Robert Jakob
Founder & Co-Director; Lecturer & Postdoctoral Researcher, ETH Agentic Systems Lab / ETH Zurich
Dr. Robert Jakob leads the ETH Agentic Systems Lab and researches applied agentic AI, multimodal language models and AI-driven business transformation. He mentors emerging builders through research challenges, industry connections and access to resources.
Robert Jakob is Founder and Co-Director of the ETH Agentic Systems Lab, and a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich. His research spans applied agentic AI, multimodal large language models, time-series language models and AI-driven business transformation.
He completed his PhD at ETH Zurich, focusing on applied machine learning for churn prediction and prevention in digital health, and conducted research at Harvard, the National University of Singapore and Dartmouth. His work has appeared at ICLR, ICML, AAAI and CHI and in journals spanning digital health and behavioral science. Through the lab, he helps students take ownership of ideas and connect with researchers, investors and industry partners.
Robert can help technically ambitious founders and researchers move from an idea to a focused project, while challenging their assumptions along the way. He can also help them navigate research, industry and startup networks.
Where Robert can help
- Applied AI
- Agentic AI
- Multimodal AI
- Research commercialisation
- AI transformation
Operating and investing experience
A selection of companies and roles connected to Robert Jakob.
Ventures
ETH Agentic Systems Lab
founder and co-director
Highlights
- Researches applied agentic AI, multimodal AI and AI-driven business transformation
Questionsfounders ask aboutRobert Jakob
What is Robert's professional background?
Jakob is Founder and Co-Director of the ETH Agentic Systems Lab and a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich. He completed his PhD at ETH Zurich and has conducted research at Harvard, the National University of Singapore and Dartmouth.
Which founder topics connect most directly to Robert's experience?
For founders working on AI, Jakob’s experience is relevant to deciding how to focus a technical project, challenge its assumptions, and consider research, industry and startup connections. His research includes applied agentic AI, multimodal and time-series language models, and AI-driven business transformation.
What is Robert working on now?
Jakob co-leads the ETH Agentic Systems Lab and works as a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich. His research covers applied agentic AI, multimodal and time-series language models, and AI-driven business transformation.
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