Breakout Session: Entrepreneurs-in-Residence - Building and Sustaining Impactful Mentor Communities

How can innovation programs effectively engage experienced entrepreneurs who want to give back, co-found, or advise new teams? The BioEntrepreneurship & Innovation (BEI) program and ETH Entrepreneurship group jointly share insights from running thriving Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) networks. Together, we will explore how such communities can amplify academic innovation by connecting founders with those who have “been through the full cycle”. Through an interactive co-creation session, participants will exchange experiences and develop practical approaches to key challenges, from motivating EIRs to contribute pro-bono, ensuring gender and background diversity, managing selection when interest exceeds capacity, and encouraging mentees to actively seek and benefit from EIR engagement.

Participants will:

• Gain a practical understanding of how to design and adapt an EIR model to their own innovation ecosystem.

• Co-develop strategies to keep EIRs motivated and engaged in pro-bono roles over time.

• Brainstorm methods to ensure diversity and inclusion within mentor networks.

• Discuss effective vetting and onboarding practices for selecting high-quality contributors.

• Explore ways to increase mentee awareness, motivation, and proactive interaction with mentors.

• Leave with a set of peer-tested best practices and a simple framework to apply in their own contexts.