There is a great deal of speculation about how artificial intelligence (AI) is set to change the world – all the more so since chatbots like ChatGPT have been showing off their skills. AI can support us in performing many activities and can take over others entirely. What is left for us as humans? Entrepreneurship is one of the skills that makes us humans unique: making decisions despite uncertainty and implementing our own ideas in an imaginative fashion. However, you don’t have to establish a startup to be an entrepreneur. Creative action is also more in demand than ever at existing organisations in light of the challenges of our time. The ZHAW has set itself the objective of becoming a leading entrepreneurial university in Switzerland, as President Jean-Marc Piveteau emphasises in an interview found in this edition of the magazine: “All of our graduates should be able to say one day that they studied at a university at which entrepreneurial thinking is something very important” (page 20). The ZHAW has been promoting an entrepreneurial mindset for some time. However, it now wants to shift up a gear. The university should become a place that attracts even more people who want to grow by tackling challenges and work together by thinking big to generate ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries. The cover image by Till Martin symbolises the fact that entrepreneurs are people who get down to work and remain grounded. They design, implement ideas and, with a little bit of luck and the right conditions, make their way up the success ladder. In this issue of Impact, we introduce you to students and graduates who have turned their dream of launching their own startup into reality. We hope you have fun in discovering just what human intelligence is capable of. PATRICIA FALLER,

We venture a look to the future in our “Energy” Dossier. What should the energy of the future look like? With this focus, we provide an insight into the wide-ranging research being conducted at the ZHAW. We show what solutions for safe, clean and affordable energy might look like. Without harnessing the great potential offered by solar energy, the energy transition in Switzerland is unlikely to succeed. This is what ZHAW researchers such as Franz Baumgartner predicted some ten years ago in the university magazine “Impact”. The Programme Director for Energy and Environmental Engineering Studies has been proven right. An accelerated expansion of renewable energies is both necessary and possible – and this can be achieved without placing an excessive burden on nature and the landscape or undermining efforts to protect listed buildings and monuments. Illustrator Till Martin has also thought something up for you: His solar-powered clothes dryer on the cover uses the power of the wind and the sun and is also suitable for emergency power generation. If you want to say goodbye to your oil or gas heating system, you can find tips from the ZHAW’s competence centre for heat pumps. As saving energy works better if you know all about energy consumption, we will also test your knowledge in our energy quiz. And finally, we ask that you continue to be courageous in your efforts to save energy to ensure we are spared more uncomfortable times. PATRICIA FALLER,