of her team's journey through two failed projects before successfully building their open-source 3D bioprinter.

Her story perfectly captured a core value of the SPH: that the freedom to fail, pivot, and try again is a necessary part of real innovation and personal development. The SPH is not just about creating startups, but about growing students and helping them learn vital new competencies.

To conclude the official program, Head of SPH Lucie Rejman invited the entire team onto the stage for a celebratory confetti moment, officially kicking off the interactive part of the evening.

Hands-on Experiences and Celebrations

To showcase the breadth of activities taking place in our space, visitors explored project exhibitions featuring 14 of our 616 projects, highlighting the creativity, curiosity, and ambition that continue to drive our community forward.

Our Makerspace was busy throughout the evening with hands-on workshops, giving guests a firsthand experience of the skills and technologies our students work with. Visitors also discovered our digital offerings through an interactive VR experience, allowing participants to explore immersive technologies.

Beyond the exhibitions and workshops, conversations flowed over delicious food (big thanks for the cookies, Project Brownie Paws) and drinks (Project Diavolo), creating an atmosphere of celebration and inspiration. Later in the evening, the space transformed into a vibrant party, with our students continuing the celebration until 22:00.

Thank You to Our Community

As we celebrate this milestone, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported us throughout the past ten years: our donors, sponsors, students, staff, partners, and all those who believed in our mission.

Your trust, commitment, and support continue to inspire us to empower students and our wider community to create, inspire, and lead the future.

Here’s to the next 10 years of experimenting, learning, and building the future together! 🚀

A Note of Thanks: We extend a huge thank you to all the helpers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event seamless, to the project teams who enriched the evening with their culinary creations, and to Marc Triet for DJing the community event.