Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation

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Cyrille Grumbach

Enlarged view: eth

Strategic Management and Innovation

WEV H 308
Weinbergstrasse 56/58
8092 Zürich, Switzerland

+41 44 632 54 47
cgrumbach@ethz.ch
external page Linkedin 
external page Forbes 30 under 30 Europe

MASTER THESES

Supervision: Feel free to contact me if you're looking for a super cool Master Thesis. I love working closely with my brilliant and motivated students :D

Please check the information on our website before contacting me regarding master theses. Please understand that I won't reply to information already provided there. ;)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am a PhD Candidate and Research Associate at the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation at ETH Zurich, working with external page Prof. Georg von Krogh. I specialize in Strategy & Innovation. My research explores how different types of feedback—whether from expert or AI—shape problem-solving and evaluation. I study these dynamics through field experiments in innovation contests and hackathons.

I strive to make both theoretical contributions and a tangible social impact through my research. I founded external page BUILD2GETHER, an initiative which turns strategy and innovation research into social impact—linking theory to practice. In essence, enabling scholars and practitioners to build together a shared future. For my work, I was named on the external page FORBES 30 UNDER 30 list.

Through my Build2Gether initiative, I organized large-scale innovation contests as field experiments, engaging solvers from around the world to develop innovative solutions for people with disabilities. Solvers were receiving feedback from experts in the disability space to improve their innovations. To ensure the success of these contests, I have secured funding from major tech companies including external page Google, external page Arm, external page Nordic Semiconductor, external page Blues, external page DFRobot, external page PCBWay, external page M5Stack, external page Seeed Studio, and received research grants from the external page Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), external page Innosuisse, ETH4D, ETH RESC, ETH PBL, and the Hans Ziegler Fund.

Check out the innovation contests I organized, which involved 1,000+ solvers worldwide generating 330+ solutions downloaded 300,000+ times:

SHORT BIO

Prior to my PhD, I was a Quant Researcher in Investment Strategy working with external page Prof. Didier Sornette at the Peter Pühringer Family Office. I first developed a scientific background in Physics. I was a visiting scholar in Physics at the University of Cambridge with external page Prof. Silvia Vignolini, and completed a MSc in Physics at ETH Zürich and BSc in Microengineering at EPFL. Moreover, I gained valuable experience in teaching and research assistant positions in different groups, including those of external page Prof. Maria Lukatskaya, external page Prof. Nicolas Grandjean, and external page Prof. Christofer Hierold. I also acquired industry expertise with traineeships at several companies. Long ago, I completed my Diploma in Music (Piano) in the National Conservatory of Lyon in France.

I love exploring the world and meeting new people. I lived in seven different countries—France, China, Italy, Switzerland, India, U.K., and Sweden—and speak fluently English, French and Chinese. Beyond my PhD, I harbor an ardent enthusiasm for comprehending the intricacies of the world, exploring its dynamics from multifaceted perspectives encompassing history, international relations, and philosophy.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2025

  • Sixth AI and Strategy Consortium, Hyderabad.
  • United Nations’ Zero Project Conference, Vienna.
  • Research Group on Collaborative Spaces (RGCS) Symposium, Milan.

2024

  • Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting, Chicago.
  • Strategic Management Society (SMS) Annual Conference, Istanbul.
  • European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS), Milan.
  • Open and User Innovation (OUI) Conference, Boston.
  • Organization Science Winter Conference (OSWC), Zürich.
  • Organizational Design Community (ODC) Annual Conference, online.
  • Conference on Field Experiments in Strategy (CFXS), Paris.

2023

  • European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS), Cagliari.

TEACHING