Long-time attendees of the Alpine Symposium will have noticed that there were fewer visitors to the two-day symposium at the beautiful Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken on January 30 and 31, 2024 than in the "heyday" before the coronavirus pandemic. However, those in attendance were able to enjoy a varied program packed with all the latest topics: artificial intelligence, cancel culture, the opportunities and limitations of ChatGPT, discovering new trends and successfully overcoming crises.

Proven mix of topics

In this respect, the Alpine Symposium remained true to its proven and successful formula under its new leadership: panel discussions and presentations by people who have something to say on their core topics. Futurist Magnus Lindquist, for example, gave tips on how to prepare for the uncertainties of the future, while former FCB President Bernhard Heusler shared his experiences as a leader with the audience. And of course there was also some local color: Urs Kessler, CEO of Jungfrau Railways, proudly presented the latest achievement of the "V-Cableway", which takes guests to the Jungfraujoch even faster, and Marc A. Trauffer said in a panel discussion on the contrast between AI vs. creativity that computers cannot reproduce the emotionality in music.

International celebrities

But there was also no lack of political topics at the traditional management event in Interlaken. For example, the Afghan women's and civil rights activist Zarifa Ghafari, who lives in exile in Germany, spoke about her fight against the mullahs. And former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer spoke about current global political issues, in particular the war in Ukraine. However, he did not want to give any advice to Switzerland - for example regarding neutrality. "Switzerland does not need our advice. It reacts very sensitively to advice from outside," said the elder statesman.

The top star alongside Fischer was a second German: tennis legend Boris Becker. The youngest Wimbledon winner of all time answered questions from presenter Florian Inhauser about the highs and lows of his life to date in a good-humored and visibly relaxed manner. The final applause showed that Becker still has many fans in Switzerland.

The only downer of the two-day event was the cancellation at short notice of Eugene Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's son, who had to cancel his trip to Interlaken due to a Covid-related illness. On the evening of the first day of the congress, he missed the performance by the Swedish cover band "ABBA Gold", who were cheered on by the audience with the hits of their idols.

International Alpine Symposium: "Rocker of business meetings"

Overall, the organizers were highly satisfied with the symposium, which was held under their leadership for the first time. "The response from the participants was very good, and the support we received from the public sector and our sponsors was fantastic," says Thomas Dürr from the management team. "We are already looking forward to the next Alpine Symposium in 2025." And his co-leader Iris Huggler was self-confident: "We are the rockers of business meetings." One visitor's personal conclusion: "International Alpine Symposium - as if it had never been away..."

More information: www.alpensymposium.ch

There are two main reasons why many resolutions cannot be kept:

1. For the resolutions to be successful, we have to work on our beliefs, i.e. our identity. Otherwise we would have already implemented the resolutions in the past. However, working on our beliefs is hard and almost always requires support.
2. We want to implement resolutions on top of everything else. This rarely works well because we overload ourselves.

I won't go into the first point in depth here. But I would like to give you a few ideas on point 2. Because instead of always loading up on new things, we also need to let things go and stop. It's like the cellar, the cupboard or the garage: if we only ever put new things in there, the space will eventually be exhausted. So the question is: what do we throw away? With this in mind, I recommend putting some things in our lives to the test and stopping them:.

Stop No. 1: Mediocrity

What often stands in our way to more fulfillment and success is the acceptance of mediocrity in life. (I wrote a whole book about this: "Corporate fitness: out of mediocrity!", published by SpringerGabler).

Ask yourself: Do you ensure an outstanding mindset, outstanding clarity, top implementation? Do you surround yourself mostly with outstanding people and read groundbreaking books? Do you create excellence in everything important that you do? Are you far above average in productivity? And so on.

It is important to banish mediocrity from life as far as possible. This then creates space for truly great things.

Stop no. 2: Negative inputs

It's a classic, and yet: how much time could we spend elsewhere if we banished all negative input from our lives that we don't do anything with? This includes news media, a lot of things on social media, but also other people, negative conversations, statements and discussions in meetings and so on.

More important than saving time, by the way, is reducing the negative influence of our subconscious. It's like bad food: the effect comes as soon as we take in the negative.

Stop no. 3: Excuses

I sometimes imagine a world in which no one blames other people, circumstances, events or anything else, but takes full responsibility. That probably remains a dream. But you can start with yourself and no longer allow any excuses or blame. You can train yourself to do this - and this will keep you in the driver's seat instead of transferring responsibility to someone or something else.

Conclusion:

With these three anti resolutions you will certainly fare better than with even more normal resolutions. Feel free to pass the suggestion on to those around you. Then we can all benefit from it.

Author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

It is undisputed that artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize the way we manage our environment, be it professionally or privately. Using computer algorithms, AI mimics the human ability to learn and anticipate and uses large amounts of data to recognize patterns and make predictions. AI is an opportunity for greater efficiency and cost savings and promises to accelerate the growth of companies. A major transformation is on the horizon.

However, this emerging transformation presents as many opportunities as it does difficulties. The potential benefits of AI are offset by challenges related to privacy, security and the perceived complexity of this emerging technology. Striking a balance between harnessing the opportunities offered by AI and managing its practical implications wisely is a key challenge for businesses and society as a whole. The road to this technological revolution will be paved with complex decisions and dilemmas. But AI also offers the prospect of fundamentally rethinking the way we live and work.

Strategic AI for Swiss SMEs: increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland represent a significant part of the labor force and account for up to 60% of the working population, according to recently published data from the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO) to emerge. This year, the institution has brought together and analyzed the artificial intelligence (AI) expertise of five of the six participating universities in order to accelerate the introduction of AI in Swiss SMEs.

The latest services developed by AI are primarily designed to simplify operations by automating manual processes. The aim is to efficiently solve even the most complex challenges that companies face. The approach is to apply AI to traditionally manual processes, reducing the need for tedious manual input.

However, the integration of AI as a key component of business solutions is nothing new in itself. For many years now, numerous products have been automating and supporting customers in their IT processes and decision-making in data analysis. The AI trend is currently focused on two main areas of application: Customer service solutions for first-level support and in the area of data collection. Looking at current developments in Swiss SMEs, it is clear that there is considerable potential to simplify processes by using existing AI solutions.

AI offers significant advantages in various areas. First of all, it increases the efficiency of business processes, especially in areas with repetitive tasks such as IT operations management or customer service. It utilizes available information and enriches all departments. AI also plays an important role in decision-making and business planning by analyzing large amounts of data and identifying key patterns, such as seasonal market trends.

Another key aspect is the use of AI to optimize operating costs. In contrast to conventional data analysis, which is often time-consuming and error-prone, intelligent systems reduce risks and are more reliable. The benefits listed above are only a fraction of what AI can offer small and medium-sized enterprises. It is clear that increased efficiency and more accurate decision-making will lead to significant cost savings and the discovery of market opportunities.

AI and data: Simplified integration for unmatched performance

Data protection and data security continue to be among the most discussed topics in the field of AI, and not without reason. Both providers of technology solutions and users attach great importance to this topic and emphasize the responsibility of companies to comply with all applicable rules and laws.

The technical integration of data is another key challenge. The quality of an AI depends heavily on the data it is fed with. A poorly designed or complex integration project can quickly lead to problems, both during and after implementation. Building strong partnerships is critical to successful integration. The recognized advantage of organizations is that they can integrate different functions, including AI functions, into a unified technology infrastructure. This simplifies their system management, improves data consistency and facilitates the adoption of this emerging technology into their ecosystems.

Determining a realistic return on investment is a crucial step that requires close collaboration between companies and their technology partners. Depending on the application scenario, it is essential to set clear measurable goals, as this is the only way to evaluate the success of the profitability analysis. In order to fully exploit the potential of AI integration, clear prerequisites must be created that encompass the technology, the objective and the collaboration. Data must be at the center of the implementation and form the basis for successful integration. A smooth, secure and powerful data environment based on a solid data repository and shared by the entire organization is imperative.

AI is inherently data-hungry and requires large amounts of data to function efficiently. Machine learning algorithms rely on significant volumes to create relationships and models. Although dependence on data quality is a risk factor of AI, centralizing all data in a unified platform can mitigate this problem. Accordingly, data is the beating heart of AI. Its completeness directly influences the value of the results obtained. AI learns from the data to automate processes, make predictions and perform other tasks for which it has been trained. In short, AI is only worth as much as the data it has at its disposal.

I always recommend that our customers start with a "health check" that covers the technical aspects, security and data quality. Most companies introduce AI gradually, preferring a step-by-step approach rather than covering several areas at once. During adoption, identifying a clear use case makes it easier to set concrete goals that can be assessed for feasibility. Strong collaboration with the trusted partner, which should be the provider of the AI technology solutions, is an undeniable success factor that is particularly crucial in the planning phase. In this phase, it is important to precisely define the type of support required.

Impact of AI on professions: an evolution, not obsolescence

I think the idea that many jobs will become redundant in the future is an exaggeration. It is more likely that artificial intelligence, used intelligently, will increase efficiency so that customers and users can find solutions more quickly. This means less time spent on tedious tasks and more opportunities for value-adding activities. I have three specific job profiles in mind.

• In sales and marketing, AI can analyze customer data, make personalized recommendations, automate marketing campaigns and identify trends. This will change the role of sales and marketing professionals and enable them to make more informed, data-driven decisions.
• In customer service and support, AI systems enrich daily work by providing agents with suitable solutions in seconds via the customer relationship management system (CRM). This allows contextual decisions to be made very quickly, replacing previous reactive systems with direct and immediate access to up-to-date data.
• In finance and accounting, AI is already facilitating the automation of accounting tasks, fraud prevention and risk analysis. Interactive dashboards are now replacing the old Excel and manual spreadsheets, providing financial experts with information and trends in a matter of seconds, freeing up time to focus on strategic issues.

AI in Swiss SMEs: a promising transformation for innovation and growth

The integration of AI into the world of SMEs in Switzerland offers encouraging prospects. Instead of endangering jobs, it promises to optimize activities by freeing them from repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Jobs in sales, customer service, finance and accounting will undergo a metamorphosis thanks to intelligent AI tools. This transformation will allow professionals to focus on higher value-added activities, driving innovation and growth.

AI is becoming a valuable partner that facilitates decision-making, automates processes and opens up new opportunities. Instead of a threat, it represents a powerful lever for the progress and prosperity of all our SMEs.

To the author:

Yvan Cognasse is a business transformation expert and manager with over 20 years of experience in this field. As head of the Business Insights and Enterprise Architects teams in the Northern Europe region at Oracle he is responsible for driving the growth of solutions, maximizing operational excellence and increasing financial performance.

The Phoenix Award for long-term entrepreneurship, presented for the fourth time, once again goes to a Bern-based company: After the Blaser Café AG 2022 Furrer+Frey AG was honored on January 19, 2024. Beat Furrer, member of the Executive Board and representative of the third generation of the family business, and his son Rico Furrer, CEO, accepted the award in person. The award marks a successful conclusion to the anniversary year 2023, in which the company celebrated its 100th anniversary. The award certificate was presented by Carla Kaufmann, Vice President of the CHDU, together with laudator Armin Baumann, member of the Phoenix Award jury advisory board and CEO of KMU SWISS AG. In his laudatory speech, he praised the company with these words, among others: "I wish there were more companies like Furrer+Frey AG. To operate successfully as a company for over 100 years is phenomenal, considering that today only one company out of five start-ups survives the fifth year."

National Councillor Dominik Blunschy also offered his personal congratulations on receiving the award. "With its successful company succession into the fourth generation, Furrer+Frey AG has made a lasting contribution to Switzerland as a location for innovation and business. The company is emblematic of our SMEs, which are the heart and engine of the Swiss economy," he summarized. Martin Godel, Deputy Director of Location Promotion and Head of SME Policy at SECO, also congratulated the award winners at the company headquarters in Bern.

Putting the spotlight on successful company successions

The Phoenix Award for long-term Swiss entrepreneurship has been awarded annually since 2020. The award honors Swiss SMEs that have mastered their succession planning for at least a century. It gives them the visibility and the stage they deserve. SMEs that have successfully managed their succession over such a long period of time have usually had to overcome several crises, such as world wars and economic crises, and rise anew like the "Phoenix from the ashes". Furrer+Frey also experienced this, for example with the untimely death of company founder Emil Furrer or the departure of the second founding family. Despite everything, the company proved to be resilient time and again.

The focus as potential award winners is on Swiss SMEs that are 100 years old in the respective year or have been entered in the Swiss commercial register for 100 years. An expert jury and a jury advisory board with representatives from science, entrepreneurship and the media select the winner of the Phoenix Award from these companies in a multi-stage process. The evaluation focuses on the company's innovative and disruptive capabilities, team performance and its contribution to society and the economy. In this sense, Furrer+Frey proved to be a worthy candidate for this year's Phoenix Award.

Convincing the jury with courage, expertise and innovation

From a two-man engineering office, founded in Bern by engineers Emil Furrer and Arnold Frey in 1923, to one of the leading international suppliers of overhead contact line systems for public transport. The foundation for this success story is entrepreneurial courage, professional expertise and a strong mission: to support the railroads with electrification and carry out overhead line work. This is how the two company founders won their first contract 100 years ago from SBB, which is still a customer of Furrer+Frey AG today. These skills, which have been a common thread running through the company's development ever since, also impressed the jury and jury advisory board of the Phoenix Award. They summarized the company's worthiness of the award in these points, among others:

• The consistent focus on the core competence of overhead line construction and electrification of public mobility.
• The innovative strength that manifests itself in various developments and projects and forms the basis for international expansion, for example:
  • 1984 saw the development of the overhead conductor rail system, which set a world record of 302 km/h in 2014.
  • Overhead contact line systems developed in-house, which have been the Swiss standard for private railroads since 2003.
  • Projects such as the Zimmerberg and Ceneri base tunnels, the Bern West streetcar, the Limmattalbahn and various other major projects.
• The ability to succeed with the management of the family business in the fourth generation.
• The company's sustainable business model, with which it continuously contributes to the decarbonization of public transport.
• Financing growth largely from our own resources in order to maintain our entrepreneurial independence.
• The team spirit and the great commitment to the employees through appreciation and passing on know-how.

With a bit of luck and the right employees

Furrer+Frey AG has been operating internationally since 1991 and has since founded subsidiaries in Italy, Great Britain, China, Germany and India with a total of 340 employees. The fact that their commitment is one of the key success factors is still firmly anchored in the consciousness of the Furrer generations today. This is also reflected in the words of thanks from Beat and Rico Furrer: "We are delighted to receive the Phoenix Award and see it both as recognition of our successful entrepreneurial activities and as great appreciation for our employees. After all, it is thanks to them, in addition to our own diligence, modesty, conscientiousness and a pinch of luck, that our company still exists today. This award also reinforces the importance of company succession for the diversity of our Swiss SME landscape and Switzerland as a workplace, which we very much welcome."

Source: Swiss umbrella organization for company succession CHDU. Further information on the award winner

The Swiss Employer Award is the most representative award for determining employer attractiveness in Switzerland. The detailed assessments of a company's employees are decisive for this award. The questionnaire, which was scientifically developed by the independent survey and consulting company icommit GmbH, consists of around 60 questions and was completed by an average of 76% of all employees of a company. A total of 48 companies were awarded a prize and a further 35 companies received a quality seal. The latter companies outperformed the Swiss benchmark in at least one of the target variables - overall satisfaction with the work situation, commitment or no resignation - but are not among the best employers in Switzerland and are therefore not included in the rankings.

The best employers 2023

A total of 153 companies with almost 43,000 employees who completed the questionnaire took part in the competition for the Swiss Employer Award (for comparison: In the previous year, there were 145 companies with just over 42,000 questionnaires evaluated). The companies were divided into the following size categories: Large companies (1000 and more employees), medium-sized companies 1 (250 to 999 employees), medium-sized companies 2 (100 to 249 employees) and small companies (50 to 99 employees). And these are the winners and rankings:

Large companies (13 participants):

1. Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG
2. Berner Kantonalbank AG
3. Swiss Paraplegic Group

Medium-sized companies 1 (48 participants):

1. Schlagenhauf Group
2. Bossard AG
3. Daetwyler Switzerland Inc.

Medium-sized companies 2 (58 participants):

1. Spectren AG / Almacasa
2. Financial Market Authority (FMA) Liechtenstein
3. Stanserhorn Railway Company

Small companies (34 participants):

1. Chestonag Automation AG
2. KAESER Compressors AG
3. BORM-INFORMATIK AG

When asked about the response rate, Sven Bühler, owner of icommit, says: "It is always amazing how stable the participation rate is. So far, it has always been between 75 and 77 percent. One factor that plays a role is that the survey is conducted digitally, which is very user-friendly. Only a few responses are still submitted in analog form. We have also noticed that younger employees are more willing to provide feedback."

Nevertheless, the 153 participating companies seem small in relation to the total population of over 600,000 companies in Switzerland. And the proportion of "small companies" should - statistically speaking - also be higher. Sven Bühler comments: "In fact, the number of participating companies is always around 150. Companies with 250 to 1000 employees make up the majority. Larger companies form a minority." Nevertheless, the number of almost 43,000 questionnaires evaluated allows for an extremely valid assessment and provides a differentiated picture of the working world.

High satisfaction in banking, dissatisfaction in care and education

So what are the core elements of the survey? Employees rate their employer in all areas of the working environment that are important for satisfaction and commitment. Across all participating companies, these three dimensions of the work situation have the greatest influence on employee commitment:

1. Corporate strategyi.e. employees want to know where the company is heading
2. Involvement of employeesi.e. employees want to be involved and have sufficient freedom to make decisions
3. Work contenti.e. employees want to be able to use their knowledge and skills

The sector comparison shows that commitment to the company and satisfaction with the work situation are highest in the IT, cantonal banks and retail sectors. We measured the lowest ratings at universities, in healthcare (psychiatric clinics and acute hospitals) and in public transport. A positive trend is clearly discernible in the IT and cantonal banks sectors. A negative trend in public transport.

How does Sven Bühler explain this result, especially as the banking sector has fallen into somewhat of a public disrepute with the events surrounding CS? "It is indeed remarkable that many financial service providers received awards this year. It was similar in 2009, when the major financial crisis shook the banking world," says Bühler. "In situations like this, it helps to compare yourself with other companies in the same sector that are doing badly - for example, if a competitor goes bankrupt or suffers a loss of reputation, the employee realizes that their own employer is very good after all. They are happy to work there. It can also be seen that job security is becoming somewhat more important and is gaining in importance; in addition, the companies in the three sectors mentioned are quite homogeneous in terms of their employee structure and operate business models that can still earn a lot of money, making it easier to invest in attractive working environments." The low level of commitment in the education and healthcare sector is certainly also linked to the problems surrounding the labor shortage. "Even if staff are missing or absent due to illness, operations still have to run in these sectors, which means that a lot of overtime often has to be worked. In such situations, the work-life balance and pay perception also suffer. Work pressure is also increasing due to digitalization. The public sector generally has less leverage here than other industries," explains Sven Bühler.

Two special prizes at the Swiss Employer Award

In addition to presenting the awards to the best in their category, the HR Swiss association also awarded a prize for an innovative working environment project that has a positive impact on commitment within the company. The winner of this innovation prize for a modern working environment 2024 goes to Spectren AG / Almacasa with its pioneering project: Almacasa Dialog. This project is convincing because it strengthens the personality of employees so that they can cope as well as possible in a changing world with major professional challenges. The Almacasa Dialogue addresses aspects that help employees at all levels and from all cultural backgrounds to become more aware of their own personalities. to become self-aware and therefore more Being self-aware to develop. This is essential when dealing with challenging resident situations, but also with relatives and others involved in the care process. The discussion guidelines developed are structured according to the dimensions of "love for people", "mindfulness", "personal responsibility", "commitment", "professional knowledge" and "self-reflection" and contain hints, tips and explanations for jointly working through these abstract concepts. After just one year, it is clear that mutual appreciative feedback has increased significantly.

The Swiss Employers' Association awarded another special prize to the company that achieved the best improvement in its working environment compared to the last employee survey. The climber of the year 2024 is Rigi Bahnen AG.

Top employers too: Don't rest on your laurels

In view of this year's results: Where does Sven Bühler see the greatest need for action on the part of companies to become even better employers? "In these complex and uncertain times, employees want predictability, security and clarity from their employer. A clear and credible strategy with a clear focus on a fixed star that you want to achieve is very supportive and meaningful," is Sven Bühler's clear appeal. A stable, well-communicating management team is also helpful; many changes create uncertainty. "And there are also the many transformations that companies have to undertake. How credibly these are communicated and implemented is crucial for employee engagement. And the perception of the pay situation and fairness within the company should not be underestimated," he adds. Employees also want a lot of freedom. However, this is not synonymous with taking on more responsibility, warns Sven Bühler. "In addition, society in general is becoming increasingly polarized in terms of opinions. Successful companies manage to mitigate this polarization. They create a sense of unity, a common path and the awareness that the company is only fit for the future if every employee is committed. For managers, it is important to get all employees on board." And as a final appeal, Sven Bühler addresses the following to employers: "Employees are at the center and must take responsibility for inspiring customers."

Further information and complete rankings

The founders of Helvetia Environnement (see an earlier report here), a leader in waste management in French-speaking Switzerland in particular, is selling its shares to Paprec International. This company, founded in 1994 by the Petithuguenin family, is a leading recycling company in France and has become one of the major players in Europe in the field of waste management and green energy production. The Group employs 15,000 people at 300 sites in 10 countries. Its projected turnover for 2024 is 3 billion euros. In Switzerland, the company has already been operating for 13 years with 6 sites and 200 employees in Switzerland. In a fast-growing key sector of the circular economy and decarbonization, Paprec will now support the development and growth of the Swiss group as a new shareholder, according to a statement. The chairmanship of the Board of Directors will be entrusted to Thomas Schmid and Hugues Bapst will be appointed CEO of Helvetia Environnement Groupe.

Industrialization of the waste sector

In addition to the institutional investors, consisting of an energy infrastructure fund - managed by Swiss Life Asset Managers and UBS Asset Management - with exclusively Swiss investors, and an infrastructure fund - managed by Reichmuth Infrastructure - which are continuing their commitment, Paprec International is taking a minority stake in the capital of Helvetia Environnement Groupe. The arrival of this major industrial player in the field of waste collection and recycling in Europe represents a real advantage for the development of Helvetia Environnement Groupe, according to the company. "It is a great opportunity to use the expertise of an innovative and internationally active company to accelerate our development in Switzerland," says Thomas Schmid, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Helvetia Environnement Groupe. He continues: "Today, the future of recycling and reuse of materials lies in the industrialization of the waste sector. This meets the expectations of companies and public bodies that want to work with players that are able to ensure efficient processing of materials and fit into a circular economy logic".

Successor to Vincent Chapel

Thomas Schmid, who has been on the Board of Directors of Helvetia Environnement Groupe for eight years, succeeds Vincent Chapel. The new Board of Directors has appointed Hugues Bapst as CEO of the Group. Hugues Bapst will be supported by the existing operational management team consisting of Ludovic Balmer, Arthur Bataille, Andrew Mackay and Bernard Moret.

Source: Helvetia Environnement Groupe

What trends will influence the digital landscape in Switzerland in 2024? Roger Semprini, Managing Director of Equinix in Switzerland, has a few thoughts on this. The US company offers network operator-independent data center and interconnection services and operates several data centers in our country.

What Roger Semprini wants from AI: "Efficient, trustworthy and sustainable"

Today's AI architectures are based on analyzing huge amounts of data - a resource-intensive process that is difficult to maintain on a large scale. "We expect that future AI architectures will not be data-driven, but data-informed. This means that they will be able to combine pattern recognition with human intuition. These models will be able to deliver more accurate results while consuming fewer computing cycles," says Roger Semprini. Another challenge is the fact that many people are unable to explain how AI systems arrive at a particular answer, he continues. "This has to change before the acceptance of AI can increase. AI algorithms need to be explainable so that people can trust them."

He continues: "We expect governments to play a role in the adoption of trustworthy AI. I think we will see stricter laws on what AI systems can and cannot do, and governments will develop their own AI models to help monitor and enforce these regulations. One area to keep an eye on is privacy and sovereignty regulations around AI. Today, there are few restrictions on how AI models use data. I expect this will need to change."

Sustainability as a central theme

There will be no getting around the issue of sustainability in 2024, says Roger Semprini. "I believe that a company without a sustainability strategy is a company without a future. The question is what this sustainability strategy should look like. In general, I believe that the digital infrastructure industry needs to prioritize a global vision for sustainability while planning and building locally and taking regional material concerns into account. Data center companies in Europe are driving initiatives under the EU Pact for Climate Neutral Data Centers, of which Equinix is a founding member."

According to Roger Semprini, investments will continue to increase as the industry strives to become carbon-neutral by 2030. According to Equinix, 96 % of its data centers worldwide are already powered by renewable energy. And AI is also providing useful services here. For example, Equinix uses artificial intelligence to increase energy efficiency in its Frankfurt data center by up to 9%: The AI-based cooling system that the company implemented together with the energy intelligence startup etalytics in the FR6 data center had a significant impact on its carbon footprint and led to an increase in energy efficiency of up to 9% of the data center infrastructure.

The age of quantum computing is dawning

Another recently announced cooperation between Equinix and Alice & Bob supports companies in Switzerland on their way into the quantum computing era, reports Roger Semprini. Through the collaboration, Equinix customers worldwide will benefit from secure access to Alice & Bob's quantum technology via Equinix Metal and Equinix Fabric, as well as Alice & Bob's enterprise quantum strategy services. "In the coming year, data centers will continue to be systemically relevant as physical infrastructure. The economy could not function for a day without data centers. A day without data centers would really turn our digitally networked lives upside down. That's why we will continue to do everything we can to provide our usual services in 2024," concludes Semprini.

Source: Equinix

The signs are increasing: our planet is at five to twelve. Decisive and immediate action is therefore becoming increasingly necessary. In principle, everyone knows this, there are many fine words and declarations of intent, but hardly any action - neither on the part of politicians nor on the part of consumers. What's more: Switzerland is falling further and further behind in the climate protection rankings. Green Business Switzerland, on the other hand, is convinced that business is part of the solution and has the greatest leverage - because it is fast and can scale internationally. For this reason, the Green Business Award recognizes entrepreneurial solutions that combine ecological impact with economic success. A new cooperation is now set to give these intentions an additional boost: "Thanks to two new partnerships with Ringier Media Switzerland and Impact Gstaad, we can further strengthen Switzerland's most important sustainability award," says a delighted Cédric Habermacher, Director of Green Business Switzerland.

Greater awareness and better chance of scale-up financing

With its Green Circle platform, the major Swiss media company is putting sustainable companies in the national spotlight. And the finalists of the Green Business Award are given the opportunity to present themselves and their solutions at the Impact Circle event organized by the Impact Gstaad association. Under the motto "From little Gstaad to the big world", the Impact Gstaad initiative aims to bring sustainability visionaries together with potential investors at its events. Manuel Linder, President of the association's board, says of the collaboration: "For ecological solutions to make a real difference to the planet, they need to grow internationally. Finding the necessary funding for this has been very difficult in Switzerland until now. Together with the Green Business Award, we want to close this gap."

High-caliber selection process remains

The selection process for the sixth Green Business Award remains multi-stage and unique in order to find the best Swiss solutions every year. Former Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard is the jury president and is convinced: "The award is so important because the economy needs role models. We publicize those who really make a difference and help them to spread their solutions as globally as possible." In the first phase of the selection process, around 20 national scouts from business and environmental protection nominate the best solutions in their sector for the award. From these, an interdisciplinary jury of experts awards the Green Business Excellence label to the five best solutions. These five companies present themselves with a pitch to the main jury. In addition to President Doris Leuthard, this jury includes 14 other well-known personalities, including Reto Knutti (ETH professor of climate physics), Betrand Piccard (Solar Impulse), Roberto Cirillo (CEO of Swiss Post) and business journalist and entrepreneur Patrizia Laeri. Three of these five companies will be selected as finalists for the Green Business Award, one of which will receive the coveted award at the Impact Circle of Impact Gstaad on February 14, 2025.

Green Business Switzerland is a cooperation of key players from business and environmental protection. It is backed by Go for Impact, the FOEN, economiesuisse, öbu, Pusch, the Swiss Environmental Foundation, Scienceindustries, Swissmem, Swiss Textiles and WWF Switzerland, among others.

Source and further information

Oh, our dear habits! Anyone who has been following me for a while will know that we are what we do every day. So if we want to change something in our lives (as many of us do around the turn of the year), we have to change what we do every day.

Installed habits...

Our brain has developed an extremely effective mechanism that removes everything we do repeatedly from our consciousness and installs it as a habit. This is what makes us able to survive in the first place, because otherwise our cerebrum would be completely overloaded. (Read more about this in the groundbreaking book "Think fast, think slow" by Daniel Kahneman).

But here comes the huge disadvantage: our brain cannot tell whether a new habit is beneficial or harmful to us: if we do it often enough and are still alive, it must be good for us - and becomes a habit. And since hardly any new habit kills us immediately, we accumulate all kinds of habits that do us harm instead of good.

The simple fact is that particularly fulfilled, happy and productive people accumulate more habits that benefit them than the rest of humanity. The good news: we can all learn this - if we want to change our lives for the better. Here are three examples of habits that I come across time and time again that make us unhappy and unproductive:

Unhappiness Habit #1: You focus on things outside of your control.

In my estimation, most people could save 30-70 percent of their time if they didn't worry about what they can't or don't want to influence anyway. For managers, this figure is perhaps only 10-20 percent. That's still a lot.

Just by focusing better on what we can influence (ourselves and to some extent our environment), we can save 10 percent of our time. That's a lot!

And it also makes us much happier.

Unfortunate habit no. 2: You're moving in the wrong circles.

"You develop into the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with the most" is an old saying. We cannot prevent the people closest to us from exerting an enormous influence on us. Therefore, choose your most frequent interlocutors and influencers wisely.

Incidentally, we can also form some of these "real circles" from virtual associations, for example mentors. This is particularly helpful when we find it very difficult to change our immediate environment.

Unfortunate habit no. 3: You don't know how to say "no".

Yes, it's a classic: out of habit, we say "yes" too often to all sorts of things. The reason is usually that we want to be liked. The paradox, however, is that we are usually no longer liked if we say "yes" too often - on the contrary. A clear "no" is almost always much better than a half-hearted "yes", because it creates clarity. Otherwise we end up with a lot of stuff that we don't enjoy and that frustrates us.

Conclusion: change your habits

Pay attention to your habits - and change them - because they determine your life. An important thought, especially at the turn of the year!

To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

There are plenty of good reasons to create health-promoting conditions. For example, satisfied employees are demonstrably 31% more productive and three times more creative1.

Tools suitable for everyday use

Health Promotion Switzerland offers a wide range of free tools that can be easily, quickly and effectively integrated into everyday working life so that the usually limited personnel and time resources in SMEs are not an obstacle. The Leadership Kit provides managers with tools that can be used without prior knowledge to specifically support the well-being of employees and promote cooperation. The HR toolbox provides HR managers with compact and time-saving solutions for a wide range of HR situations.

Strengthened team spirit at Loyco

Loyco SA supports its customers in all administrative matters and accompanies them on the path to sustainability, agility and digitalization. In order to be able to provide a high-quality service as a service provider, the team must be able to function well together.

For example, Loyco uses the "team tree" tool from the leadership kit to ensure that its 140 employees at five locations work in perfect harmony. Thanks to step-by-step instructions and a memorable visualization, it makes qualities and commonalities in the team visible. Stéphanie Dabrowski, Head of Talent at Loyco, comments: "The team tree makes it possible to work on the shared values, the shared mission and the relationships within the team and to improve these in a short space of time. And in a very, very simple and easy way."

However, the leadership kit at Loyco has met with great approval, not just in terms of team spirit, but in general. "We live in a working world that has completely changed. People have meaning problems. We have never had so many psychosocial risks. We have to work on this. For an SME with few resources, the leadership kit is ideal to have access to simple tools to tackle these issues. I am delighted," concludes Christophe Barman, co-founder of Loyco SA.

1) Metastudy by Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005.

Information

The Leadership Kit offers managers 26 tools in these five fields of action:

• Achieving goals enables a sense of achievement
• Meaning conveys meaningfulness
• Positive emotions promote the team climate
• Commitment puts strengths in the spotlight
• Team relationships support sustainable relationships

https://friendlyworkspace.ch/lsk

 

The HR toolbox supports HR managers in two areas:

• Action with concrete tools for e.g. home office, healthy leadership, conflicts and bullying
• Understanding with compact knowledge for a positive impact on areas such as absenteeism, stress, motivation, employer attractiveness

https://friendlyworkspace.ch/hrtb

You can find more companies that use the Leadership Kit here: https://friendlyworkspace.ch/de/diese-firmen-nutzen-das-leadership-kit

This year's Swiss Innovation Forum program once again featured top-class speakers from Switzerland and abroad. Jürgen Geuter, Tech De-Evangelist & Co-Founder of Otherwise Network, opened the program on the Main Stage. He warned of the risks of AI that no one is talking about, such as the danger that more and more complex tasks will ultimately fall to humans and, at the same time, the routine tasks taken over by AI will disappear as a learning field for training new specialists. And he asked where the dynamics would remain if AI was only fed with data from the past. Nevertheless, he did not deny the positive possibilities of artificial intelligence.

The long road to Mars

Virtually representing the side of the technology enthusiasts Jennifer Harris Trosperproject manager of the Mars 2020 program at NASA. She provided an insight into the latest developments and successes in space exploration. It was impressive to see how the complexity of the Mars robots has increased over the decades and how many compromises - both technological and financial - have made it possible to achieve the best possible results. The next goal will now be to bring the soil samples collected by the Mars rover "Perseverance" back to Earth one day. However, it will still be some time before humans visit Mars. But it is still a goal, says Jennifer Harris Trosper.  Catrin HinkelCEO of Microsoft Switzerland, highlighted the role of technology and innovation in the modern business environment - not without pointing out some of Microsoft's solutions, of course. She also emphasized her company's shared responsibility for any risks associated with the introduction of AI tools. She also referred to the need for regulation. Microsoft itself had already put forward a number of proposals in this regard, according to Hinkel. A "Lex Microsoft" then? A question that should definitely be asked...

Lateral thinking with LSD...

He also explained Teemu Arina the world of biohacking and its potential impact on the future of health and performance. And he also revealed some personal recipes on how he himself optimizes his daily routine to lower his biological age: sauna, ice baths, but also a special diet (just so much: coffee, reindeer and beef offal are some of the ingredients...) would be part of it, as he revealed to the astonished audience. In fact, the 41-year-old Finn looks considerably younger than you might think... Dr. Gregor HaslerProfessor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, helped to create a deeper understanding of innovative approaches in research and presented possible perspectives for future scientific developments. In particular, he referred to the positive effect of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) on creative processes because it stimulates the neuroplasticity of the brain. He backed this up with examples from the history of science: for example, the invention of the personal computer and in particular that of the computer mouse by Douglas C. Engelbart was the result of an inspiration that arose under the influence of LSD. Gregor Hasler could therefore well imagine that LSD could be used for innovation purposes under strictly controlled conditions and with selected individuals.

When the cell phone became Internet-enabled

Susie ArmstrongSenior Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm Ltd., shared valuable perspectives on trends in the wireless and chip industry, including the story behind the first Internet connection that originated from a cell phone. Lukas Gysinfounder of uniqFEED and Delphine Donné, Vice President of Logitech Personal Workspace Solutions, focused their discussion on the special features and strengths of Switzerland as a major hub for innovation. The event also provided a look behind the scenes of the film with the director and screenwriter Edward Berger. "People always go back to the movies when they think, there's something I've never seen before," Edward Berger is convinced.

For the first time ever, participants were able to partially design their own program and choose between the program on the Main Stage and the Expert Stage. On the Expert Stage, there was the opportunity to delve deeper into the topics of "Innovation Culture" and the "Driving force of new technologies for innovation". Over 30 exhibitors also showcased their pioneering developments in the Experience Zone, bringing innovation to life. "Every year, the Swiss Innovation Forum builds a bridge between entrepreneurship and science and shows in an impressive way that the innovative strength of the Swiss economy is no coincidence," concluded Corine Blesi, Managing Director of NZZ Connect, the organizer of the Swiss Innovation Forum.

Swiss Technology Award

The Swiss Technology Award, Switzerland's most important technology prize, was also presented for the 35th time as part of the Swiss Innovation Forum. The coveted award in the "Inventors" category went to MATIS SA for its database-supported solution for simplifying the authentication of works of art. In the "Start-ups (Rising Stars)" category, the company won over matriq AG with its process for the traceability of plastic products, and in the "Innovation Leaders" category Lantal Textiles AG was awarded. What is particularly remarkable about this award winner is the fact that the company invested in the innovation for a digital textile dyeing process at a time when up to 90% of orders were lost as a result of the pandemic. With the new development of the process, Lantal hopes to successfully win back many lost customers. This is because the benefits of the process in terms of reducing the CO2 footprint are considerable.

Open-I I November 21 & 22, 2024 at the Kongresshaus Zurich

The Swiss Innovation Forum took place in Basel for the last time this year. Next year, the event will become the newly curated Open-i conference in Zurich. According to reports, the local proximity to science and the technology companies based in the Zurich area was the deciding factor in the change of location. This reasoning is unlikely to please the people of Basel: After all, the region is investing heavily in a own innovation parkand Basel is known to be one of the leading locations for the life science industry, which is also highly innovative...

More information

The shortage of skilled workers continues. This is shown by the recently published Swiss Skills Shortage Index The results of a recent survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov. This was conducted on behalf of B2B platform operator Visable between September 19 and 25. In Switzerland, 135 HR decision-makers and members of senior management were surveyed, in Austria 226, in Germany 600 and in France 526.

Skills shortage affects the whole of Europe

The results illustrate the dramatic effects of the shortage of skilled workers. Around half of those surveyed (49%) stated that the lack of suitable personnel is already having a "rather strong" or even "very strong negative impact" on business success. Only 15 percent of companies report no negative impact. The negative effects are just as serious in Germany, France and Austria as they are in Switzerland. On average across all countries, every second respondent (51%) rates the impact as "rather strong" or even "very strong", with almost 6 in 10 respondents in Austria making this assessment (58%). Across all countries, decision-makers take a gloomy view of the future: one in two (48%) expect the situation to deteriorate, while just 6% are hopeful of an improvement. The shortage of skilled workers therefore appears to be a pan-European problem and is weighing on the development of the economic area.

Increase in staff absences due to shortage of skilled workers

According to the Swiss respondents, one of the biggest effects of the skills shortage is a significant increase in the workload of the workforce (32%). More than one in four respondents also stated that the shortage of skilled workers is leading to more staff absences and sick leave (27%) - all in all, extremely turbulent times for HR managers and challenging times for employees. The most frequently expressed fear among Swiss companies is the loss of know-how and quality due to a lack of skilled workers. Almost 4 out of 10 respondents gave this answer (39 percent). The shortage is also already clearly reflected in increased personnel costs (28 percent). Particularly worrying for the future: one in four companies (26%) are finding succession planning more difficult due to the lack of suitable candidates.

Wave of emigration due to skills shortage?

The following figure also shows how dramatic the situation is perceived to be: around one in seven companies (15 percent) are already considering moving abroad, at least in part. If these plans were put into practice everywhere, this would affect many thousands of companies in Switzerland. A wave of emigration is therefore imminent over the next few years. This is despite the fact that many companies are already using a wide range of measures to cushion the negative effects of the skills shortage in view of the critical situation. This is where the approach in Switzerland differs noticeably from the other countries in the survey. In all other markets, expanding in-house recruitment is the most popular measure and is mentioned by one in three respondents there on average (34%). In Switzerland, only one in five (21%) rely on their own active search for suitable employees, while Swiss companies primarily seek their salvation in outsourcing measures (26%).

Digitalization as a response to labour shortages

Another source of hope is digitalization. When it comes to the use of AI as a response to the shortage of skilled workers, Switzerland is at the top of the surveyed markets: 21% already mention this measure. The average figure for all other countries is just 16%, and in Austria it is only 11%. One in five companies in Switzerland also relies on digitalization and automation (21%) to combat the negative effects of the shortage of qualified personnel. Internal skills and knowledge transfer programs are also very popular with 25 percent.

 One in four companies wants to attract skilled workers with better contract conditions, including 23% offering above-average industry salaries and 25% offering flexible employment models such as a 4-day week. The Swiss business community is therefore responding actively and creatively to the challenges posed by the shortage of staff and skilled workers.

Demands on politicians 

Swiss SMEs are confronted with a high administrative burden and administrative hurdles due to the ongoing shortage of skilled workers: One in four companies is urgently calling for a reduction in bureaucracy from politicians (24%). There is also a strong desire for family and social policy measures, for example to improve the work-life balance (25%). By contrast, only a small proportion of respondents were in favor of traditionally liberal economic measures such as flexible dismissal and re-employment regulations (14%) and an increase in the retirement age (9%). The influx of skilled workers from abroad is also less of a focus. Only 11% of respondents want to see greater support for qualified immigration.

Source: Visible