Zurich as a digital showcase city?

DIGITIZATION The newly founded DigitalZurich2025 initiative aims to strengthen the Greater Zurich Area as a digital location. Five specific measures have been defined.The DigitalZurich2025 initiative aims to position the greater Zurich area as an attractive location for digital start-ups, companies and talent, as well as to support companies from all over Switzerland in mastering digital challenges. Five specific measures have been defined for this purpose:- An annual digital congress with global appeal is to be launched in the Zurich area. This will be based on the already successfully positioned Zurich WORLDWEBFORUM - A "Swiss Investor Summit" will be launched. This will be timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum WEF Davos. At the summit at Zurich Airport, selected Swiss start-ups with global growth potential will meet international investors and business leaders. - The "Swiss Creative & Digital Academy" will pool the know-how and strengths of universities, industry experts and ICT companies. This will enable significantly more people to receive practical training on digital topics. Europaallee at Zurich's main railway station, where various digital companies and educational institutions are already based, is an ideal "digital education hub" - DigitalZurich2025 is also supporting Switzerland's appearance as a partner country at CeBIT 2016 in Hanover. Switzerland will be represented there by established companies, innovative start-ups, universities and universities of applied sciences.- The fifth measure of DigitalZurich2025 is the establishment and expansion of a start-up accelerator program. To this end, talks are underway with various Swiss and international accelerator programs.The founding committeeThe founding committee of DigitalZurich2025 includes the following companies and institutions: ETH Zurich, Ernst & Young Switzerland, Google Switzerland, Leonteq, Migros, Die Mobiliar, Oliver Wyman, Swiss Post, Ringier, SBB, SIX, SWISS, Swisscom, Swiss Life, UBS and ICT entrepreneur and FDP National Councillor Ruedi Noser. The City of Zurich, represented by Mayor Corine Mauch, the Canton of Zurich, represented by Government Councillor Carmen Walker Späh and the business umbrella organization economiesuisse, represented by Heinz Karrer, are the patrons of DigitalZurich2025. ETH Zurich is represented by President Lino Guzzella and Markus Püschel, Department Head of Computer Science.The steering committeeHeinz Karrer, President of economiesuisse, Patrick Warnking, Country Director Google Switzerland, Susanne Ruoff, CEO of Swiss Post, Ruedi Noser, ICT entrepreneur and FDP National Councillor, Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier, Urs Schäppi, CEO of Swisscom and Lukas Gähwiler, CEO of UBS Switzerland, sit on the initiative's steering committee. The project managementSunnie J. Groeneveld is taking over the project management of DigitalZurich2025 with immediate effect. The young entrepreneur from Zurich studied economics at Yale University and completed the Y-Combinator accelerator program in Silicon Valley in 2011 with a web start-up. She is well connected in the Swiss start-up scene as co-founder and CEO of Inspire 925, based at the Impact Hub Zurich, and through her work at the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Lab (ieLab) at ETH. "Leading location for digital innovation"Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier AG and Chairman of the DigitalZurich2025 steering committee: "The Greater Zurich Area meets the requirements to become a leading location for digital innovation in Europe. This is the goal of DigitalZurich2025. Renowned representatives of the Swiss economy consistently support this idea and are committed to it. Including the city and canton of Zurich. Thanks to them, this important initiative is now taking off."