CSEM Mission: Women in Research
The Swiss research and development center CSEM is driving digitization together with industry. 2018 was a consistently successful year. The biggest challenge remains finding female employees.
Highly sought-after technologies, an increasing number of mandates from industry and a broad portfolio - on paper, everything is in the green at CSEM. This is shown by the balance sheet for the financial year, which the company drew up on the occasion of its Annual General Meeting. Income from industrial mandates increased by more than 8 percent. In line with its status as a non-profit company, CSEM achieved a result close to break-even.
Even after years of dedication to getting more women interested in technical careers, the percentage of women at CSEM is a mere 15 percent. However, the company will continue to work to bring more women into technical research and development.
Gender equality in the year 2150?
All signs point to success, were it not for the difficulties in recruiting, especially women. CSEM is looking for talent to help Swiss industry innovate more. CSEM hired 49 new employees in 2018 to meet the high demand from industry. Among them, just 8 are women. This means that the proportion of women in research and development is only 15 percent. In 2000, the figure was 9 percent.
If things continue at this pace, it will take until 2150 to achieve gender equality.
First company in Switzerland with "Equal Salary" certification
However, CSEM took measures early on to ensure greater equality and to promote interest in technical professions among women. In 2003, the company opened the first in-house crèche in the canton of Neuchâtel. Four years later, CSEM became the first Swiss company to receive "Equal Salary" certification. The fact that gender mix is not yet further advanced in 2019 is of great concern to the company, and it is eagerly considering how to attract more female engineers.
A digital and mixed society
It's not just a matter of getting to grips with the shortage of skilled workers. Ensuring that women are represented in technical professions at all levels is also an important social challenge. "It is imperative that women participate in shaping digitization. Otherwise, they will be left behind when it comes to new technologies," warns Andrea Dunbar, who heads the "Embedded vision systems" department at CSEM.
As an example, she cites medical research, which for a long time was a male-only domain. "The result of that was drugs that were tested primarily on men and were sometimes less effective on women."
Iran as a role model
To successfully continue its mission as a bridge between research and industry, CSEM also often recruits abroad. In doing so, it has found that women elsewhere are more interested in technology. "A few years ago, I was part of the delegation of the then president of the Swiss Confederation on a visit to Iran," says Mario El-Khoury, CEO of CSEM. "While visiting a prestigious technical university, I was very impressed to meet countless female researchers in the laboratories." And he adds:
"Schools absolutely have to do more to get girls interested in technical professions. Childhood and adolescence set the course for career choices." CSEM will continue to take steps to encourage women's interest in technology, for example with awareness programs such as Lyva Tech. The goal is to show that technology is not a male-only domain and thereby ensure that gender equality is a reality long before 2150.
The CSEM 2018
In 2018, CSEM accompanied around 200 companies on the path to innovation - in most cases in the area of digitalization. Revenue from industry partnerships increased by 8.2 percent. A reduction in federal contributions led to a slight decrease in total revenue, which amounted to CHF 82.1 million.
To meet demand from industry, CSEM increased its staff. As a result, personnel expenses increased by around 3 percent. At year-end, the number of employees at the five sites in Switzerland was 470. CSEM, a non-profit company, generated a slight earnings surplus.
To get Swiss SMEs more excited about digitization, CSEM held the CSEM Digital Journey for the first time. In this competition, which will be held again in 2019, the winning company will receive technological support from the CSEM. 2018 was also crowned by AVA's second consecutive victory in the Swiss start-up competition. CSEM is supporting the Zurich-based start-up with its expertise in monitoring body parameters. The collaboration will be pursued further.
CSEM researchers are also actively working on new technologies that will help Swiss companies gain competitive advantages in the future. 38 new patents were added in 2018 to the 200 patents in the company's 35-year history. CSEM has also taken on the coordination of the European project MacQsimal, launched by the European Union to accelerate developments in quantum technology.
The year 2019 has started well: with full order books. Swiss industry continues to invest in innovations in order to remain competitive in an enormously competitive environment.
More information about CSEM in 2018: Annual Report
CSEM Digital Journey : www.csem.ch/digitaljourney
