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As the second half of 2020 begins, we reflect on an unprecedented period of global turbulence: the COVID-19 pandemic, socio-political unrest and ongoing concerns about climate change. Against this background, the multitude of factors that make up success go well beyond GDP. The issues we’re facing demand a robust set of location factors that add up to competitive strength – and resilience in times of crisis.
IMD recently published its World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020. First published in 1989, the study uses benchmarking, statistics and data on economic, political, social and cultural dimensions to analyse and rank countries’ abilities to achieve long-term value creation.
After years of consistent improvement, Switzerland has moved up the ranking to third place – particularly encouraging given that this study takes such a holistic view of competitiveness factors.
I believe that Switzerland has much to offer in our times of volatility and uncertainty. But even more important in my view is to consider what we can do to build on existing strengths and position Switzerland in an increasingly digital/hybrid future. Here, I explore how Switzerland is performing based on four competitiveness criteria.
Switzerland is a nation of engineers. Our winding roads, breath-taking bridges and dense rail network are the envy of many a larger country. So it’s no wonder that Switzerland once again has a podium position in IMD’s ranking for the criteria infrastructure. But what kind of infrastructure should we be building now in readiness for the future?
Already, we understand the importance of digital aspects like fast and reliable fibre-optic broadband and wireless hotspots in rural areas. If smart cities are to become a reality, digital infrastructure will need to keep pace. Switzerland is making a concerted effort to build a future-proof network with stakeholder buy-in from government, telecommunications companies, electricity providers, cable operators, landlords and the public.
For me, infrastructure also includes non-physical aspects like a robust legal framework for digital activities, and strategies to ensure data integrity, sovereignty and security. We need to take a proactive approach to ensure our legislation does not lag behind technological developments.
Switzerland’s health system enjoys a global reputation. As a country, we spend a higher percentage of our GDP on health than any of our bordering neighbours. And we’re the only ones to have increased spending significantly (by around 15%) over the past decade.
I believe that our excellent healthcare reflects other strengths in Switzerland: we’re the life sciences hub of Europe, meaning that cutting edge research and development is happening on our doorstep. We attract the brightest minds from around the world, and some of them naturally find their way into our healthcare system.
Looking forward, I would like to see greater digitalisation of patient data and records as a way to enhance communication between players in different healthcare settings.
The Swiss education system is much lauded for its dual focus on academic and vocational tracks. It’s a recipe that has worked for many years. The quality of Swiss education has been singled out in various studies as exceptional, including in various WEF Global Human Capital Reports.
I believe that we need to capitalise on this outstanding quality and maintain it as educational needs and learning formats shift. Here at digitalswitzerland, we’re vocal supporters of #LifelongLearning. Our children will work in new professions like Ethical Technology Advisor, Personal Content Curator or even Robot Liaison Officer. Some will have job titles we can’t yet even imagine.
Today’s workforce will also have to upskill and adapt to new digital tasks and novel ways of working. And SMEs and multinationals alike will have to embrace change and empower their people to move with it. New learning formats and an explosion in the number of online courses will revolutionise the breadth and depth of learning opportunities. Let’s ensure Switzerland leads this revolution.
Having said in my introduction that it doesn’t all boil down to GDP, I think it’s important to note the strength of Switzerland’s economy. We have fantastic global trade links – partly because we’re an attractive location for international organisations, but also because we cultivate innovative home-grown business.
Particularly impressive, however, is the way we manage public finances. Switzerland’s national debt pales in comparison to that of its peers in Europe and around the world at around a third of GDP. As public spending reached new heights due to COVID-19 bail-outs, Switzerland is one of the few countries that won’t be devastated by this unpredicted financial expense.
Going forward, I have confidence in our political system to make decisions that balance the needs of our economy, health and individual businesses. In our turbulent times, this is a key resilience factor.
At digitalswitzerland, our mission is to position Switzerland as a leading innovation hub. I’m consistently impressed by the agility and adaptability of stakeholders in Switzerland’s ecosystem – not least during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Switzerland has many of the strengths needed to build resilience in a digital/hybrid future but it’s important to continue our progress. In cooperation with Wissensfabrik, we recently developed a whitepaper outlining five ways of how digital transformation can be continued.
I believe the foundations are in place and it’s up to all of us to build a future that benefits all.
On the third Swiss Digital Day, the dialogue format called ‘tell’ was used for the first time. The name says it all: it is a series of events that offers the Swiss population a platform to actively communicate their fears and hopes in times of digital transformation. More than 1’000 people took advantage of this opportunity at 18 different locations and discussed the issues that concern them. The opinions of the Swiss population were collected, evaluated and additionally supplemented with two representative surveys. This information forms the basis for the newly published «tell»-report.
“Raising public awareness of digital change forms the basis of the Digital Day. But with «tell» we want to go one step further and encourage the public to get directly involved in the change process. We were pleased with the high level of participation in the events, which are designed precisely for this purpose. In order to meet the population’s growing need for a say, we are promoting dialogue in an even more targeted manner for the upcoming edition of the Digital Day,” says Diana Engetschwiler, overall project manager for the Digital Day.
For the Oliver Wyman study, conducted in June 2019, around 2,000 people were asked for their opinions on the topic of digitalisation. In addition, sotomo recruited more than 4,000 people via the online platforms blick.ch and rts.ch before Digital Day and surveyed them on the topic of the digital transformation in Switzerland. On the recent Digital Day on 3 September 2019, around 30 hours of audio material were recorded, then transcribed and evaluated by the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. During that process, the generated texts were analysed using Natural Language Processing techniques and checked, among other things, for sentiments and word frequencies.
“The aim of the ‘tell’ events is to get to the heart of what is really important for each individual and for the future of the community. From the very beginning, it was clear that the valuable messages from these discussion groups would be recorded and evaluated accordingly. In addition, the ‘tell’-report is intended to reward the commitment of society”, explains Nicolas Bürer, Managing Director of digitalswitzerland.
The issue of digitalisation is perceived in a wide variety of ways, depending on the topic and question. It triggers mixed emotions with regard to the future. The high participation in the ‘tell’ events (over 1,000 people) and in the two quantitative studies shows that the population feels a growing need to discuss and debate the issue of digitalisation.
The population is particularly cautious and concerned about the topic of data. There appears to be great uncertainty about what happens to data and who has access to it. In the areas of education and smart city, respondents see the benefits of digitalisation and are prepared to use new technolgies. Learning videos enable individual and completely new ways of learning, which has led to scrutiny of the traditional classroom teaching style. A majority of respondents see the area of media and news as most heavily affected by digitalisation and 60% believe that the credibility of the news has been diminished by the internet and new technologies. In the area of health, there is general agreement that digitalisation brings many advantages in terms of research, but there is a widespread sense of uncertainty in the area of health data.
In most areas, there is a desire for increased regulation and state responsibility. Central platforms (for example, for obligatory study matter or health files) should be made available to prevent the misuse of data by private parties. According to the ‘tell’ participants, new technologies should also have a positive impact on the environment. Reduction of emissions was one of the ideas put forward. Half of all respondents admit to believing that in the future, some of their work will be done by robots. At the same time, they also emphasize the benefits of flexible working which digitalisation also brings. On the issue of mobility, it was clear that there is a degree of scepticism about self-driving vehicles, but also a positive attitude towards the opportunities for ‘Shared Mobility’ and ‘Mobility as a service’.
We would like to thank everyone who was involved in organising the events and has participated.
A particular thank you goes to Microspot, the main partner of this report, which provided the recording equipment for the «tell» pilot project. We would also like to thank Oliver Wyman, Ringier and the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland who provided us with the study results upon which this report is based.
Throughout their school lives, girls tend to excel across all subject areas yet when it comes to pursuing a job in computer sciences, they end up being greatly outnumbered by their male counterparts at university. According to the Guardian, a survey conducted revealed that 73% of both men and women believe that the tech industry is sexist. Many people like to put blame on or find reasons to point fingers at companies who are purposefully being gender biased – but that really isn’t the case. When you take a closer look into the problem, the solution isn’t to encourage the industry to hire more women, it is about encouraging girls to take an interest in technology. Not only using the newest tech gadgets but also develop them.
General statistics show that in Europe alone less than 7% of tech positions are filled by women1. Needless to say, there is a prominent gap which isn’t helped by the fact that women also only account for 20% of tech leadership positions1. As the jobs themselves are already very male dominated, this can discourage women from joining as well as keeping the jobs. According to the Center for Talent Innovation, of those who do make it into a STEM field, women are 45% more likely to leave their jobs1. This can be down to several factors including an overall feeling of not belonging and isolation or even not getting enough support especially when choosing to start a family. This is where many media sites try to divert the attention to and label it as the ‘problem’ as if this is the root of the issue. However, this is more of the effect rather than the cause – the real issue arises much earlier.
Only 1 in 20 girls consider tech jobs compared to 1 in 5 boys. 1
If we want to close this massive gender gap, we need to get more girls.
More girls means more women – logical, right? Currently, many girls don’t discover an interest in technology which then translates into less women pursuing STEM subjects at university level. It’s not that companies aren’t choosing women, it’s just that there aren’t enough women to choose from. There are, of course, cases of in group favouritism, where a mostly male committee will choose to hire other males but again this would change if the inflow of women was much higher than it is now. From a very young age girls tend to gravitate towards creative areas whereas boys towards logic either by nature or external factors. For this reason, it all comes down to how we choose to raise our kids and the paths we open up for them. Many girls have the idea that tech jobs are completely logic and math oriented, which for the most part it is, but we need to encourage girls from early on that coding is more than that – it is creating and they are more than capable of doing it. Often girls aren’t even given the opportunity to try out coding which denies them the chance to make their own initial judgement. It is vital that this is done in an environment where they aren’t influenced by what the media portrays is ‘correct’ for their gender. We need to start marketing these tech jobs in ways that target both the interests of girls and boys alike.
Companies can benefit greatly from having more gender diversity. As girls are on average more creative- minded, so are the ideas they bring to the table. This can increase innovation as well as profits. Businesses with a high representation of female board directors can expect an increase of 42% on return on sales as well as higher valuations in initial and final fundings (64% and 49% respectively)1. There are many courses and programs online that are trying to reach out to young girls like girlsintech.org or girlswhocode.com. The goals of both are clear, give girls the confidence to join this massive industry. Even here at Techspark, we offer many camps and courses that are open to both boys and girls and we are always on the lookout to encourage more young women to join. The tech industry is quite vast and there are aspects that will repel as well as interest girls. The image of a coder on the other hand is so narrow but what many girls need to realise is that there are so many exciting jobs within the industry. Here are some, just to name a few:
Web Developers and Web Designers: You don’t just need a good coding background but also need creative and design skills. You are able to design the overall look of a website or app and how the features should be displayed. In a way, a web designer/developer is an artist but you paint with code and not brushes.
UI/UX Designers: These designers have to think about how the users interact with the app. It is all about aesthetic and creating the best experience for the user.
Animators or Game Developers: As the title suggests, you work with creating exciting video games or even have the opportunity to work in the film industry. Women are often misrepresented, especially in video games, and having more female game developers could have a massive impact on how girls are portrayed.
Engineers: Like with the tech industry, engineering covers a wide range of areas including; agriculture, biomedical, chemical, transport and many many more. Here you have the opportunity to uncover how things work and how to create or produce things which can benefit our society in several different ways.
Women and girls are more than capable and more than welcome to join these “male dominated” industries, we just need to start giving them the support and encouragement to allow them to do so. If we start putting blame on the industry, we aren’t going to evoke any change. Girls have more to offer than they think and will be a vital part in improving the conditions for future generations.
Written by Malti Redeker (16 years old) – TechSpark Academy 2019 Girls Coding Ambassador
TechSpark Academy – Why we join – #SwissDigitalDay
References:
1Next Generation. “Why Aren’t There More Women in Tech?” Next Generation, Aug. 2018,
After nearly 20 years focused on creating a basis for the introduction of an infrastructure for secure online transactions, the time is now ripe for an officially recognised e-ID. It is important for the Swiss economy that its introduction in Switzerland is not unnecessarily delayed. Both chambers of the Swiss parliament, namely the National Council and the Council of States, have approved the Federal Act on Electronic Identity Services (e-ID Act) by a clear majority. The final vote is scheduled for this coming autumn. Yet there remain critical voices whose arguments can largely be attributed to misunderstandings.
Misconception No. 1: The e-ID is issued by private companies
The truth: The data and thus also the e-ID is issued by the state. Private companies merely provide the technological basis for the e-ID and ensure that the e-ID can also be used in a simple and secure manner in everyday life.
It is undisputed that an officially recognised e-ID is required to make use of secure online services. This is because the so-called social logins, such as Google ID, do not meet the standards for online transactions that require an officially recognised e-ID, e.g. for the conclusion of an insurance contract or the requesting of criminal records.
The current draft bill suggests a division of tasks between the state and the private sector. The underlying model stipulates that private companies should take on the task of providing the technical infrastructure and developing the ecosystem as well as reconciling the data; but always on behalf of identity owners. However, it is the federal government that recognises and supervises these private identity providers. And it will ultimately be the federal government that creates the actual personal e-ID, which is nothing more than a legally regulated data record. From this perspective, the federal government is and will remain the only issuer of the e-ID.
Misconception No. 2: Private companies collect, evaluate and monetise the data
The truth: Data protection is given the utmost priority also in the case of the e-ID. Absolute security can unfortunately never be guaranteed. However, suitable framework conditions have been formulated to minimise the risk of data abuse. Besides, the Swiss Federal Data Protection Officer has been involved in the legislative project from the outset. The requirements of the Data Protection Act are guaranteed in their most stringent form for the e-ID.
Not only do users always have full control of their own data and decide when and to whom they disclose their details to, but the regulations formulated in the e-ID Act also in some cases go beyond the provisions stipulated in the Data Protection Act. For example, under the e-ID Act it is not possible to collect data and create personal profiles: the data has to be erased after six months and transactions and personal data must be stored separately in order to prevent any inferences being made. It is also illegal to disclose data, let alone sell it.
Misconception No. 3: The e-ID is a digital passport
The truth: The e-ID does not permit its holders to travel or cross borders. Rather, the e-ID is a qualified login that can be used by people to identify themselves on the internet when making online transactions.
The e-ID can thus not be used as a means of proving one’s nationality when crossing an international border. And we will also therefore not see the abolition of passport offices as is occasionally claimed because the e-ID does not represent an electronic passport in the civic sense.
Misconception No. 4: With e-ID, it will no longer be possible to use the internet anonymously
The truth: e-ID data isn’t shared every time it is used on the internet. Rather, the principle of data minimisation is applied.
There is no question that the utmost care must be applied when handling identity data. The Federal Council and parliament have expertly put together a balanced act that assigns the state a key role as the issuer of the e-ID, fully considers issues relating to security and data protection and takes account of the desperate and urgent need of private individuals and companies for a secure means of identification online based on the rapid developments being observed in this area.
Switzerland must ensure it does not miss out on these developments. Let’s make the most of this opportunity: now!
According to the CIDP/EDK, “the concordat of 29 October 1970 on school coordination represents the basis for the Swiss legal and political framework for the joint action of the cantons in the field of education. It serves as a general framework for political, administrative and scientific activities devoted to the development of education as well as to seek consensus on issues that go beyond the possibilities offered at the cantonal or regional level. It is also on the basis of the concordat that the cantons’ collaboration is based on with the Confederation in the field of education and training. This mandate for collaboration (between cantons and between cantons and the Confederation) has been explicitly enshrined in the Federal Constitution since 2006. According to Art. 61a, the latter requires the Confederation and the cantons to jointly ensure, within the limits of their respective competences, the quality and permeability of the Swiss education sector.”
A recent survey of 503 global education professionals from over 50 countries by HolonIQ identified that in mature markets such as Europe, there is a real risk that institutions fail to evolve to meet future needs. Considering the time it has taken to develop a consensus around digitalisation (Lehrplan 21 and Plan d’études romand) and then to implement this in schools across Switzerland, this concern could be very real. However, it is linked to teacher skill gaps, too, as teachers who are not at ease or have not been trained in digital skills will not implement them in their practice. For example, how does a Latin teacher implement technology in class to best effect for improved learning outcomes and not for technology’s sake? Or, why do rising numbers of children and parents select home schooling in the Canton of Vaud (some 40% of all home-schooled children in Switzerland come from the Canton of Vaud)? Are the institutions really evolving in terms of school room disposition, teaching methods, technology and skills set training?
The above-mentioned survey also defined other major risks to global education like lack of innovation, poor economic sustainability, teacher shortages, unequal access and escalating cost. Of course, this depends on region and country: in Europe, the top risk is teacher shortage and skill gaps. In Switzerland, this is compounded by the fact that the education system is fragmented and follows cantonal political agendas, if not local ones. Indeed, according to the study, the second highest risk for European countries is that the political process anchors and delays innovation and progress in education. The probability of this happening is around 75%, according to the study. Given the time it has taken to develop a consensus around digitalisation and its implementation in teacher training institutions and schools across Switzerland, it is strongly likely that Switzerland is neither teaching for future skills nor preparing teachers for future skills, unless major efforts and structural changes are made.
As Switzerland prepares to vote later this year, it is to be hoped that budding and confirmed politicians will put education at the top of their political agendas. As education budgets are cut across Europe, Switzerland must make sure to keeps up its standards and spends significantly on education. Instead of a downward spiralling education budget, there needs to be a well-considered upwards spend: it should cover not just technology purchasing, but also teacher training, continuing teacher education, more work on harmonisation across cantons, and higher investment in changing classrooms from 19thcentury-style to more dynamic and inspiring environments. Switzerland has a great education system. It needs to keep it that way!
For a hundred years, tools in aircraft maintenance were mostly limited to handheld devices used by mechanics to keep up and repair aeroplanes. When thinking of tools, a screwdriver or torque wrench would come to mind, stored inside a red metal container – the toolbox. While these elements are still critical to a mechanic’s daily work, they are complemented by a digital toolbox – an array of software applications providing technical information and communication possibilities. Today, both physical and digital tools are essential to perform aircraft maintenance.
Our team, Application Management, is part of SWISS Technics and we support various digital solutions revolving around aircraft maintenance. We work closely with end users, for example mechanics, to understand their needs and support them on-site. All our solutions are developed externally and we collaborate with our suppliers to troubleshoot issues and provide development ideas based on user feedback and latest technological advances. Additionally, we coordinate and perform system upgrades and implement new digital solutions.
AMOS is our central application – it is a software suite covering different areas revolving around aircraft maintenance such as engineering, material management, logistics and planning. We resolve technical issues, manage user access rights and write functional specifications for new developments, for example. Additionally, we are overall responsible for a high system availability and data quality. For example, if AMOS were unavailable for several hours, this could quickly lead to flight delays or even cancellations.
Another application we support is CROSSMOS – an electronic logbook installed on each SWISS aircraft. In 2015, every SWISS aircraft still had physical logbooks aboard where the crews and mechanics would enter technical issues with a pen on paper. Carbon copies were hand-delivered to the different departments to ensure the information was available where it was needed. All this changed in 2016 when the physical logbooks were replaced by a digital solution – two tablets (one in the cockpit and one in the cabin) running CROSSMOS, a software application that digitises the technical logbook. Currently, we are in the process of rolling out the next-generation electronic logbook, which includes over 400 new and faster tablets as well as various software improvements, for example more detailed cabin layout visualisations.
Back in the day, all aircraft maintenance manuals were in paper form, which resulted in a manual containing thousands of pages just for one aircraft type. Microfilms offered an improvement, but the significant efficiency gain came with the possibility of viewing manuals on a personal computer. Initially, this required CD-ROMs, meanwhile we have solutions that allow aircraft mechanics to view maintenance manuals online on their laptops. This year we are rolling out a new solution optimised for viewing manuals on a tablet. This will allow mechanics to access maintenance instructions and diagrams faster and more intuitively.
Our team is in charge of keeping the tablets fully functional and up to date. While we use a device management software to remotely monitor the tablets, we regularly work with the mechanics at the aircraft to troubleshoot and resolve issues on-site.
At SWISS’s main hub ZRH, there are around 500 aircraft mechanics who maintain and repair the fleet. In 2017, we implemented GroundStar, a resource allocation tool that allows one person to optimally distribute maintenance tasks to all the mechanics on duty depending on qualification, availability and location. Each mechanic is equipped with a smartphone and receives information about which task to perform on which aircraft.
Digital tools are already utilized in many areas of SWISS Technics – nevertheless, we are only at the beginning of our digitalization journey. Our first goal is to completely remove paper from our maintenance processes. Not only does this make sense from a sustainability standpoint, it also increases overall data quality and speed at which information is available. Additionally, paperless processes lay the foundation for implementing new technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence – and we are excited to be part of this journey.
“How should we integrate digital solutions in our corporate training?”, the HR director of a bank once asked me. I replied with a question: «What are the main problems in your bank?»
«We don’t have any problems», the director proudly replied.
«Then don’t invest in digital training» was my conclusion.
When I meet managers of corporate training, I am often surprised that the process to identify training needs remains so “unscientific”. Business analytics provide strategic knowledge to the head of sales. Help desk statistics provide critical information to the customer relationship manager. Sensors along the production chain enable engineers to optimize design and production. But the decision to create a new training programme generally emerges from informal discussions or is inspired by looking at the courses offering of external providers. Chief learning officers have to actively lead and conceptualize a programme, but they are expected to drive a vehicle without seeing the road.
Why is there no process to develop corporate training by analyzing a company’s existing data? I am afraid you will not like the answer: because often training is seen as an unavoidable expense, instead of an investment that can improve products and processes or enhance customer and employee satisfaction. Too often, corporate training is seen like paying taxes: they must be paid but the aim is to pay the legal minimum. The solution is rather simple: companies do not have to commit to grand statements, but develop problem analytics, i.e. statistics that synthesize the company’s problems which trainings should then address.
At the end of a training session, the quality of the course is usually assessed by a questionnaire handed out to participants. Several trainers reported that the most frequent comments from participants regard the quality of coffee or food during the seminar. Unfortunately, answers like “I really enjoyed the beauty of the location” won’t help a CEO to see training as a worthwhile investment. Instead, the identified problem that triggered the need for training should be tested after the training. If it is rated as less important or resolved it can be used as a KPI that can be understood by all managers.
Of course, problem analytics, i.e. implementing a data flow from operational problems to training programmes is complex. The main difficulty we encountered in our partnership with companies is the quality of their data. As things stand, chances are high that data such as help desk records do not contain enough insights that could be automatically extracted using artificial intelligence to define training needs. It is therefore critical to collaborate upstream with department leaders (sales, production, marketing, …) who generate the data to ensure the collected data will contain useful information.
Ivan Bütler has made it his business to hack into companies. Whether under the guise of a printer technician or with an e-mail from a schoolmate, so far he has always managed to get in. He will carry out live hacks on Digital Day 2019 in Zurich’s main station. Read more here about what to expect and much more.
Who are you?
I’m Ivan Bütler, the founder and one of the managing directors of Compass Security. We look for weak spots in operators’ websites, in e-banking, trading systems, voting systems, remote access, Android, Mac and iPhone. We are, if you will, the good-guy hackers. I set up the company with my colleague Walter Sprenger. We started out small and were able to expand very quickly; in the meantime we have offices in Bern, Zurich, Berlin and, since last December, in Toronto.
Why do people hack in the first place?
There are various motives for hackers and then different sub-categories. I personally like the following breakdown into four groups the best.
If you see all of this, do you still trust the Internet?
Can I answer the question with a question? Do you drive a car? And you know that it has safety belts and airbags and so on, because an accident might happen? But you carry on driving anyway? So that’s what it’s like for me and the Internet. I’m aware of the risks and that you’re never safe despite taking every precaution. But I still use it because of the many advantages it offers.
Have you ever failed with a mandate?
I’d really rather not say, but so far there has been virtually no company we couldn’t hack. The problem is always people: If just one out of a hundred doesn’t pay attention, you can get in to the system. Even if the employees are warned and are careful. For example, we had a case where we were supposed to hack a company and one person volunteered to be the test person. We then Googled this person and found out that she is registered on a website where you can find former classmates. We set up a g-mail account in the name of a former classmate and wrote to her: “Hello, I’m organising a class reunion; I’ve already put the addresses I knew in the attached Excel file. Could you complete the list?” As soon as she opened the attachment, the Trojan was already on her computer.
Ivan Bütler at Digital Day
Ivan Bütler will carry out live hacks at Digital Day on 3 September in Zurich; he will use a number of examples to show how easy it is to access other people’s data and will provide helpful tips. If you cannot attend in person you can watch here on live stream and ask questions.
On 25 October we hosted Digital Day in Switzerland. Isn’t every day a digital day, with smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc…? Yes and no – it was THE Digital Day and everything in Switzerland revolved around digitalisation. We offered countless activities in over 12 cities across the country and in Vaduz (Liechtenstein) to enable the public to learn, explore and experience digitalisation in all its facets. Over 70 partners from business, science, politics and education showcased innovations, new technologies and what the future might look like.
I am so happy about the engagement and interest of all the people who came by, asked questions and immersed themselves into this digital adventure. I would like to thank the population for their open dialogue and great interest. This dialogue should not be limited to one day, but continue and we also see the Digital Day as a trigger for each and every individual to reflect on the significance and impact of digitalisation for their everyday life.
Federal President Alain Berset opened the Digital Day with the words: “With digitisation, the human being must always be at the centre.” Society needs to find answers to questions such as how to prevent a drift between winners and losers of digitisation and how to protect privacy. The Swiss Digital Day was a good opportunity to reflect on these political issues as well.
Digital Day was a time of dialogue. More than 100 experts made it possible to experience digitalisation locally and personally. The public was able to share concerns and questions with data specialists and exchange views on various aspects of digitisation at numerous discussions and roundtables in various Swiss cities. Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis called on the citizens to see above all the opportunities of digitisation: “Those who see the opportunities of digitisation can also better control the risks”.
This year’s Digital Day increasingly focused on a decentralised location concept. This made it possible to demonstrate Switzerland’s innovative strength in a variety of ways, locally and throughout Switzerland. National and international companies, educational institutions, SMEs and start-ups formed the backbone of the digital presence that engaged with the public.
During the day, digitalswitzerland launched the Computational Thinking Initiative (CTI), a public-private partnership, which is jointly supported by various public educational institutions and industries. It is also under the patronage of Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann. Computational thinking requires skills such as creative problem-solving and programming and is therefore a crucial core competence for future generations. Primary schools are an ideal place to teach these basic skills. With the teaching robot Thymio, the initiative uses a proven, simple and easily accessible tool that was developed in Switzerland under the leadership of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) by Prof. Francesco Mondada. The initiative was jointly initiated by digitalswitzerland and the EPFL.
We are happy to share a guest blog from one of our Digital Day partner organizations, Gioia da Silva from ABB Switzerland, addressing one of the Digital Day themes: Lifestyle
They use an app to order their lunch and a smartphone to programme the heating when they’re on holidays: these aren’t “digital natives”, these are retirees. The Berners, a retired couple, give us a glimpse of their daily life in a digitally networked home.
Daniel and Marianne Berner moved into their new home at the end of 2017: a light-filled condo in a mixed-generation bonacasa-development in the canton Bern – a state-of-the-art, digitally networked, smart home.
“We love it here; we are independent and don’t need any support. But we’re thinking ahead to a time when we may no longer be able to cope with our home on our own, we’re glad to know that we can count on support,” Marianne Berner explains. The couple lives in an ideal place for this: a smart living bonacasa-development that makes it easier for older people to stay independent.
What Daniel Berner is most enthusiastic about at the moment is the smart home control system that allows him to configure the lighting, blinds and heating for the entire apartment. He demonstrates the functionalities on his smartphone: Light on, blinds down – without getting up from the sofa. “The biggest advantage of our smart home is comfort. For example, we can control each room individually – our preferred temperature in the bedroom is a few degrees lower than in the living room,” Berner explains.
The retired engineer believes that technology will be of great support when physical fitness declines as people age. Cranking up sun blinds on large balcony doors requires strength. Berner now does this by tapping on the screen of his smartphone. Brains instead of biceps? “Oh no, the configuration wasn’t that difficult,” says Berner modestly. He adds, however, that he noticed a certain reticence, especially among older generations. Some neighbors wouldn’t know how to configure the smart home control system with an app or a computer and would most likely shy away from this option. “That’s why it’s so user-friendly,” says Berner.
The smart home control system in the Berner apartment is a good example of smart home solutions: “Digitally networked devices and systems reduce the energy consumption of buildings, increase the comfort of residents and increase the time in which a person can live independently in their apartment,” explains Christian Ebneter, Sales Manager Building Automation at ABB Switzerland.
Used properly, smart home technology can help older people live where they feel most at home for as long as possible.
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