What a year! Our Annual Report 2025
We recently held our General Assembly at the inspiring ZHdK Toni-Areal in Zurich, a venue that reflects our mission to blend creativity with cutting-edge technology. Inside this update, we share the milestones of a year defined by our 10th anniversary and the successful E-ID campaign, as well as a strategic outlook on the priorities driving us forward in the months ahead.
Ten years after digitalswitzerland was founded, a broad alliance secured a narrow but decisive yes vote on the e-ID. The focus now shifts to implementation: ensuring broad adoption of the digital identity and strengthening users’ trust. With the Swiss AI Action Plan, we are contributing to the national debate on Switzerland’s digital transformation at a time of rapid AI development. Unlike many other countries, Switzerland does not yet have a comprehensive national AI plan.
The Global AI Summit Geneva 2027 offers a unique opportunity to showcase Switzerland’s contributions, as well as those of its companies and organisations, within the global digital ecosystem. Swiss values of openness, collaboration, trust and rules-based reliability will become even more relevant in this context. We are committed to ensuring that the period leading up to the summit is used responsibly and strategically to advance Switzerland’s digital transformation.
Building alliances
Last year saw a landmark referendum: with 50.4 per cent voting in favour, the Swiss electorate paved the way for the new e-ID. Although the result was extremely close, it marks an important milestone for the digital transformation of our country. With its campaign, digitalswitzerland has shown that we can form broad-based alliances and make digital projects capable of winning majority support. At the same time, the result highlights how important it remains to continuously deepen dialogue with the population and to promote the development of trustworthy digital solutions with transparency and care.
The idea of a national AI action plan was launched at the Digital Summit on the Bürgenstock. In close consultation with industry, science and government, we have since been coordinating the development of a Swiss AI Action Plan based on Switzerland's strengths and values. It is intended to contribute to the discussion on how to leverage the opportunities offered by AI for Switzerland's prosperity while also addressing issues of digital sovereignty and self-determination. The latter means, above all, consciously managing dependencies in the digital world. The action plan addresses key issues relating to competitiveness, digital infrastructure, AI-ready data and governance, and defines specific areas of action and measures. Selected topics will be driven forward by digitalswitzerland itself.
Federal Councillor Albert Rösti has encouraged the AI Action Plan and praised it as an important contribution to Switzerland's international positioning and to its companies and organisations. This is also with a view to the Global AI Summit 2027 in Geneva, which Switzerland will host in the first half of 2027. The aim is to position Switzerland as a leading location for trustworthy and responsible AI.
Last year, we further sharpened our strategic focus, clearly defined our priorities and consistently focused our activities. At the same time, we reviewed our internal structures and implemented stringent cost management. These efforts enabled us to make a substantial financial contribution to the e-ID campaign and to close the financial year with a positive result.
Outlook for 2026: our three priorities
AI Action Plan and the road to Geneva 2027: With the Swiss AI Action Plan, we launched a discussion in 2025 in which over 200 stakeholders are participating. Priority areas for action were defined and initial actions developed in thematic working groups. The announcement by Federal President Guy Parmelin in New Delhi underlines the strategic importance of this initiative: the Global AI Summit Geneva 2027 is a unique opportunity to showcase the strength of the Swiss AI ecosystem internationally. digitalswitzerland is coordinating the action plan as the driving force and acting as a bridge builder between politics, business and science so that Switzerland can make a coherent and concrete contribution in Geneva.
Implementation of e-ID: The narrow yes vote by the population is a clear mandate for careful implementation. After the vote, the focus was on practical implementation and value creation. In close cooperation with the federal government and our member companies, we initiated a roundtable to define prioritised use cases, clarify roles and prepare pilot projects. The aim is to ensure that e-ID delivers concrete benefits from day one and translates trust into tangible digital applications.
Digital Literacy, upskilling & reskilling: AI is changing our world of work. We are expanding our initiatives in these areas to ensure that the workforce and the population are ready for digital change. Together with partners from industry, vocational training and universities, we identify skills gaps and develop practical formats to support companies in integrating AI.
It is the unique composition of our community that defines digitalswitzerland: we bring together SMEs, large companies, government, academia and associations around one table. This cross-sector networking is an important strength in laying the foundations for a successful digital transformation in Switzerland.
We would like to thank all our members for their partnership and trust. Special thanks go to our ExCo and our team for their great commitment during this year of consolidation. We see this as a clear call to action: digitalswitzerland is now more important than ever in setting the course for the coming years.
digitalswitzerland ‘s activities in 2025
e-ID: Achieving a Digital Milestone
A defining moment in Switzerland’s digital transformation in 2025 was the approval of the new e-ID by the Swiss population. Following previous attempts, the proposal secured narrow but decisive majority support in the September vote. The result represents not only a legal milestone but also a public endorsement of the need for trustworthy digital infrastructure.
digitalswitzerland played a central coordinating role in building and aligning the broad alliance supporting the e-ID. Working alongside government partners, industry leaders, member organisations and civil society, we helped articulate the practical value of a secure, state-issued digital identity, from seamless access to public services to secure private transactions.
Following the vote, our focus shifted to implementation and value creation. The objective is to ensure that the e-ID delivers tangible benefits from day one and translates institutional trust into everyday digital utility.
Advancing Cybersecurity Resilience
Cybersecurity remained a strategic priority in 2025 as Switzerland strengthened its readiness for emerging digital threats.
digitalswitzerland co-organised a high-level cyber resilience dialogue with Estonian representatives to foster international exchange and share best practices. In December, we convened a parliamentary session titled “Cybersecurity neu denken”, addressing risks and opportunities related to Agentic AI and post-quantum cryptography.
We engaged with Federal Councillor Martin Pfister to advocate for a strong and visible role of the National Cybersecurity Centre and to emphasise the importance of leveraging Swiss-based technology capabilities.
Our Cybersecurity Committee expanded to over 50 executives from sectors critical to national infrastructure. The committee provided structured input on regulatory developments, resilience planning and the anticipated implications of the EU Cyber Resilience Act. These discussions strengthened coordination between private sector actors and public authorities.
Driving AI Innovation and Digital Self-determination
The development of the Swiss AI Action Plan was formally launched in 2025. Within the first month, more than 200 contributors joined the collaborative platform supporting its design.
The Action Plan is a public-private discussion contribution focusing on concrete actions. Thematic working groups address AI literacy, research and innovation, digital infrastructure, AI-ready data and governance, translating strategic priorities into defined action areas.
The AI Action Plan also contributes to Switzerland’s preparation to host the Global AI Summit Geneva 2027. Throughout 2025, digitalswitzerland focused on aligning public and private stakeholders in advance of the next milestone, the Digital Gipfel Schweiz in May 2026, dedicated to “AI – Balancing Opportunity and Control”.
In parallel, we strengthened Switzerland’s sovereign data capabilities. A landmark study mapped over 100 public and private data initiatives, providing the first empirical overview of the national data landscape. The findings informed the Swiss Data Space Forum, fostering coordination across federal, cantonal and sectoral ecosystems and advancing discussions on interoperability and data governance.
Empowering People in a Transformed World
Ensuring Switzerland’s long-term competitiveness requires inclusive and future-ready skills strategies. In 2025, digitalswitzerland systematically expanded its initiatives in digital literacy, upskilling and reskilling. Together with ICT-Berufsbildung and academic partners, we identified skills gaps and explored scalable pathways to strengthen vocational and higher education in technology-related fields.
In collaboration with Implement Consulting Group, we developed an AI Playbook to support organisations in translating AI strategy into operational implementation. This initiative forms part of the Swiss AI Action Plan and aims to bridge the gap between vision and execution.
We also continued to foster inclusive participation in the digital economy. An International Women’s Day event at the Landesmuseum Zurich, organised together with ETH, Google and WITS, brought together 250 participants to discuss diversity and leadership in technology. Additional community dialogues throughout the year addressed skills-based hiring, career transitions, AI in learning and development and the future of work.
These initiatives underline our commitment to ensuring that digital transformation remains socially anchored and inclusive across age, region and professional background.
Collaboration for Impact
In 2025, digitalswitzerland introduced the Swiss Digital Ecosystem Framework to provide a shared systemic understanding of Switzerland’s digital landscape.
The framework maps essential inputs such as AI-ready data, talent, research capacity and investment flows, and clarifies infrastructure interdependencies. It is increasingly used in member strategy sessions and policy dialogues to strengthen alignment across priority areas including the e-ID, AI and data ecosystems.
Our work is guided by principles that define Switzerland’s approach to digitalisation: openness, collaboration, trust and rules-based reliability. These values underpin cross-sector coordination and ensure that progress is built on shared responsibility.
What Comes Next: The Road to the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva
Our focus in 2026 will be on aligning forces to shape Switzerland’s AI future. Key priorities include:
Supporting the ecosystem readiness and practical use cases for the Swiss E-ID and trust infrastructure.
Coordinating the Swiss AI Action Plan to actively prepare the Swiss ecosystem for the Global AI Summit Geneva 2027.
Bringing together business, science, government, and the public to address emerging regulatory challenges in AI, cybersecurity (e.g., EU Cyber Resilience Act), and AI-ready data ecosystems.
Creating trust in digital ecosystems and supporting digital literacy, upskilling, and reskilling to empower users, citizens, and the workforce in the age of AI.
Discussing our topic focuses on our impact events, such as the Digital Summit in May 2026 and the digitalswitzerland forum in September 2026.
Together with our diverse member base, our team will continue to shape a digital future that is innovative, inclusive, and built on trust. We are determined to actively seize the immense opportunities ahead—both in driving everyday digital innovation across our economy and in showcasing Switzerland's leadership on the global stage at the upcoming Global AI Summit Geneva 2027.