"We must have the courage to question our own values"

Professor Grêt-​Regamey, congratulations on winning the Dandelion Entrepreneurship Award! What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

If we are not just aiming for gradual progress, the overall impact of our work must be greater than the sum of our individual research. The group must evolve together and create a culture of strength that dares to tackle difficult and socially relevant issues. This is urgently needed in landscape planning, where the barriers to implementing new solutions are strongly rooted in societal values. It requires proactive and joint action, also with society. Entrepreneurship is the collaborative and courageous implementation of surprising solutions.

What role does entrepreneurship play in your research and teaching?

Alongside teaching and research, entrepreneurship is an essential part of landscape development. It is about managing the interactions between people and nature and placing solutions in a spatial context. Entrepreneurship is a crucial link in this tension field, and requires us to engage with society and its values and to exercise our social responsibility in research and teaching.

In 2018, the ETH spin-​off "Incolab" emerged from your PLUS group. What services does it offer?

Incolab puts the findings and tools developed in our research group into practice. In this way, landscape development can be managed concretely and effectively. For example, innovative visioning tools based on artificial intelligence, make it possible to conceive and negotiate radical changes in our landscape. Such approaches allow the ETH spin-​off to actively support the transformation of the landscape.

Is entrepreneurship more of a virus or a gene?

It is contagious like a virus! Entrepreneurship in landscape planning can be seen as a culture that can be learned and is based on continuous progress. This culture is dynamic and aims not only at incremental adjustments but also at profound transformations and changes. In the process, we must have the courage to question our own values. Only with such a transformative attitude will we be able to take important radical steps.

How do you encourage entrepreneurship among your students, doctoral students and postdocs?

Everyone in the group or even in the lecture should take initiative. Our aim is to achieve something together and to join forces. Our projects, which are anchored in current events, require the collaboration of doctoral students, postdocs, students and often stakeholders, who all contribute to the final outcome. New smaller sub-​groups are constantly forming, supporting each other and developing their own solutions. This kind of collaboration is infectious and inspiring! It fosters learning and agility, which are essential for rapidly introducing new solutions and managing sustainable landscape development.