Get the latest digital thinking direct to your inbox. Join more than 14,000 fellow digital enthusiasts for our regular round-up of the latest news, project updates and ideas to inspire.
After subscribing to our newsletter you can download the document.
Last week, VivaTech was the place to be. Techies, geeks, startupers and entrepreneurs from all over the world flocked to Paris. During three days, the city celebrated innovation and the future of tech. Because real-life connections and human exchanges will never be entirely replaced by the digital space. Putting people at the center was a leitmotif for this year’s summit and topics such as Tech4Good and United Tech for Europe were on the programme. Where the «crème de la crème» of technology meets, Switzerland is never far. This year, Présence Suisse showcased #SwissTech at the SWISS Pavilion. Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), swissnex, innosuisse and digitalswitzerland were partners. Here are some of our impressions from Paris.
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
To demonstrate how technologies are increasingly shaping our everyday lives, this year’s SWISS Pavilion focused on “smart living”. On stage, a young couple, Heidi (what else) and Guillaume, portrayed their everyday struggles. From opening bottles to training for a marathon, sleeping and making babies – Swiss technology offers solutions for an easier and more convenient life.
The startups which created these innovative solutions were also present at the SWISS Pavilion. Talking to them was exciting and inspiring. For them, being at VivaTech and connecting with potential partners, investors and customers was a tremendous opportunity. As Swiss startups compete with hundreds of thousands of other international startups, they need visibility and especially access to the right connections and finances as fast as possible.
In the buzz of the enormous Viva Tech summit, there are a few outstanding new technologies and startups. One that impressed us most was the Swiss startup Twiice. They developed a lower-limb exoskeleton that can help paraplegics walk again. Handcycling champion and former acrobat Silke Pan demonstrated how the Exoskeleton works. She told her very personal story and how through the new possibilities of technology, she dared to dream again: «I dreamed of finding my body back.» This is where technology changes everything and truly adds value. Tristan Vouga, co-founder of Twiice, made the point that Switzerland must be visionary in research to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more
nother highlight at Vivatech was the presence of the four-legged robot ANYmal, developed by ETH Zurich for use in difficult terrain and during catastrophes and rescue operations.
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more
One highlight of the VivaTech conference was – at least from a Swiss perspective – an evening at the Swiss Embassy, hosted by Swiss Ambassador to France, Livia Leu. Secretary of State for Education, Research and Innovation, Martina Hirayama, introduced the evening by summarizing key-factors for Swiss innovation:
ETH President Joël Mesot, Solar Impulse visionary Bertrand Piccard and our very own Head of Suisse Romande, Sébastien Kulling contributed to a panel discussion about the Swiss innovation ecosystem and the place of Switzerland in a competitive international environment.
Why do a project such as Solar Impulse in Switzerland and not somewhere else? Betrand Piccard thinks that on the one hand, the Swiss have a dedication to work. And maybe because Switzerland is a small country, its inhabitants want to demonstrate that they are capable of major projects. He added: «What fascinates me in Switzerland is that technology is put to the service of quality of life and human beings. And it arouses passions!» Joël Mesot underlined the importance of research. Swiss technologies are everywhere, even in our chocolate, he said with a wink. However, there is still room for improvement and some professions and industries are less digitalised today, such as those of lawyers and medical doctors. And especially the SMEs need to catch up, pointed out Sébastien Kulling who also commented “Vivatech is a fabulous environment to showcase what Switzerland is all about: technology centred around human needs and a respect for its environment.”
In conclusion, VivaTech is definitely worth a visit. With around 124’000 visitors from 125 countries, 13’000 startups, 3’300 investors and 2’500 journalists in three days, high-level speakers like French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the summit is almost overwhelming, capturing all the senses with sounds, talks, images and movement. Big players such as Google and Facebook were present, as well as hundreds of smaller, creative and innovative startups from all over the world. With above all, the promise of a better future thanks to new technologies.
Another two points stand out.
First, even though “Women in Tech” was a major agenda point during this year’s summit and gender parity was promoted through various activities, the IT and startup sector still appears very male-dominated. For a progressive tech future, a shift of mindset is needed. Today, (gender-) diversity is not just a nice-to-have but a prerequisite for successful organisations in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
Second, it becomes evermore clear that for a sustainable use of new technologies, critical scrutiny of the societal impact of new technologies is necessary. “Putting people at the center” should not remain a marketing slogan, but truly trigger a deeper reflection on what new technologies mean for our everyday lives – how we communicate, live, work and travel. Only in this way will the number of arbitrary decisions diminish and lead to greater societal acceptance. A first step towards this goal is the Swiss Digital Day, which will take place for the 3rd time on 3 September 2019: A “smaller Vivatech” in all regions of Switzerland – but for the people.
Our corporate members will benefit from a high-speed access to leading national and international startups, which can help them accelerate their own ideas and digital transformation processes.
For international Scaleups
The Market Entry Bootcamp offers promising international startups a deep-dive into the Swiss entrepreneurship ecosystem, via access to leading Swiss corporations, Swiss accelerator and incubator programmes, as well as public institutions.
As a participating startup, you will engage in an intensive matchmaking programme composed of corporate intros, pitches, 1:1 meetings, expert workshops, as well as networking events. Moreover, you will have the possibility to be shortlisted to take part in a leading Swiss startup accelerator and further profit from mentoring, funding and networking possibilities.
Applications are welcome from International scale-ups provided you meet one of the following requirements:
Additional Participation Information for Corporates
Benefit from this curated high-speed Bootcamp with access to leading international startups and accelerate your own digital transformation process.
The Market Entry programme is open to digitalswitzerland members but also to non-members. Each participating corporation can bring in two participants. Spots are limited and the registration follows a first-come-first-serve principle.
For digitalswitzerland members, the programme is free of charge. Non-members will be charged with a participation fee. For more information regarding registration and participation please contact our Project Manager Matthias Zwingli.
The Market Entry Bootcamp is operated by:
Author’s note
The success of Silicon Valley as the world’s most successful digital innovation ecosystem is largely due to a perfect storm. This storm has a name – even if like me, you’ve never heard of it. Dubbed the “triple helix model of innovation,” by its Dutch co-authors in 1990’s, it theorized when bilateral interactions are fostered between universities, industry and government, amazing things happen.
It’s not confirmed if Marc Walder, CEO Ringier and founder of the digitalswitzerland initiative, knew about the triple helix model, but the organization’s recent sponsorship of two events strongly suggest influence. My story post, “Open Innovation Secret Revealed – Knowledge is Useless,” is about such a triple helix styled event in December that focused on corporate intrapreneurship.
The story which follows looks at another recent Swiss triple helix innovation event. I hope it gives you deeper insight into the difficulty of fostering innovation for the future prosperity of Switzerland.
On a clear sparkling autumn afternoon, one hundred food industry captains, political power brokers and agritech start-up experts met to debate the future of Swiss agriculture. The tranquillity of the setting and diplomatic manners among those assembled belied the insidious difficulties fighting an enemy hiding in the midst of Switzerland’s prosperity.
Recognizing the threat and need for action, in mid-October Federal Councillor, Johann Schneider-Ammann, at the invitation of digitalswitzerland, convened three round tables for a “Swiss Agritech & Food Industry” event at Zurich ETH. Attending were corporate titans like Syngenta and Nestlé, Startups & Accelerators like Yamo, Essento and ImpactHub and Swiss farmers including Fenaco, the CHF 6 billion/year Swiss farmers association. Their common mission: countering complacency.
Susanne Lauber Fürst, agro-food expert and CEO of EnvEve SA, believes Switzerland is in a zone of comfort. She candidly calls the threat a ‘paradox of plenty.’ “We are in a Garden of Eden now. Enough food, low prices, everything seems fine.” Or is it? She continued, “Consumers can buy quality food at low prices and most farmers get subsidies.” But is the Swiss model sustainable?
Susanne believes in leveraging digitalization and education, “We need to train digital agro-champions!”
Pioneering insects-as-food startup Essento CEO Christain Bärtsch, agrees with her, “I see a lack of innovation because it’s too comfortable. Everything is good for people in established sectors. I see with investors this low risk attitude, which has also to do with comfort zone. It’s not very comfortable to stick your head out of the crowd and see what’s over the wall.”
Dr. Daniel M. Böhi, Managing Director of MAD Strategy Consultants and former Nestlé FMCG executive, and one of the event’s 3 round table moderators, expressed similar concern, “I think the biggest threat is our own mentality, we tend to wait, instead of making a step. There is no competitor, no other country, no other university, no better talent anywhere. Switzerland has everything it needs to be at the very top. But because of our current success, we sometimes lack the will and guts to take bold decisions.”
Therefore, as Calvin Grieder, Bühler AG Chairman and member of digitalswitzerland’s steering committee wrote in the event brochure, “If we want to make Switzerland a leading digital innovation hub for a sustainable agritech and food industry, we need to act now.” He warned, “Switzerland risks falling behind China and other countries that are developing into high-profile and recognized hotspots for agritech excellence.”
In the same context, Daniel Böhi cited opportunities missed, “Switzerland is very successful, but this is no guarantee for the future, especially when it comes so fast. We have the knowhow to produce self-driving electro cars. Why was it not Switzerland that said: as of 2025 there will be only electric cars on our roads, and we will be the first ‘self-driving’ nation?”
Extending the analogy to the food industry, he questioned, “Why don’t we say we are the first country to produce without pesticides – or define a maximum sugar content per serving? (Take) bold moves that make everyone: academics, corporates, politicians, start-ups – run! to find the best solutions. Like Israel did with water irrigation systems; today they are a leading agrofood innovation hub.”
Midway through a round table session, likely because it was framed as an anecdote, my ears perked up when Councillor Schneider-Amman, criticizing the lack of tolerance for failure in Swiss culture, narrated an experience with two of his start-ups that went bankrupt. He recalled sharing about his financial loss at a San Diego Rotary club, and receiving a rousing round of applause from its members! The Americans were not being mean-spirited he explained, but were applauding his courage to take the risk of failing.
His story exemplifies embracing risk of failure as a requisite of learning. To understand how successful startups view failing, I spoke to one of Switzerland’s heavyweight agro-preneurs, Marco Brini. An international polymath, Marco has co-founded 3 startups and is CTO of EnvEve SA: a new venture developing technology (under the lead of Agrocope) for predictive analytics and AI in sustainable cropping systems.
We talked at length about risk aversion, (lack of) Series A startup funding and if there was a general misunderstanding in Swiss culture of what innovation means? He mused, “A start-up is doing double innovation: they’re innovating on technology, plus they’re providing business model innovation – so it’s high risk.” Marco continued, “When you’re doing innovation … failure is a teacher to reduce the chance to fail …”
Round tables adjourned, everyone moved to the apéro where I politely ambushed a few participants to record an informal exit poll. Seeing an opening, I slipped in between the Councillor’s security detail and entrage to probe his feelings about failure. With an undertone of empathy, he said, “Being Swiss means you move carefully, you move smartly; you invest when you have more or less a guarantee in the positive (outcome).” Before his handlers whisked him away to deliver the evening’s keynote he declared, “We have to change the social appreciation of failure.”
Next to the apéro’s spring rolls and carrot sticks, I cornered Thomas Hafner, CEO of Mootral, an agritech start-up, to ask ‘what actions need to happen?’ Thomas favours an all-out unified push forward. He said, “We need to get everyone enlisted: Beef & Dairy Industry, consumers, non-food industry, government and above all farmers. We need to create a movement that is greater than the sum of its parts. We’re happy to lead, but we need others to join us.”
Erik Fyrwald, CEO Syngenta, was eyeing the finger food, but paused to tell me why he invested time to attend the event. “… we have $1.4 billion a year in research spend for solutions all over the world to help increase productivity and sustainability of agriculture. We need support from the government, but also from companies like Nestlé that are so important to the global food chain.” Whether strategic or serendipitous, I remembered Erik had been seated next to Hans Jöhr, Nestlé Corporate Head of Agriculture.
Ignoring the Schinkengipfeli in favour of fruit slices, he continued, “We need to all be thinking about what is sustainable agriculture. Yes, it’s healthy, nutritious food. But it also has to be sustainable for the environment. We have to stop deforestation, reverse it to reforestation. We’ve got to get more productivity out of the land and do it in a way that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and lowers the amount of irrigated water required. So, I’m here to listen and talk about how we can collaborate across the food agriculture value chain in Switzerland, but also with a global impact.”
Without pretence, I asked him what Syngenta adds to the Swiss agritech ecosystem? Erik said, “We serve 50 million farmers around the world with our services, our technologies, our advice, which is enhanced by digital capabilities. We need a steady stream of really talented people, both educated here in Switzerland, and from around the world that want to move to Switzerland. Secondly, we need to collaborate across government, NGOs, the food chain and farmers, all the way to the consumer.”
My impromptu exit poll confirmed participants came together knowing what’s at stake for Swiss agriculture and food supplies. They know, as Daniel stressed to me in an email, “If we do not adjust our food supply chain from field to fork, it will simply fail to deliver what consumers want: quality, good price, healthy, sustainable, food … and the ‘old’ methods will not help to achieve that.”
Daniel succinctly added, “Everyone is, and has to turn to new (digital) technologies.” Because he predicts, “like hotels and taxis, digitalization can disrupt entire industries. It is said that once the ‘digital revolution’ swipes through an industry, within less than 5 years the industry is looking totally different.”
Councillor Schneider-Ammann sent participants to this triple helix inspired event home with a politician’s pragmatism, “it … takes time, patience and passion for the issues.” It’s likely I wasn’t the only one pondering if Switzerland’s paradox of plenty will afford us enough time?
Mondays could always start like this: with a croissant and café at the beautiful Hôtel de Ville in Paris, talking about digital innovation and technology – in this instance, how it transforms the way government works. The first GovTech Summit on 12 November, gathered more than 3’000 corporates, startups, civil servants, investors, politicians and academics.
GovTech is about the future of government: how it well leverage new technologies to collect taxes, deliver services, distribute welfare, maintain security and much more. Increasingly, startups are taking over activities which previously were only done by governments. They help streamline them and make them more user-friendly for citizens. My aim was to gather insights on how other countries manage the challenges posed by digital transformation, how they harness the opportunities, and learn from international best practices from other governments that could be applied in Switzerland too.
Interesting, in my opinion, is the prioritization of this topic at the highest level: The GovTech Summit was supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the European Commission. Hosting the 8th Internet Governance Forum and the GovTech Summit during the same week under #Parisdigitalweek sends a strong message.
Last May, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted digital transformation by welcoming 140 of the most important tech leaders in the world at the Vivatech in Paris, and reminded them to use tech for good.
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Seldom have I read an interview where a political leader was so invested in mastering a technical topic (or used expert advisers to brief him), as in Macron’s WIRED-interview on France’s Artificial Intelligence strategy.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada opened the first GovTech Summit. Macron himself was busy opening that same day the Internet Governance Forum in Paris on the topic of ‘Internet of Trust’.
Anne Hidalgo made a strong pledge to use technological progress for the benefit of all, that it should serve humans and the social good, and help tackle global challenges like climate change and the protection of democracy. In her view, the underlying values are the basis for digital transformation.
Justin Trudeau reiterated this belief and shared his vision, which is a positive and liberating one. Technologies should be used to enhance democracies and empower its people instead of undermining them and fostering polarization. He also made clear that technology can be used to the detriment of the people. He sees it as the government’s responsibility to do a better job and offer an alternative. How to empower and involve citizens on the topic of tech is key to him.
Even though Trudeau admitted that he sees developments such as AI with a critical eye and calls for a common framework in the future, Canada is making an optimistic and confident choice to become a leader in this field: ‘When faced with tech disruptions like AI, societies can either embrace status quo or ‘dive into the future, accept that there are going to be transformations but if you are faster, dig deeper, then you can come out ahead.’
China and its use of data was a popular topic throughout the summit. Trudeau believes China has an advantage through its ability to access large volumes of data, but this could be detrimental to the country’s citizens. He also proposed to establish a common framework for the ethical development of artificial intelligence.
European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel recognised that people are worried about AI and privacy issues and underlined the need for common values: ‘Our citizens are concerned about AI. AI doesn’t know any borders. Our approach is on values. We need to talk about privacy protection.’
Marietje Schaake, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament also expressed concerns about the use of data in China: “In Europe, we haven’t really comprehended the fundamental challenge that China and its top down governing of technology is coming our way. We need to understand what’s at stake and start designing for the outcomes we want.”
Many speakers emphasised the need for Europe’s increased involvement in technology and to not leave this area solely to China and the US. In parallel to the GovTech Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the Internet Governance Forum and called for a European internet, which carries European values and ideas.
With challenges such as changing demographics, ageing populations and the rise of medical costs for instance, it is in the interest of all to seek more efficient ways to afford the same level or better healthcare. The same goes for most public services. Building digital competencies right at the center of government makes processes and operations more effective and thus, creates value that serves the citizens directly. New technologies open up possibilities to the government to first understand better their citizen’s opinion and second, which services are actually used and needed. A more citizen-centric approach is the result.
Jennifer Pahlka, Founder of Code for America, in an interview with PBS calls it a ‘delivery-driven government’: “If the interactions between citizens and the government drive creation of policies and operations, it is a fundamentally different game.” She recommends to take what we have learned in the tech world and apply it to more bureaucratic systems – to hack bureaucracy. However, it is not just about creating new fancy apps for the government, it is about a new way of thinking, a system change.
GovTech and Civic Tech will certainly grow in importance in the future – especially in Switzerland, where according to certain rankings, we still fall short. The IMD Digital Competitiveness Report positions Switzerland behind when it comes to E-Voting for example.
For my part, I believe that GovTech can make government services better and serve the common good and the people. Understanding new technologies isn’t easy for everyone. It requires education and the involvement of the people to prevent a social and generational divide. And importantly, GovTech will never be a substitute for elections or citizens’ involvement. It can be a bridge and a new means to communicate with governmental officials and the administration to make processes more efficient, transparent, accessible and user-friendly.
Following a successful Swiss Digital Day where we opened the dialogue with the Swiss public on technology and innovation, our first Digital Gipfel Schweiz (Digital Summit Switzerland) took place on 5 and 6 November with over 80 CEOs from leading national and international companies, academic institutions and government representatives to discuss digital transformation in Switzerland. The event was organized in partnership with EY Switzerland and Ringier.
The aim of the summit was to underline the importance of digital transformation in Switzerland, to promote dialogue and interaction between business, research and political leaders and to support change so that the country can remain at the forefront of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Marc Walder, Founder of digitalswitzerland and CEO Ringier: “After the second Digital Day, this first Digital Gipfel Schweiz is another important initiative from digitalswitzerland. While the Digital Day was for the general public, this event provides a platform for exchange on digital transformation for the most important executives from business, research and government”.
On stage, Alexander Karp, Co-Founder and CEO of the US software company Palantir, Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of the technology group ABB, Robert Gentz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the e-commerce platform Zalando, Philipp Metzger, Director of the Federal Office of Communications and Chairman of the interdepartmental working group “Digital Strategy Switzerland”, Sascha Zahnd, VP Global Supply Chain Tesla as well as Daniel Wiegand, Co-Founder and CEO of the airline Lilium, shared case studies, best practices and engaged with the audience through Q&A sessions. Marcel Stalder, CEO EY Switzerland and member of the digitalswtizerland Executive Committee: “The programme was designed in such a way that top people from politics and business could exchange ideas with major technology companies. We must face up to the digital transformation in Switzerland and actively accompany the change there.”
The programme covered topics like Industry 4.0, Digital Competitiveness, Education, E-Commerce and Mobility. Christos Cabolis, Chief Economist and Head of Operations at IMD shared findings from the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2018, where Switzerland ranks 5th, highlighting the country’s strengths and potential challenges. Patrick Warnking, Country Director Google Switzerland and member of the digitalswtizerland Executive Committee highlighted the importance of education, and more particularly lifelong education. He underlined the value of supporting Swiss SMEs in their digital transformation; for this digitalswitzerland has developed the Adapt programme. He talked about fostering passion for STEM and ICT subjects through digitalswitzerland’s Next Generation. Furthermore, he underlined the role of lifelong learning in staying competitive on the labour market, notably by leveraging platforms like Education Digital.
Following this successful first edition of the Digital Gipfel Schweiz, it will be on our agenda again next year in November 2019.
South Summit truly does not disappoint as a global innovation platform that connects top innovators from Southern Europe and Latin America to the world´s most powerful investors and corporates looking for the next big thing.
There were over 650 investors, 3’500 start-ups and an astonishing 1.4 bn raised by all the finalists. A few exciting start-ups that caught our attention were onTruck, a Madrid-based on-demand logistics platform that connects businesses to road freight carriers, Spotahome, a platform for mid- to long-term rentals of fully-furnished rooms, and the pitch winner, Amadix ColoFast, inventor of an innovative blood-based test for early colorectal cancer detection.
In addition to exploring the latest technologies, the connections made at such a leading conference offer great opportunities to nurture and grow relationships with key international players, start-ups, investors and corporates alike.
With big players like the US and China, Europe sometimes gets forgotten. The heterogenous and comparatively small domestic markets of European countries make early growth more challenging. However, it is exactly this struggle that pushes European start-ups to think global early in their existence. This, with the cross-cultural understanding gathered through a shared European history enables entrepreneurial teams to be particularly successful in managing diverse teams, and growing in more complex market conditions.
Lukasz Gadowski, founder of Delivery Hero (€ 4.4bn IPO, Jun 2017) explained during a panel on “Building Companies of Scale from Europe” that not only is scalability of the business model the most important aspect for growth, but that it’s time to transform this weakness of fractured and small domestic markets, and start using it as an advantage. European start-ups are born to scale and go global early. If we embrace this, and become fast and effective at international scaling, we are optimistic that Europe will provide its fair share of future unicorns.
The Spanish ecosystem is a gateway to Latin America’s market of 626 million people (2018) with not only inspiringly energetic, positive and creative talent, but also great innovation, start-ups and investment opportunities.
In 2017 alone, investment in Spain’s Tech start-ups grew by 45%[1]. After London, Berlin and Paris, Barcelona is ranked 4thas Europe’s biggest start-up and innovation hub, ahead of Stockholm[2].
It is increasingly clear how maturing start-up ecosystems evolve into start-up and innovation hubs. Collaboration between start-ups, corporates, investors and academia is key to the further development, power and success of a hub. In Switzerland, we can, for example, see Kickstart Accelerator and digitalswitzerland pushing the boundaries of Start-up – Corporate collaboration, increasing the potential for innovation, accelerating POC-to-market, investment and venture scaling. It is clear why for many start-ups in Spain and other countries, Switzerland offers very attractive possibilities. The quality of Swiss products (and chocolate!), a highly skilled workforce, a reliable legal and political environment, growing VC/CVC money in the market and ever easier processes make it particularly attractive to establish an HQ or operations in Switzerland. Not to mention favorable corporate and individual taxation.
In addition, for Swiss start-ups, expanding abroad, and scaling globally from Europe is a key for growth and success. This creates very attractive possibilities for investors and corporates to partner with, and invest in acceleration and scale-up ventures. We expect to see many more in the future.
One of our main takeaways from South Summit was definitely Europe’s secret sauce. Our heterogenous and cross-cultural understanding, combined with the need to go international and scale globally early on, truly gives us a unique advantage. Instead of trying to become the next Silicon Valley, we should rather focus on how to turn this competitive advantage into growth and sustainable impact.
What are we waiting for? Let’s go global, together!
To learn more about the latest in strategic #innovation and #collaboration, #DeepTech, #Startup, #Corporate Acceleration and #Investments, follow our activities on @digitalswitzerland
Daniel Ginter, Senior Director Corporate Enablement @digitalswitzerland
Matthias Zwingli, Project Manager Startup Enablement @digitalswitzerland
[1]https://novobrief.com/investment-spain-startups/6108/
[2]https://apiumhub.com/tech-blog-barcelona/barcelona-makes-top-innovation-hubs/
At digitalswitzerland, we are looking more and more beyond our borders and developing new activities to enhance our international visibility and connectivity. Our aim is to increase awareness of the Swiss innovation ecosystem abroad and to connect and collaborate with other global innovation hubs.
Last week, I joined a panel at the Forum on Inspiring Innovation: Deep Tech organised by Bloomberg Government and Switzerland Global Enterprise. It was a great opportunity to discuss ecosystems, trends in deep technology and characteristics of the Swiss ecosystem.
San Francisco, Berlin and London usually come to mind when we think of technology and innovation ecosystems. New York is more associated with the “solid but old economy”. This impression might need some updating, let me explain why:
Iynna Halilou, Global Programs Manager at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator NY believes “we will start seeing more tech-focused innovation focused on solving pressing social issues (e.g a broken mass transit system; housing crisis; access to capital for underprivileged communities, immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees etc.). It is not surprising that we see these solutions coming out of New York, the nature of this city, being so diverse, it has always been an example when it comes to leading change and embracing inclusiveness.”
New York is not only an impressive corporate centre but also one of the most promising and exciting tech hubs to watch in the coming years. My special appreciation goes to the Swiss Innovation Hub in New York for providing much of the data on this ecosystem.
According to Switzerland Global Enterprise, there are about 18 Swiss start-ups active in New York City and 29 in the San Francisco Bay area. The actual number could in fact be twice as high. Swiss start-ups in New York raised an average of $11.03 million, with high variances across industries and stages of development. Swiss presence in the New York start-up environment is relatively recent.
A good start, although numbers are still quite low. So why should Swiss start-ups go to New York? Here are some reasons:
According to Caroline Blaser from the Swiss Business Hub New York “New York has one of the world’s strongest financial ecosystems with a growing venture capital and technology scene. With 52 Fortune 500 companies headquartered here, the globally minded business environment offers great opportunities for start-ups to develop their business. In addition, companies find the time zone ideal making it easy to stay connected with their teams and stakeholders in Europe.”
Not everything is perfect in New York though; the tech and digital ecosystem also have some challenges:
I’m convinced that both ecosystems, New York and Switzerland, can benefit from greater synergies. I was impressed by the quality and growth of the New York ecosystem. Switzerland also has strong assets and both hubs could generate higher output by working together. A few suggestions and examples:
Let’s continue exploring new ways of intensifying exchanges between New York and Switzerland. Both ecosystems will benefit from deepening this collaboration. If you have any suggestions on how we can work together in the future, like establishing an official corridor (MoU, etc), please contact me at nicolas@digitalswitzerland.com.
The early bird catches the worm! This saying was particularly true on Wednesday, 24 January 2018. digitalswitzerland organized a high-level panel discussion and breakfast on the topic: «Switzerland, the world’s most innovative country at the intersection of technological innovation and social acceptance.» At the panel in the Palantir Pavillon in Davos discussed early risers Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation, Alexander Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir, Philipp Rösler, former managing director of WEF and Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier and initiator of digitalswitzerland. The digitalswitzerland-breakfast was attended by many C-Level members of digitalswitzerland.
After a short introduction of Alexander Karp, where he talked about the journey of Palantir technologies and hippie times, he addressed the issue of data. According to Karp the big challenge is the question of who controls data ownership. What happens with our data should not be decided in Silicon Valley, he believes. Instead the state should make the final decision regarding data ownership, privacy and ethical questions. Karp: «Digitization raises moral, ethical and economic questions that can only be answered by the state.»
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Another topic discussed, concerned the importance of a digital identity in Switzerland. Marc Walder thinks that companies have the responsibility to be transparent and open when it comes down to personal data. It is a trust issue: «People need to know what happens with their data.» He further pointed out that if we look at the ten most valuable tech companies, we see that there are zero tech companies in Europe. «For Switzerland it is about being an innovation driver and not being a copycat nation.» In his words, Switzerland is «feeling very little pain» and needs to understand the importance of ‘being digital.’
One other thing that makes our country a more ‘digital Switzerland’ is education. Marc Walder told the audience that his daughter is still learning the exact same subjects as he himself did, 45 years ago. «She goes to school as there were no digital skills needed.» Walder proposes that mandatory coding classes could be a way for children to get ready for a a more and more digitized world. Alain Berset added to this statement that children should especially acquire social competences to be able to understand what the digital transformation means in concrete terms. Geneva councilor Pierre Maudet, who was present in the audience, proposed that children could for example learn how to pitch. Getting to the heart of a big idea in short sentences is according to him a skill that is useful in every kind of learning or work environment.
The Swiss business leaders who gathered early in the morning not only left well fed, but also with new food for thought. How can Switzerland stay on top in terms of digital innovation and become an innovation driver, while dealing with sensitive issues such as data privacy? What role will have the private, but also the public sector in the digital transformation? These questions will continue to be of concern for thinkers, transformers and everyone on an individual level.
digitalswitzerland will try to stay on top of all these things as well, please subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter and we will keep you posted!
Are nation states outdated and will technology take over our world? Will we be all Google citizens or Amazon-ians one day? Business leaders, techies and the brightest minds from Silicon Valley and Europe gathered on 18 January 2018 to discuss this year’s WorldWebForum provocative topic «end of nation». A vibrant and enthusiastic conference crowd celebrated disruptive technologies and business models.
Right at the beginning, Swiss Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann contradicted the conference’s slogan with a plea for a strong state. He underlined opportunities of the new technological possibilities and at the same time pointed out that with the fast-changing environment, increasing complexity and new technologies, lifelong learning is becoming a necessity. In the past, young people learned in school almost everything they needed for their later career. Today, the learning process is a continuous one and what was relevant two years ago, might be already outdated today. With digitization and automatization comes the fear of being replaced by robots. As Federal Councilor Schneider-Ammann admitted, he himself would not want to live on a planet with an 85% unemployment rate. He closed his statement by saying that as in every revolution, there might be losers. Therefore, for him, states are not outdated, but needed more than ever.
Mark Thompson, bestseller author and Senior Executive Coach, who worked amongst others for Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, asked how to stay fit in a digital age. In his keynote, he talked about “Productive Paranoia”. This is not a paranoia based on fear or hiding from reality – instead it is the willingness to look at competitors and what they are doing right. Secondly, Thompson pointed out that it is not safe to play it safe anymore, but to take risks and develop a culture of failure. In Switzerland, there is room for improvement and risk-taking. What still is missing is a Swiss culture of failure.
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Carissa Carter, director teaching and learning from Stanford University, was talking about empathy and responsibility and how to solve problems with design thinking. One of the Tesla’s early investors, Nancy Pfund, spoke about responsibility and impact investment. According to her, in the past, many people believed that it would be enough to force change in a society by donating money to political parties and politicians. After the Trump election, many more people recognized that this does not suffice anymore and started committing themselves to a positive change in society.
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Lino Guzzella, President of ETH Zurich and steering committee member of digitalswitzerland, gave a short insight into the challenges that a world leading university with a public mandate is facing in the digital era. Among others, he talked about Artificial Intelligence and told the public that he was asked once, whether an AI would have discovered Newton’s Law of Gravitation. His answer to that is simple: ‘If Newton had AI, he would have done that simply much faster and earlier. Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic development with a huge potential that will be just an additional tool to the capacity of humans. Guzzella sees this as a new dimension of human’s creativity space and is convinced that with bringing artificial and natural intelligence together, we will have a better chance to cope with the big challenges.
digitalswitzerland founder and CEO Ringier, Marc Walder, talked with Hugh Forrest, director South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival and Taavi Kotka, former Chief Information Officer for the Estonian Government, about global innovation hubs. The tiny post-soviet country Estonia has become a leading pioneer in digital governance. For Marc Walder this is the perfect example of how the digital change could be embraced. The panelists further talked about the need to feel the urgency: when the pain is enough, you need to change. Switzerland needs to get this sense of urgency to move forward.
During the panel, Marc Walder announced the date for the second Swiss Digital Day, which will take place on Thursday, 25th October 2018. So, mark this date in your agenda! We are committed to making this unique event even bigger and involve all of the Swiss regions and especially the public. Thus, we would like to hear what you are interested in seeing and experiencing during the Digital Day 2018. What are your questions on digitization? Your opinion is important and valuable to us. If you have any feedback, please write us here.
By loading the tweet, you agree to Twitter’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Suzanne Di Bianca, Corporate Relations and Chief Philanthropy Officer at Salesforce, inspired with her talk to sign up for the 1:1:1 Pledge. Suzanne pioneered the 1:1:1 Pledge model of integrated corporate philanthropy, which dedicates 1% of Salesforce’s equity, employee time or product back into the community. For Di Bianca, sustainability in business is a must. It is not only about taking and taking from customers, but to give something back. The future belongs to the value-driven companies.
‘Technology is helping to enforce boundaries and at the same time makes them less strong’
Professor David J. Teece from Berkeley University elaborated on the conference’s prediction, ‘the end of nation.’ His conclusion to the question is that if we look back in history, we can assert that companies are way more fragile than nations. In general, the trend in international business has become that more and more companies are stateless and competition between states have increased. There is more complexity, competition and a deep uncertainty. Teece advise to handle uncertainty: what really matters is instinct and the need to align agility and strategy.
As the topic of the conference implied and what is observable on a global scale, tech companies are becoming powerful, even more powerful than certain states. Technology is disrupting business, politics and challenging state authorities. The question is how to realize the full potential of digitization and how to cushion its negative outcomes. To solve those big questions and problems, innovative and smart thinkers are needed and still: the nation state. With all these promising progresses and exciting perspectives ahead, we should not forget that we are still living in a physical and not digital world and in the end, what really counts is how we can use technologies to the advantages of not only a few, but to include everyone.
With this prestigious format, we provide our members with insights from selected keynote speakers on various topics related to digital transformation. The aim is to connect decision-makers from industry, academia, business and politics to support and drive change. In this context, the Swiss Digital Summit makes an important contribution to help shape and tackle the complex effects of digitalisation in Switzerland.
By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more
Get the latest digital thinking direct to your inbox. Join more than 14,000 fellow digital enthusiasts for our regular round-up of the latest news, project updates and ideas to inspire.
Sign up
