On Friday, September 5th, 2025, Philipp Tuertscher delivered his inaugural lecture as Full Professor of Collaborative Innovation
Professor Philipp Tuertscher ’s lecture focused on a powerful theme: making innovation work—by collaborating across boundaries and time.
He described how his fascination with collaboration began at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where scientists and engineers from around the world joined forces to build the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider—an effort that spanned two decades and generations of expertise.
He then highlighted his research at the VU School of Business and Economics, with projects ranging from multi-stakeholder collaborations addressing Grand Challenges to digital platforms that connected diverse communities to co-create solutions in response to Covid-19.
Looking ahead, Philipp outlined new research on cross-boundary collaboration between science and industry, the role of crowdsourcing, and multi-stakeholder initiatives for system change. His agenda reflects VU Amsterdam’s mission to conduct science with purpose—advancing knowledge while addressing pressing societal challenges.