In 2020, the SGES will be held under the motto "Dialogue and obstinacy". Where do we need dialog, where do we need pioneers who 'simply' tackle sustainability - even if they choose unusual, even stubborn paths? How can we cleverly combine economic, social and ecological goals? Profit from the Success knowledge and the experience of over 150 personalities and experts. Be inspired among others by

- Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen, Institute for Transport Planning and Systems ETH Zurich

- Rainer Baumann, Head of Department Technology, Information Technology & Logistics Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
- Cristina Bueti, International Telecommunications Union UNO, Geneva
- Prof. Dr. Rainer Bunge, University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil

- Cédric Egger, Corporate Water Resources Manager Nestlé
- Annalise Eggimann, Director Innosuisse
- André Flückiger, CEO, Eicher+Pauli

- Kai Landwehr, Head of Marketing Myclimate
- Kurt Lanz Member of the Board of Economiesuisse

- Prof. Dr. Lorenz Hilty, Delegate for Sustainability University of Zurich

- Michael Künzle, Mayor of Winterthur

- Jack Mikkers, Mayor of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
- Government Councillor Dr. Martin Neukom
- Prof. Dr. Jean-Marc Piveteau, Rector ZHAW
- Jürg Röthlisberger, Director Federal Office for Road Traffic
- Barbara Schaffner, National Councillor
- Anna Schindler, Director Urban Development Zurich
- Hedda Samson, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Switzerland

- Dr. Karine Siegwart, Vice Director Federal Office for the Environment

- Gerold Schatt, Head of Sustainability Emmi Group
- Philipp Spaeti, CTO IBM Switzerland
- Christian Schultze-Wolters, Business Unit Manager Blockchain Solutions DACH BM
- Cantonal Government Councillor Carmen Walker Späh
- Christine Wiederkehr-Luther, Head of Sustainability Directorate, Federation of Migros Cooperatives

- Doris Wiederwald, AustriaTech Vienna
- Res Witschi, Delegate for Digitalization & Sustainability, Swisscom

Program, Registration

Benefit from the comprehensive diversity at the SGES Symposium: Inspiring presentations, exciting panels, Innovation Exhibition and the Innovation Forums full interaction, e.g.:

IF.03 Areas lead into the future with Dr. Romeo Deplazes, Energie 360° AG; Fabian Etter, Swisscleantech; Daniel Trüssel, eicher+pauli; Patric Van der Haegen, Eberhard Unternehmungen; Dr. Christian Schmid, Intep; Moderation: Judit Solt, TEC 21 (Program, Registration)

IF.04 Autonomous Mobility with Anna Schindler, Stadt Entwicklung Zürich; Jürg Röthlisberger, ASTRA; Prof. Dr. Maike Scherrer, ZHAW; Thomas Küchler, Schweizerische Südostbahn; Janick Mischler, Die Post; Franz M. Rinderknecht, Rinspeed (Program, Registration)

IF.05 Effective Invest: New ways and market opportunities with Prof. Dr. Alexander Braun, University of St.Gallen; Sabine Döbeli, Swiss Sustainable Finance;
Lukas Schneller, SECO; Dr. Gunthard Niederbäumer, Swiss Insurance Association (Program, Registration)

IF.07 Sustainability communication including Till Berger, ARE; Andrea Hausmann, JTI; Manuela Huck-Wettstein, Sustainserv; Anna Peters, Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund; Dr. Moritz Reisser, BDO; Manuel Rotzinger, IKEA Switzerland; (Program, Registration)

IF.08 Smart Cities with Prof. Vicente Carabias, ZHAW / Smart City Winterthur; Urs Meuli, Federal Office of Energy; Stephan Grötzinger, City of Wil; Maarten Loeffen, Stadswerk Netherlands, Benjamin Szemkus, Smart City Hub; Hannes Treier, Myni Gmeind (Program 01.09 & 2.09, Registration),

IF.11 Global Value chains with Laura Tschümperlin, FOEN; Christian Ewert, Amfori; Nina Bachmann, Swiss Textiles (Program, Registration)

IF.12 Circular economy and plastics with Kurt Röschli, Kunststoff.Swiss; Prof. Dr. Rudolf Koopmans, Plastic Innovations Competence Center; Patrik Geisselhardt, Swiss Recycling; Christine-Wiederkehr-Luther, Migros (Program, Registration).

More Innovation Forums are
IF.01 Health
IF.02 Sustainable food systems (stakeholder dialogue).
IF.09 Energy & Climate
IF.10 Waste slags (stakeholder dialogue)

What is the benefit and what is the mood? Answers give the Statements former Speaker and the Mood film.

Place and date: Tuesday 01.09.2020, 08:30 - 17:30 at Theater Winterthur, from 17.30 networking aperitif until 19.00. The innovation exhibition will be open all day until 19.00. The second part of the Innovation Forum IF.08 Smart Cities will take place on September 2

Registration: Online, Mail or also via 076 204 35 97

On August 3, 2020, the first deliveries at the new waste management center of the Schnider AG arrived in Sulgen, informs a Post in the "Tagblatt". Among other things, the new disposal center in Sulgen is intended to shorten transport routes. This makes "sense from an ecological and economic point of view," explains Reto Schnider, who is quoted in the article.

The company, located in Engelburg, St. Gallen, now covers the catchment area of eastern Switzerland with three sites in Engelburg, Herisau AR and Sulgen. At the new location, the company has hired three new employees for the time being. They are currently still supported by employees from Engelburg, the article explains.

"In Thurgau, we already have some major customers from trade and industry," Managing Director Schnider is quoted as saying in the article. "With the new location, we want to expand our activities in a wider radius." In doing so, the company is trying to sell the collected raw materials in Switzerland "whenever possible."

At the disposal center in Sulgen, the recyclables handed in are "professionally sorted and stored until an optimal transport quantity is reached," writes the "Tagblatt". Most recyclables are then transferred to appropriate companies for reprocessing. Some recyclables, including scrap wood, are processed by Schnider AG itself at its plant in Engelburg.

A short clip about the new waste disposal center in Sulgen: 

http://www.schnider-ag.ch

"The new location at Zurich Airport "The Circle" represents another important milestone for Unispace in our continuous development in the Swiss and global market", emphasizes Benji Tiso, Principal Unispace Switzerland. For him, this location decision is of great importance: "The forward-looking concept of The Circle underlines our position as market-defining visionaries in workplace design. The synergies that arise at this new location allow us to optimally contribute our expertise and form long-term partnerships. We are convinced that the Circle will further strengthen and highlight Unispace, but also Zurich Airport in the international context!"

Individual solutions

Unispace designs the working environments of companies and realizes innovative and future-oriented office spaces. In the Circle, the global company finds an ideal situation to implement its own expertise.

The new destination for Zurich is convincing because of its community spirit and synergies with other tenants and usage modules. In addition, the Circle is chosen to offer employees, customers and partners a modern, future-oriented working environment in Switzerland's best-connected location.

Alongside Microsoft and SAP, another globally active IT company is relocating its Swiss headquarters to the Circle. This makes the Circle a technology and innovation hotspot in Switzerland. In addition, the Circle is also very popular with biopharmaceutical companies. In addition to MSD, another pharmaceutical company has decided to relocate its Swiss headquarters to the Circle at Zurich Airport. In total, a further 8,000m2 of office space was leased with these three deals.

This means that most of the office space has been leased. Just under 10,000m2 of office space is still available, including small and large spaces in central locations. More information can be found on the following website: https://www.thecircle.ch/de/bueroflaechen

Opening in stages from autumn 2020

Despite Coronavirus, the Circle is progressing well and only slight delays to completion are expected. Several tenants have already taken over their space, and the official opening of the high-publicity areas such as the convention center, hotel, restaurants and stores is planned for November 2020.

The online symposium "Closed Cycles and the Circular Society - the Power of Ecological Engineering" held at the 2. to 4. September 2020 gets to the bottom of the circular economy with a new approach. A change in thinking is needed, says the media release from the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Dep. Life Sciences and Facility Management.

Our society is facing serious environmental problems. Eco-technology strives for good, durable and efficient circular solutions that can be derived from ecology. The potential is huge and can trigger a new surge of creativity towards ecological sustainability.

To tap this potential, it is crucial to integrate the know-how of architects, planners, scientists, engineers, business people and other groups. But how does this work in concrete terms? This is where the 2020 Closed Cycles and Circular Society Symposium comes in.

From September 2-4, 2020, ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) and IEES (International Ecological Engineering Society IEES) are organizing a unique online symposium. We address professionals from all fields interested in integrative solutions in the field of Ecological Engineering.

The symposium is designed to provide ample time for discussion and exchange. Practical cases and situations play a central role. You can learn a lot of new things and actively participate in 6 keynote lectures, 3 panels, 12 scientific sessions and about 20 case-oriented workshops!

A sophisticated online system allows direct exchange between all participants, whether in two-person discussions or in many other constellations. This means that you can directly influence a large part of the topics and problems discussed! And the social part should not be neglected either.

More information on: https://www.closedcycles2020.ch/

In ecology, we find many models for permanently stable ecosystems. Following these models to build a sustainable circular economy is the vision of a new ecologically inspired engineering practice. The preliminary program can be found at:

https://www.closedcycles2020.ch/images/docs/ClosedCycles2020_Program_ExtendedCURRENT.pdf

By the way, the case studies can only be followed live. (Conference language: English) 

Refrigerators are absolutely indispensable in restaurant and hotel kitchens. But also in bakeries, supermarkets or in kiosks everything revolves around the cooling of fresh produce. "Unfortunately, there are a lot of inefficient refrigerators and freezers in use," knows Maike Hepp from Topten. "They cause high electricity costs for the businesses, and in addition, the storage refrigerators, freezers or vending machines are operated with refrigerants that are harmful to the climate."

Often, owners don't even know what costs they will incur over the life of a device when they buy it. The fact is: the operating costs can exceed the purchase price many times over. Example: an average supermarket freezer will cost CHF 8000 more over its eight-year lifetime due to high energy consumption, compared to an efficient appliance. These can be easily found on the online portal Topten.

Federal government pays up to 40 percent of the new price

The Corona crisis has hit the catering, bakery or butchery business hard. The ProKilowatt subsidy program of the Federal Office of Energy has therefore increased the subsidies for storage or sales refrigeration units from the previous 25 percent to up to 40 percent of the purchase price of a new unit. Eligible for subsidies are plug-in units with the highest energy efficiency and a climate-friendly refrigerant. The table showing the subsidized appliances and the maximum subsidies can be found at topten.ch/trade can be viewed. The maximum total subsidy per end customer is now CHF 130,000 instead of CHF 100,000 (for example for large distributors).

However, these higher subsidies only apply to purchases implemented after 06/15/20. Funding will continue to be provided for ready-to-plug-in, highly efficient catering and sales refrigeration equipment using natural, climate-friendly refrigerants such as R600a or R290. The program will initially run until the end of 2020, with an immediate follow-up program being sought. Further information and application forms are available at www.topten.ch/gewerbe available.

From March 2021, the energy label for sales refrigeration equipment is mandatory!

When planning purchases, it should be urgently noted that from March 2021 the energy label will also be mandatory for supermarket refrigerators, beverage coolers, ice cream chests and refrigerated vending machines. Until now, it was only mandatory for storage appliances. The label shows the efficiency class of the appliances at a glance, making comparison much easier, with "A" being the best. Very inefficient appliances may no longer be imported and sold from March 2021.

This is what the new EU/Switzerland label for sales refrigerators will look like from March 2021. "B" is the best category. (Source: Commission Regulation EU 2019/2018 / Fogalrefrigeration)

Staffing firm Robert Half offers five tips on how companies can increase their resilience:

Tip 1: Get an overview - What is essential for the company?

First, it is important for any company to gain an overview of what is needed to maintain work processes and continue to meet customer needs. The challenge is to take into account applicable regulations, such as current clearance rules, and still remain productive. For example, it makes sense to keep a list of which employee is in the office and when. Procuring the necessary hardware and software for home office solutions is also essential.

"Resilience projects should not be seen as an expensive add-on. They help keep companies functional during crises and are therefore an investment in future business success," says Zerrin Azeri, Director at Robert Half. "The measures taken should strengthen the company's 'immune system' in the long term and at the same time be useful during non-crisis periods. That can be digital meetings as well as decisions that maintain employees' mental health."

Tip 2: Respond quickly to current challenges

Working out perfect solutions takes a lot of time. The "trial and error method" is best suited for this. It makes it possible to implement decisions step by step, but quickly, and to adjust them if necessary. A roadmap is ideal for outlining possible options. It is worthwhile to record what has worked well and what might be a permanent solution. Regular feedback loops with both quantifiable results and qualitative input from different teams and management are also useful. This helps to better assess and optimize the impact of decisions.

Tip 3: Prepare for the future with the right IT infrastructure

In many companies, parts of the workforce are currently working back in the office in view of relaxed contact restrictions, while others are still in the home office. That's why it makes sense now to create a suitable IT infrastructure that employees can use reliably both from home and at work. Investments in forward-looking technology are already worthwhile - also with a view to the use of remote maintenance software and secure, cloud-based working.

Tip 4: Remain loyal to customers

In order not to jeopardize relationships with key stakeholders, clarity and reliability are important in times like these. "Coordinate with your customers and stay in touch on an ongoing basis. This will allow you to respond flexibly as needs change," advises Azeri. "But only promise what you can deliver to avoid friction in the relationship with the customer."

Tip 5: Show empathy

Employees are the greatest asset of any company. "Resilience also means promoting the resilience of employees. Managers in particular can influence how employees experience and endure stress. They should communicate changes in good time to prevent fears from arising. An appreciative and supportive approach strengthens team spirit," says Azeri. Managers should also respond flexibly to changes themselves and future-proof their decisions with a view to growth prospects.

Here is more information on how companies can strengthen their resilience.

Since 2005, the SWISS EXCELLENCE FORUM has been honoring outstanding ethical performance in business with the Swiss Ethics Award. The focus is on achievements by organizations that assume responsibility in a special way and are actively committed to sustainable corporate governance. Five outstanding projects have been nominated for the 2020 award:

• Alternative Bank Schweiz AG, Olten Project: Climate-Active ABS
• Arbofino AG, Männedorf Wood investment with biodiversity promotion
• Forma Futura Invest AG, Zurich Project: Independent Sustainable Asset Management
• Reckhaus AG, Gais with Insect Respect
• Vatorex AG, Wiesendangen with Bee Together Bee Alive

Award

The award ceremony will take place on September 23, 2020 at the Museum of Transport in Lucerne as part of an exciting program. Dr. Marc Holitscher, Member of the Executive Board at Microsoft Switzerland will speak about "Artificial Intelligence: why we need an ethical compass". He will be a guest in the subsequent panel discussion together with Dr. Regula Pfister, entrepreneur and member of the Board of Directors, and Dr. Michael Fürst, Head Social Innovation & Strategy, Global Health & Corporate Responsibility at Novartis International AG.

Jury

The projects are judged by a top-class jury consisting of ethicists as well as representatives from business, science, theology and politics:

- Stephan Baer, Baer Ammann GmbH

- National Councilor Corina Eichenberger

- Paola Ghillani, Paola Ghillani & Friends Ltd.

- Prof. Dr. Markus Huppenbauer, Center for Religion, Economics

and Politics, University of Zurich

- Prof. Dr. Hans Ruh, business and social ethicist

- Prof. Dr. Peter Schaber, Ethics Center of the University of Zurich

- Dr. Christoph Weber-Berg, Reformed Regional Church of Aargau

Partner

The Swiss Ethics Award is supported by Holinger AG, Die Post, ibW Höhere Fachschule Südostschweiz, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Linkgroup AG, die Zentralbahn, the organizer and Umwelt Perspektiven.

For more details please contact:

Ruth Buholzer, SWISS EXCELLENCE FORUM

(r.buholzer@excellence-forum.ch)

www.swiss-excellence-forum.ch

According to the "SonntagsZeitung", residues of the banned pesticide chlorothalonil are also found in Swiss drinking water. Small amounts of chlorothalonil have been found in the mineral water of Evian. However, the concentration is well below the legal limits and does not pose a health risk.

Clear alpine water nevertheless contaminated 

It's hot, the water produced by Evian on Lake Geneva comes from the French Alps near the Swiss border. But now experts from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) have found residues of the pesticide chlorothalonil in Evian mineral water. They were able to detect 6 nanograms per liter (source: SonntagsZeitung).

The finding is nevertheless significant because Evian comes directly from the heart of the Alps and is considered so pure that scientists use it to calibrate their measuring instruments. One water expert expressed concern to the newspaper: "The fact that even the Evian springs in the French Alps, which are hardly influenced by humans, show pesticide residues is alarming and shows the far too careless handling of these substances," warned Roman Wiget, president of the International Drinking Water Association AWBR.

The concentration of the residues found in Evian is well below the legal limit. They therefore do not pose a health risk. The concentration is "comparable to Lake Zurich water," says Juliane Hollender, co-author of the Eawag study. Roman Wiget would nevertheless like to restrict the use of pesticides. He calls for only organic farming adjuvants to be used.

Although some of these are also not without problems, they degrade very quickly - with the exception of copper - according to Wiget, which means that the drinking water is not polluted, he tells the "SonntagsZeitung".

Generally prohibited since the beginning of 2020 

The Federal Office for Agriculture approved the use of chlorothalonil in the 1970s. The active ingredient was used in the cultivation of cereals, vegetables, vines and ornamental plants to combat fungal infestations. Based on new research findings, the federal government last year reclassified chlorothalonil as "probably carcinogenic" and banned its use from the beginning of 2020.

In December 2019, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) had classified all degradation products (metabolites) of chlorothalonil as relevant for drinking water. Thus, a maximum value of 0.1 micrograms per liter for drinking water applies to these substances, which in this case is also valid for groundwater as a limit value. This new value is extremely low. This maximum value is a precautionary value, not a toxicologically derived limit value.

Chlorothalonil probably carcinogenic

"Wikipedia holds quite a few pitfalls - that's why it's imperative to familiarize yourself with its encyclopedic nature," explains Markus Franz of PR agency Sucomo. "For the German-language version alone, about a hundred and fifty guidelines apply, some of which contradict each other. A thorough familiarization determines the weal and woe of publishing new content - because that's the only way to prevent errors that lead to lasting skepticism among the community."

Even more important than the official rules are the unofficial customs, which can only be learned step by step. "Unfortunately, we experience it time and again that companies jeopardize the chance of an entry because they rush ahead with self-promotion or uncleanly prepared articles," explains Peter Montag, Wikipedia expert at Aufgesang. "In doing so, they provoke immediate deletion - in the worst case, a less well-meaning administrator keeps an eye on the article. Then even professional service providers have a hard time intervening to help."

"Salami tactics" are successful

After the Wikipedia relevance has been clarified beyond doubt (if necessary via the Relevance check), companies best proceed by creating a few-sentence mini-post - even Stub called. The reason is simple: The critical community is inclined to suspect unauthorized PR in longer texts - therefore the chance of success for a mini-entry is much higher. Only when the rudimentary article has cleared the hurdle should companies get down to the further step-by-step elaboration.

With a bit of luck, the stub will arouse the interest of other users - so that the new article is continuously expanded even without any significant input from the company itself. In addition, companies can do a lot to build trust by not only contributing to their own article, but also contributing to articles that relate to their area of expertise. Images and videos under a Wikipedia-compatible license can also help.

Advice and support on all Wikipedia-related issues is provided by a free guide: https://www.aufgesang.de/wikipedia-leitfaden

www.aufgesang.de