Google Research Europe supports software developers and researchers who specialize in machine learning. This will give them the opportunity to drive Google's global product development in the heart of Europe and carry out their research work as part of a broader, global approach. The new team will work closely with Google researchers around the world, all of whom will contribute their specific knowledge to the cutting edge of ML technology. They will share their ideas on ML technologies and techniques so that useful products and tools can be developed for global application.

In addition to this collaboration, the team will focus on three core areas of machine learning:

Machine learning is the science of making things smart. An important part of this is machine learning (ML) - for example, teaching a computer to recognize patterns instead of programming it to follow certain rules. The adaptive software is called a neural network and remotely resembles a real brain. It consists of millions or billions of "neurons", small computing units, each of which performs a simple calculation and then passes the information on to the neurons to which it is connected. As a whole, the neural network can learn to recognize relatively complex patterns. In this "deep learning", the neurons are arranged on different levels so that each level learns from the level below. It therefore learns the pattern of the pattern of the pattern. Smart Reply in Inbox, for example, uses the latest neural networks to generate suggestions for short replies to incoming messages.

Language processing and comprehension is a field of computer science, artificial intelligence and computational linguistics that deals with the interaction between computers and human language. For example, when you speak to the Google app on your smartphone, speech recognition turns sounds into words (Google has used deep learning to improve speech recognition by around 25 percent), natural language processing helps to understand what you mean. In addition, a version of deep learning helps to rank the search results.

Machine Perception takes on the big challenge of understanding images, sounds, music and videos, e.g. you can search for everything from "hug" to "dogs" with Google Photos because the system uses Google's latest image recognition system.

Within these core areas, the team will look for ways to optimize the ML infrastructure. In addition, the research results will be made available to the community, enabling them to be applied in practice.

Emmanuel Mogenet on the announcement: "Some of the world's best technical universities are based in Europe. It therefore makes sense to build a team here. We look forward to working with the excellent local computer science institutions and hope to make further valuable contributions to the academic community, whether through our publications or academic support."

Behind many of the products that hundreds of millions of people use every day, from Translate and image search to Smartreply for Inbox , lies Google's ongoing research into machine learning. The offices in Zurich are now home to Google's largest development site outside the United States, with over 1800 employees from 75 nations. The technology on which the Knowledge Graph is based was developed in Zurich and engineers developed the conversation technology for the Google Assistant in Allo here.

Immo Hütte has been with Tradedoubler since 2004 and was responsible for the company's launch and expansion in Switzerland. After eleven years of pioneering work in performance marketing, he will take a short break to face new challenges within the industry afterwards, according to a statement. In 2013, he succeeded Catrin Rubenson as Country Manager Switzerland of Tradedoubler (Werbewoche.ch reported).
 

Goldbach Media (formerly IP Multimedia) has been marketing the programs of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland in Switzerland since the introduction of the Swiss advertising windows in 1993. During this time, they have become firmly established among TV audiences as well as agencies and advertising clients. The Swiss advertising windows play a key role in ensuring that advertisers can reach all target groups with their messages. The Swiss advertising windows have thus made TV advertising in Switzerland interesting and commercially significant.

Goldbach Media will continue to market the programs of the RTL media group (RTL, VOX, n-tv, RTL NITRO). The two companies have extended the corresponding marketing agreement ahead of schedule by several years. This gives the contractual partners and advertising clients security for a continuous, successful continuation of the cooperation.

Alex Duphorn, CEO Goldbach Media: "The traditional TV market, and therefore also the advertising surrounding these programs, still has a lot of potential. Even in the digital age, where a lot of content is consumed on the move and on smartphones, traditional television remains popular with audiences. Television remains the most effective advertising medium. This forms a solid basis for marketing. We look forward to continuing our partnership with RTL in the coming years."

 

In this way, the SNB is fulfilling its duty to inform the public about its activities, said SNB President Thomas Jordan to journalists in Bern. The new resources replace the previous information materials intended for the general public. Providing information to the general public is important to the SNB, as its goal is price stability. Price level developments depend on expectations. The SNB can steer these expectations through its communication. This is also the reason for the often somewhat rehearsed phrases, dry speeches, and repetitive wording. For example, during Thursday’s monetary policy assessment, Jordan once again emphasized that monetary policy would remain expansionary. He also noted that the SNB would remain active in the foreign exchange market as needed. With this rhetoric—as well as corresponding market interventions and negative interest rates—the SNB aims to ease pressure on the Swiss franc. (SDA)

What should brands be like for people? How do employees make brands shine? What is the relationship between people and brands like?

These were the questions posed by around 110 participants at the eleventh Stämpfli Conference held at the Swissôtel in Zurich on Tuesday. Insightful answers were formulated by personalities from well-known Swiss companies. "Ralph Hermann, owner and managing director of Heads Corporate Branding, is convinced that "the brand finds expression and credibility through employees.

Ralph Hermann from Heads (left) in conversation with Bernhard Kobel

"Employees need to be given space, they need supporting tools and they need a network to develop their ideas," explains Lorenz Wyss, Head of Ideation at Swiss Post. "Every employee is an ambassador for the Switzerland Tourism organization, both in personal contact and via social media. This makes it all the more important for individuals to identify with the company," confirms Daniela Bär, Head of International Media Relations and Corporate Communications at Switzerland Tourism, during a panel discussion. "The importance of communication - person to person is becoming ever greater in today's digital world," Peter Stämpfli, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stämpfli, rounds off the discussion.

Peter Stämpfli

 "With the Stämpfli Conference, we create a valuable exchange platform for our industry by informing and discussing a topic that is inspiring for marketing and communications professionals every year," Daniel Sinn, Managing Director of Stämpfli, notes.

 

Directly at the entrance to the stand was a wall of fog onto which a 40-second clip was projected, accompanied by sound. Passers-by had the opportunity to walk through the fog - a cool but, according to the announcement, very pleasant experience. The above-average length of time that passers-by spent at the wall of fog gave the four hostesses plenty of time to introduce the new perfume to the target audience.
 

In the spots, children talk about their "special" experiences in the rope park, on the toboggan run, on a bird of prey adventure, on the ski slope and much more. Walder,Werber conceived and realized the TV commercials. So then: Off to Atzmännig!

Responsible at Sportbahnen Atzmännig: Roger Meier (Managing Director). Responsible at Walder,Werber: Sandro Walder (overall direction), Stefan Moeschlin (creative direction), Tanja Büsser (consulting), Michael Döös (motion design), Caroline Breitenmoser (art direction), Jule Pramann (set design). Film production: Gregor Szabo, Studio 6.

The new digital platform Rheumaliga.ch combines the knowledge content of the Rheumaliga Switzerland with the offers of 18 regional rheumatism associations - and convinces with a clear design and simple user guidance. For the relaunch of its Website the Rheumaliga wanted a modern implementation based on solid technology. Kreisvier's digital team redesigned the information architecture with a clear navigation structure that maps the organically grown content in a transparent and user-friendly way. For the website, which receives over 4500 page views daily, Kreisvier paid special attention to a good search engine ranking through targeted SEO analysis and tools. With its responsive web design, the website offers an optimal user experience on all devices.

In the website, which is based on Craft CMS, Kreisvier also implemented an online donation tool as well as a web application for the more than 3600 exercise courses for people with and without rheumatism throughout Switzerland. During implementation, attention was also paid to accessibility: in addition to a contrast function, a read-aloud mode was also integrated. The website was developed in collaboration with the agency Designhilfe, which created the screen design. The Rheumaliga Schweiz has been committed to those affected and interested for over 50 years - and with more than two million rheumatism sufferers in our country, faces a constantly growing demand.

Responsible at the Rheumatism League: Monika Siber (Head of Communications), Eva Rösch (PR & Projects), Patrick Frei (Webpublisher & Copywriter). Responsible at Kreisvier Communications: Christian Jost-Cellarius (Client Service Director), Thomas Bauer (Overall Project Lead/Senior Digital Consultant), Stefan Friedrich (Senior Web Developer & Frontend Engineer), Nicolas Graf (Digital Consultant), Pascal Ujak (Web Developer). Responsible at design help: Carmen Baumgärtner (Art Direction/Screendesign).
 

Managers from 100 companies were surveyed for this purpose. The companies were divided into five maturity levels - less than half of the companies are in the top two maturity levels. The summary of the study results is available to download free of charge.

The majority of the companies surveyed are not "ready" for digitalization. Every tenth company is in the so-called "dormant phase", the lowest level of maturity. These companies lack an adapted strategy or even digital skills on the part of their employees. Fifteen percent are in maturity level two, the "starter phase". Although initial digital projects are recognizable, they are only implemented in isolated cases. More than a quarter of the companies surveyed are classified in the "pilot phase", in which strategies are already being implemented sporadically based on initial experience with digital projects. The impetus there comes from the management level, resulting in cross-functional teams that develop at least a basic awareness of the digital transformation.

Just under a third (32%) of companies are already in the "digitalization phase" - this corresponds to maturity level four. Here, the cultural change is already clearly visible; digitalization is reaching the company's management strategy, core processes, products and services and is already leading to positive economic effects. Every sixth company achieves the highest maturity level of five and is therefore considered "digitalized": Digitalization runs through all processes, the online world is perfectly interlinked with the offline world and the entire organization is geared towards implementing digital processes.

"The self-perception of German retail companies is sometimes far too optimistic and misrepresents reality," criticizes BVDW Vice President Achim Himmelreich. "German retail companies will only be able to hold their own in globalized competition if they embrace the digital transformation, subordinate all areas and facets of their strategy to digitalization and anchor a corresponding culture in the company. However, the culture of skepticism that is also exemplified by politics in Germany often stands in the way of necessary - albeit courageous - decisions."

On April 6 and 7, they faced tough questions from the experts at the MAZ building in Lucerne. Beforehand, they had to write a diploma thesis in which they had to address a practical issue relevant to the media industry. According to the press release, the degree confirms the extensive specialist knowledge, analytical skills and communication skills of the graduates, which are required in the practical management of projects in the areas of media production, media marketing and management in media companies. The graduates will receive their diplomas in a festive atmosphere at a ceremony in Zurich on June 14, 2016.