Vivienne Limacher

Interview with Vivienne Limacher

How did you get in touch with Roche regarding your BA- thesis?

I was looking online for possible topics for my bachelor thesis when I saw the university- relation website of Roche. As I read through the posting on the website, I instantly wanted to write my thesis in open innovation for Roche and sent the application to the open innovation team.

You have successfully completed a BA- thesis at Roche, could you tell us a bit, what is it about?

In my thesis, I examined the question “What are appropriate criteria to measure the success of open innovation initiatives at RDI?”. Open innovation means that Roche can make use of ideas and innovation from outside the company’s boundaries in addition to the “normal” internal R&D. Open innovation is especially important for companies in the pharmaceutical industry, as the basic principle for growth in the industry stems from innovation. Roche makes use of different partners in the context of open innovation such as suppliers, customers, start-ups, students, and universities. Universities and students are the mainstream open innovation for Roche, thus it is important to engage in university events and onboard students from the university to Roche. My thesis suggests that open innovation is valuable for Roche as new ideas can emerge from the collaboration with external partners and therefore increase efficiency. Thus, time and cost reduction are important. However, measuring open innovation is a challenge, as open innovation is an intangible asset and not a product sold on the market. I came up with a table full of potential KPIs which can be used to measure the success of open innovation. Those KPIs include for example the number of new strategic partners after a project, the hits on social media, the number of scouted startups, or the number of working students in Roche.

These are valuable results that Roche has studied and implemented internally. How has your BA-thesis enhanced your professional life?

It has been a valuable experience in the aspect of project and time management personally. Also, the thesis helped me to gain social skills such as interviewing and asking a lot of questions to get the necessary information, which is an important skill in public accounting (where I am currently working in).

Why does it need theses like yours?

I think a student coming straight from university has a completely different perspective on things than people working in a company for a few years. Students learn new things daily and gain the most recent knowledge which they can share with the companies. Therefore, I think it is great that Roche allows students to work on different topics or projects in the form of a thesis. It is not a matter of course that companies say yes to students working on a thesis.

What would you advise future students?

I would advise future students to take the opportunity to work on a real-life project with a company and not be afraid to go into topics which you are not familiar with when starting their work. I had no idea what open innovation is and what the concept is behind the subject. But after digging through the scientific literature and talking to people involved in open innovation. I noticed how much knowledge I could gather and how much I could grow as a person.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

As said, I am working in public accounting and I will attend the certified public accountant school which will take 4 years. This is my main focus at the moment. Honestly, my plan only looks at the next 4 years so far and I am excited for what the future holds!

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