Eva Weissenböck
Eva Weissenböck joined the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization in 2021 after receiving her doctorate from the Technical University of Munich (Germany). Eva’s research focuses on entrepreneurial teams. She seeks to understand how teams innovate, and what enables them to operate sustainably and to tackle societal problems. In 2023, she additionally joined EPFL’s Executive Education unit as an Academic Supervisor of the programs, where she primarily worked on the EPFL EMBA program design and drove the program’s AMBA re-accreditation. Eva joined IMD as a Learning Manager. LinkedIn
Pietro Bargagli
Pietro has been teaching assistant and doctoral student at the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization. He holds a LL.M in Compared Constitutional Law from University of Pisa. Author of a book on the looming dangers to democracy and civil liberties in a European Union plagued by populist phenomena and terrorist threats (published in Italy in 2019), he combined his interest in the defense of civil rights with that in socio-economic aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship. In his research he focused on mapping measures to counter depopulation of rural villages and inland areas, in particular on the long-term effects of entrepreneurial incentives to rebuild resilient and vital rural communities.
He is currently writing his upcoming novels while advising rural communities that wish to revitalize themselves by acquiring an entrepreneurial mindset.
Enrico Bergamini
Enrico joined EPFL’s College of Management of Technology in 2018 as a doctoral student in Management of Technology, and successfully defended his thesis in 2023. His doctoral research, which focused on exploring entrepreneurial endeavors to address grand societal challenges, contributed to gaining a better understanding of organizational hybridity, social identity, and prosocial motivation. Today, he is a Lecturer in Sustainable Entrepreneurship at EPFL, as well as a Professor of Entrepreneurial Management at Business School Lausanne (BSL). Additionally, Enrico works as a Startup Analyst at FONGIT, Switzerland’s premier innovation hub specializing in deep-tech and high-impact innovation. LinkedIn
Christina Hertel
Christina Hertel joined the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization in 2018 after receiving her doctorate from the Technical University of Munich (Germany). Christina’s research focuses on entrepreneurship as a means to tackle local and societal problems, particularly on collective entrepreneurial solutions and sustainability and impact measurement in startups.
Since 2019, she has been driving the development of Levo, a research-driven, easy to use framework to assess sustainability and impact in startups and SMEs. She has been appointed as Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Geneva School of Economics and Management at the University of Geneva.
Julia Binder
Postdoctoral Researcher
Julia joined ENTC in 2017. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Technical University of Munich and an MSc in Marketing from the University of Edinburgh. Julia’s research focuses on entrepreneurship beyond profit, including sustainable and social entrepreneurship, as well as the role of founder identity and cognitive processes in identifying opportunities. She has been appointed as Professor of Sustainable Innovation and Business Transformation in IMD, Lausanne.
Shirah Foy
Postdoctoral Researcher
Shirah joined ENTC in 2015. She holds an M.Sc. in Strategy from Aalto University in Helsinki and a B.B.A from Belmont University in International Entrepreneurship. Shirah’s research examines the interactions between identity, culture, and entrepreneurship. She is particularly interested in the two-way relationship: how macro-factors influence the microfoundations of entrepreneurship; and how, through their ventures, entrepreneurs effectuate change in society. Shirah has been appointed as Assistant Professor of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Toulouse Business School.
Anna Wagenschwanz
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Anna joined ENTC in 2019. She holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), an MSc in Consumer Affairs from TUM, and a BSc in Business Administration from Mannheim University, Germany. Anna’s research focuses on founder identity and its influence on entrepreneurial behavior in social entrepreneurship. She explores how founders imprint their social business, as well as how they manage their dual financial and social venture missions. She also investigates how women entrepreneurs navigate their gender role in the context of Latin America.
Nettra Pan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Nettra joined ENTC in 2013 as a doctoral student and defended her thesis in 2018. She holds an M.A. from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences Po) and a B.A. from Columbia University where she studied International Public Management and Political Science, respectively. Nettra’s research focuses on investor decision-making, business model design, opportunity identification, and social entrepreneurship.
Sharon Tal-Itzkovitch
Instructor
In addition to her role as Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), Sharon pursued her doctoral studies under the co-supervision of Prof Marc Gruber. Sharon’s research looked at startups’ market entry decisions and their consequences on firm performance and flexibility. She completed her Ph.D. in December 2013. Together with Prof Marc Gruber, Sharon co-created the ‘Market Opportunity Navigator’- a business tool that helps innovators in setting their market opportunity strategy, and co-authored the complementing book ‘Where to Play’. She gives lectures and workshops on a regular basis to students and start-ups dealing with high-tech marketing.
Argyro Nikiforou
Postdoctoral Researcher
Argyro (Iro) was at ENCT from 2013 to 2017. She holds a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship from the Athens University of Economics and Business, an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Decision Sciences from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Argyro’s research focuses on “entrepreneurship by the unemployed”, business model design, opportunity identification, and networks.
Emmanuelle Fauchart
SNF Researcher
Emmanuelle joined ENTC in November 2013 as a part-time research associate. She is also an Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg in France since September 2013. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research focuses on how the identity of firm founders affect the type of entrepreneurial action they engage in and the type of firms they create. Emmanuelle has published her research in several leading journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and Organization Science.
Peter Vogel
Postdoctoral Researcher
Peter joined ENTC in May 2009. He holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering as well as Biomedical Engineering from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland as well as the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Marc Gruber in August 2013. In his thesis Peter investigates “entrepreneurship by the unemployed” in an international study collaborating with the school of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Peter is the founder of Jobzippers as well as The Entrepreneur’s Ship. See his full profile on LinkedIn.
Dr. Carina Lomberg
Post-doctoral Researcher
Carina Lomberg earned her doctoral degree from the E-Business and E-Entrepreneurship Research Group at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. In her thesis she studied entrepreneurial creativity of employees. Carina’s current research is focused on the individual level of corporate entrepreneurship, experimental settings, and creativity. Carina Lomberg is now Assistant Professor at the University of Berne.
Melvin Haas
Doctoral Student
Melvin Haas finished his PhD at ENTC CDM in 2013. He holds a masters degree in mechanical and industrial engineering from the RWTH Aachen, Germany. Melvin’s research focuses on “entrepreneurship by the unemployed”. He was part of the research collaboration between ENTC and the school of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jana Thiel
Doctoral Student
Jana Thiel finished her PhD at ENTC CDM in 2012 and currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at ESADE in Barcelona. Her research interests include entrepreneurship, innovation and technology commercialization.
James D. Thompson
External Doctoral Student
James pursued his doctoral studies under supervision of Prof. Marc Gruber. His research focuses on social entrepreneurship. James is also currently directing the Wharton Societal Wealth Program.