Innovation champions. Open for business Why DuPont and P&G are taking a close look at labs and entrepreneurs in the Lake Geneva Region

Transcription

1 Why Geeva is your best choice i Europe Iovatio champios How a base i Geeva is helpig compaies meet today s challeges Ope for busiess Why DuPot ad P&G are takig a close look at labs ad etrepreeurs i the Lake Geeva Regio It s great to be here! Alco, Bak of Chia, Lord, Neste Oil ad 4Labs explai why they made the move Opposites, but so complemetary Why the Russias love Geeva

2 Cotet Itroductio 2 How ecoomic diversity ad political will are supportig iovatio New i Tow 4 Newcomers explai why they chose Geeva A ew paradigm of iovatio 10 Geeva s multiatioals pay attetio to local start-ups Sciece-based compaies look to grow i Geeva Coutry Profile 20 Russias i Geeva A old relatioship gets ew life I Geeva 24 Just arrived? Glocals members would like to meet you ALP ICT: Helpig ICT start-ups - ad the multiatioals who will eed them ITU Telecom 09: Why ICT leaders should be i Geeva i September Make moey ecologically: A ew coferece i Geeva explores gree fiace Impressum Publicatio: WG - Why Geeva N 17 Sprig-Summer 2009 editio Editor: Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office Rue des Battoirs 7 P.O. Box 740, CH Geeva 4, Switzerlad Phoe: Fax: promotio@etat.ge.ch Project maager: Iria Sakharova-Quitt iria.sakharova-quitt@etat.ge.ch Cotet: Sarah Meyer de Stadelhofe, sms@ifomaiak.ch Graphic desig: Yves Salami, paf muicatio Photo o cover: Ferromagetic materials Uiversity of Geeva Photos: Photos used i this editio are mostly provided by the compaies ad orgaizatios featured; Copyright: Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. The use of the cotet of this editio requires writte authorizatio of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. Ay use of texts from this publicatio must metio iformatio relative to this copyright. 2 Helpig multiatioals develop their capacity for iovatio Whe cosiderig Geeva s ecoomy, it might be easier to fid a sector that is ot represeted. From medtech ad biotech to fiace, ew materials, cosumer products, luxury goods, iformatio ad commuicatio techology, flavours ad fragraces, micro-egieerig,bakig ad fiace, tradig ad shippig, Geeva ot oly has a diverse rage of sectors, it also hosts some of the world s leaders i these fields. For all their diversity, these compaies do have at least oe thig i commo their determiatio to succeed by remaiig iovative. Ad, as we will see from the commets of the people iterviewed for this issue of Why Geeva, havig a base i Geeva is i itself a stimulus to the iovatio process. Geeva s iteratioal atmosphere certaily provides daily stimulatio, as does the possibility for high-level cotacts o a casual basis. Geeva is a big city i a small package, says Jeffrey Weedma, Procter & Gamble s Vice-Presidet for Exteral Busiess Developmet. The welcomig ature of govermet ad the people to havig multiatioals i their frot ad backyards bodes well for the ability to do busiess here. It is perhaps this welcome, this willigess to help multiatioals fid whatever their busiess eeds, that distiguishes Geeva from larger busiess ceters i Europe. Oe brad-ew example is ALP ICT, a Geevabased plateform that supports the developmet of the iformatio ad commuicatio techology cluster across seve catos. Oe of our mai goals is to provide the best eviromet for multiatioals by creatig syergies with local players, icludig startups ad research istitutes, says ALP ICT Director Didier Mesier. A history of iovatio We ted to thik of iovatio i its corporate cotext, but iovatio is also a essetial feature of a busiess base. Throughout its log history, Geeva has bee forced to iovate to meet ew challeges. Ideed, as we commemorate the 500 th aiversary of Jea Calvi s birth this year, Geevas might ote that it was some of the Great Reformer s ow disruptive iovatios that set the stage for our curret prosperity. By forbiddig the wearig of jewelry, Calvi forced Geeva jewellers to tur their skills to makig fie watches. Today, such Geeva watchmakers as Piaget, Rolex, Patek Philippe ad Vachero Costati ejoy the legacy of that 16 th Cetury crisis. By establishig Geeva as a religious have, Calvi attracted Protestat bakers fleeig other coutries, iadvertetly, leadig to the developmet of Geeva s bakig sector. Today, Geeva is oe of the most stable ad iteratioal fiacial ceters i the world, as Bak of Chia s decisio to establish two subsidiaries here recetly cofirmed. I foudig the Uiversity of Geeva (celebratig its 450 th aiversary this year!), Jea Calvi esured that Geeva s ecoomy would have a solid itellectual base. Today, the Lake Geeva Regio has a dese scietific etwork of scietists, 400 laboratories, ad a polytechic school ad uiversities raked amog the best i the world. 3 Iovatio is also a essetial feature of a busiess base. Fially, Calvi s trasformatio of a small tradig tow ito the Protestat Rome gave Geeva the role of iteratioal city it holds to this day. People from all over the world feel at home i Geeva. Oe obvious result is Geeva s multiligual ad multicultural workforce. But iteratioalism also offers Geeva somethig less tagible: that may of the people who truly make the decisios withi the UN orgaizatios, NGOs ad multiatioals live ad work i Geeva. Makig decisios meas choosig betwee differet scearios. So, this cocetratio of high-level decisio-makig meas a eormous cofrotatio of ideas i Geeva. Expertise, ideas, scearios, hard choices is there ay better path to iovatio? Pierre-Fraçois Uger Miister of Ecoomy ad Health Republic ad State of Geeva

3 New i Tow Geeva has bee a busiess base for some of the world s most importat multiatioals sice the 1940s ad ew compaies cotiue to joi them every year. A few of the most recet arrivals idicate the rage of reasos why Geeva is a attractive veue. Geeva Tourism, Frack Auberso Bak of Chia opes two subsidiaries i Geeva Bak of Chia official opeig, Jacques Mechelay, CEO, Bak of Chia (Suisse) SA ad Xiaolu Zhag, Deputy Geeral Maager, Bak of Chia (Suisse) SA. How Geeva fits Bak of Chia s strategy Bak of Chia, Chia s most iteratioalized commercial bak, recetly opeed two subsidiaries i Geeva. Bak of Chia (Suisse) SA offers private bakig services to Chiese as well as to Swiss ad iteratioal cliets, while BOC (Suisse) Fud Maagemet provides istitutioal asset maagemet services. Jacques Mechelay, the ew CEO of Bak of Chia (Suisse) SA ad the first o-chiese to head ay Chiese bak, says that the ew bak is idicative of the comig shift i the world s wealth. By the ed of the ext decade, Mr. Mechelay predicts, the umber of high-et-worth Chiese will, multiply by a factor of 20, to aroud eight millio. Ad that, he otes, is almost equivalet to the 9.5 millio of high-et-worth idividuals curretly estimated i the world. 4 5 Establishig Bak of Chia as a Swiss bak i Geeva is part of the strategy to meet this chage. Util ow, Chiese baks have ot bee much ivolved i asset maagemet so it is a importat part of Bak of Chia s strategy to develop a asset maagemet culture ad expertise by hirig top professioals, says Stephae Graber of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. Geeva has a importat role i developig this expertise. At the same time, the ew Geeva bak will also beefit from the Bak of Chia s cotacts ad deep kowledge of the Chiese market to become recogized as the atural ad privileged gateway to the Chiese fiacial markets, says Mr. Mechelay. New i Tow Bak of Chia (Suisse) SA

4 New i Tow Eye o Geeva: Alco brigs top maagemet ad R&D The ew EMEA maagemet ceter of Alco i Geeva. Alco, the world s leader i ophthalmology products, is kow for its seriousess. So, whe the compay bega scoutig sites for its ew EMEA maagemet ceter, Alco bechmarked most of the busiess bases i Europe. We were close to choosig Barceloa whe Geeva ad Fribourg Ecoomic Developmet Offices cotacted us, explais Thierry Clidière, Area Presidet, Europe, Middle East, Africa. It quickly became obvious that Geeva was a perfect optio for a maagemet ceter. Amog the criteria that sold Alco o Geeva is its cetral locatio I am, literally, a hour ad a half from most of my key markets, says Thierry Clidière ad its cosmopolita eviromet I was amazed to lear that the Geeva populatio is 40% iteratioal! Alco s origial idea was to brig its top maagemet, fiace, marketig ad HR to Geeva. The, the compay surprised everyoe by addig Iteratioal R&D. 6 Thierry Clidière, Alco s Area Presidet, Europe, Middle East, Africa. We had talked a lot about the skills ad competece i life scieces i Geeva, the Lake Geeva Regio ad BioAlps, recalls Catherie Lalive-d Epiay of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office, ad the message must have got across. Alco realized that Geeva has somethig to offer i terms of research, ot just as a busiess base. Thierry Clidière says the impetus came from Alco s R&D director himself. Our head of iteratioal R&D was kee o Geeva because it has a very strog uiversity system ad a etwork of compaies i medtech ad biotech. I additio to its Alco realized that Geeva has somethig to offer i terms of research, ot just as a busiess base Alco Alco Alco ALLEGRETTO WAVE Eye-Q Excimer Laser System Our head of R&D was kee o Geeva because it has a very strog uiversity system ad a etwork of compaies i medtech ad biotech. cosumer products, Alco s busiess is 45% pharma 45% surgical devices, so both biotech ad medtech are very importat for us. It is a defiite advatage to exchage views with people from Merck Seroo or Medtroics, as well as the may smaller compaies. We realize that someoe i Geeva may have the ext big idea that could be used i ophthalmology techology! I am, literally, a hour ad a half from most of my key markets. ACRYSOF RESTOR Itraocular Les Alco 7 Lord: eutral ad close to customers US specialty chemicals ad compoets maufacturer, LORD Corporatio, recetly opeed its Europea headquarters i Geeva. We are i Geeva to stregthe our Europea presece, startig with our busiess i Aerospace ad Defese, explais Sharo Williams, Vice Presidet, Europe. LORD Corporatio is a major supplier to the rotarywig idustry i Europe. Our techical teams i the US have supported these cliets successfully for decades, but we felt it was time to improve our proximity ad accessibility to Europea customers. Our itetio is to build a techical ceter i Geeva to cosolidate our egieerig. The Ecoomic Developmet Office has bee with us every step of the way. The perceptio of Geeva as a iteratioal city, Ms. Williams says, weighed heavily i the decisio. LORD Corporatio has two major Europea Aerospace customers, with locatios i Frace, Germay, Italy ad the UK. It was coveiet to be more cetrally located but also to stay eutral. We evaluated various other Europea cities, but Geeva was the most suitable. Geeva s flexible labor laws, excellet market for laguage skills, friedliess to expats ad attractive tax regime were all positive factors as was the support of local authorities. The Ecoomic Developmet Office has bee with us every step of the way, says Sharo Williams. They itroduced us to service providers, provided support for our work permit applicatios ad put us i cotact with relocatio agecies. We are ow usig their etwork of cotacts, especially i the uiversities ad laboratories. The Lake Geeva Regio has great techology trasfer offices ad we would like to explore developig techology together. New i Tow

5 New i Tow The Cleatech Summit: at the begiig of the revolutio The 2007 best-seller, The Clea Tech Revolutio, argued that commercializig clea techologies would ot oly solve may of our evirometal ad eergy problems, it would also be the ext egie of ecoomic growth. Two years o, the idustry is movig ito the maistream, with veture ivestmets i 2008 i North America, Europe, Chia ad Idia of $ 8.4 billio. The sector showed little iovatio for a log time, but ow we are seeig a iflux of good ideas ad more o the way, says Berard Vogel, Maagig Parter, Edeavor Visio, ad orgaizer of the Cleatech Summit. I am very passioate about it. Why is the Cleatech Summit beig held i Geeva? There was fierce competitio to get this coferece! Cleatech is o the top of the ageda of may political leaders ad cities, ad we did receive a umber of very iterestig offers from major Europea cities. We chose Geeva because it is easy to get to ad from all over Europe - key for a 1.5 day coferece. Its coferece ifrastructure is fatastic. It has a lot of promiet orgaizatios ad NGOs ad corporate headquarters, as well as a strog fiacial commuity iterested i sustaiable developmet. A more subtle reaso is that, if you hold a coferece i Lodo or Paris, it becomes a atioal evet. We wated the Cleatech Summit to be a more eutral, iteratioal evet. Cleatech Summit i Geeva Jue at Geeva s Hotel Presidet Wilso To idetify ad showcase the best cleatech start-ups i Europe To itroduce them to key Europea, US ad Asia ivestors ad professioals who ca assist i their global expasio. 8 What are the major challeges of the cleatech idustry? Oe is that, today, most of the alterative eergy geeratio techologies are completely depedet o subsidies to be profitable. While the problems ad issues are global, subsidies (ad priorities) are typically atioal. So, a cleatech compay may be extremely successful i oe coutry because the legislatio there is appropriate to its techology, but its products may ot be iterestig at all i the coutry right ext door. Aother challege is to fid the right etrepreeur: we are at the begiig of the cleatech revolutio ad few etrepreeurs have a backgroud i startig compaies. It s where ICT used to be. Now, a ICT etrepreeur may be o his third or fourth compay. The cleatech ivestor commuity is also quite youg. Accordig to our research parter, Cleatech Network, i 2008, 150 ivestors made their first cleatech veture ivestmet i a Europea compay. What are the Lake Geeva Regio s stregths i cleatech? Geeva has a icredible cocetratio of assets for cleatech: world class uiversities ad research ceters (eg. EPFL, Geeva ad Lausae Uiversities, CERN, etc.), a umber of iteratioal players i the cleatech sector, a strog ad iteratioal fiacial commuity - with a clear iterest i sustaiable developmet. There are a large umber of NGOs ivolved i climate chage ad eviromet protectio, oe of the most active eergy tradig sectors i the world, pragmatic ad proactive local authorities, ad a high quality of life (a prerequisite for attractig talet ad skilled employees to this ew sector), as well as a growig awareess i the local media ad public of the ecological challeges we face. Edeavour Visio ad the Europea Tech Tour Associatio Sve Ligjaerde, fouder of the Geevabased veture capitalist firm Edeavour Visio, started the Swiss Tech Tour Associatio i 1998 as a efficiet way to brig iteratioal veture firms ad etrepreeurs together with Swiss ICT start-ups. Wideig its scope to all of Europe, the Associatio has orgaized some 34 Tech Tours throughout the Cotiet. After 8 years of focusig o geographic regios, the Associatio bega orgaizig vertical evets i give idustry sectors, such as semicoductors, web ad iteret startups, medtech, ad ow- cleatech. 4 Labs: a uique Europea partership chooses Geeva Four giat Europea labs have joied forces to commercialize their kow-how, ifrastructure capabilities ad IP through oe sales office based i Geeva. Callig itself a oe-stop shop for micro-ao ad system egieerig, 4 Labs draws o the competece of more tha egieers ad scietists workig i the R&D labs of the Heterogeeous Techology Alliace (HTA). HTA is a uique partership of four Europea research istitutes: CEA i Frace, the Frauhofer Society i Germay, VTT i Filad ad the CSEM i Switzerlad. 9 HTA chose Geeva, says Dr. Adré Perret, 4 Labs Geeral Director, because the city is iteratioal ad well kow outside of Switzerlad. I thik it was Geeva s reputatio that made the differece, he says. 4 Labs ad Geeva are i a wi-wi situatio. We use Geeva from a marketig poit of view ad Geeva gais from the reputatio of my parters as leasers i micro- ad ao-techology. Dr. Perret also cites the persoal support of Pierre-Fraçois Uger, Geeva s Miister of Health ad Ecoomy. Mr. Uger kows that the reputatio of Geeva s biotechology cluster is quite high ad he wats its micro- ad ao techology cluster to become equally visible. Neste Oil: raisig Geeva s tradig profile The ew office of Neste Oil, a Fiish compay specializig i cleaer traffic fuels, raises Geeva s profile as a tradig ad shippig hub, as well as its positio as Europea capital of trade i clea fuels. A strategic choice, accordig to Heikki Saarie, Director of Neste Oil (Suisse) SA. We selected Geeva due to the cocetratio of busiesses from the sector, which is a major plus for the developmet of our activities, explaied Mr. Saarie. Geeva s qualities, such as its geographic locatio, its iteratioal eviromet, ad the availability of a well-qualified, multiligual workforce were also key factors. Neste Oil is a welcome additio to Geeva s ecoomic diversity, says Daiel Loeffler, Director of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. Neste Oil reiforces Geeva s tradig ad shippig sector, a key part of our ecoomy. Secodly, it boosts the growig cleatech cluster. All busiesses that operate i the developmet ad marketig of clea or sustaiable products brig expertise to our cato, ad this is obviously the case with Neste Oil, whose strategy is based o massive ivestmets i clea fuels. New i Tow

6 Mai theme of this issue: A ew paradigm of iovatio Ferromagetic materials Whe Giovai Ciserai, P&G s ew Presidet of Wester Europe, ad Pierre- Fraçois Uger, Geeva s Miister of Ecoomy ad Health, met for a cotact luch i early 2008, the coversatio tured to iovatio. I suggested to Mr. Ciserai that syergies betwee multiatioals ad the SME s ad research istitutes i the Lake Geeva Regio would be wi-wi relatioships, recalls Mr. Uger. The multiatioals get the research they eed, the start-ups ad SMEs get access to a global market, ad o jobs are lost i spite of the ecoomic crisis! What better way to demostrate the importace of multiatioals to the local ecoomy tha by sub-cotractig R&D? Mr. Ciserai agreed that the may multiatioals based i Geeva should be put i touch with iovative local compaies ad idividuals. By the ed of their meetig, the two me had agreed to co-sposor a Ope Iovatio evet i Jauary 2009 to do just that. That luch was i 1BC Before Crisis, says Mr. Ciserai. Noe of us had ay idea the how much thigs were goig to chage or how importat geeratig ew ideas would become for us all. Today, with compaies uder pressure to rethik every facet of their operatios i terms of efficiecy ad output, the old prejudice agaist ay ew busiess idea ot developed here has bee tured o its head. Now the ew paradigm for iovatio etails corporate giats seekig outside parters, whatever their size, that ca brig breakthrough techologies, brads ad products or eve put the giats ow itellectual property to profitable use. Uiversity of Geeva Iovatio i a time of crisis I the middle of a recessio, with ervous cosumers more focused o meetig expeses tha buyig ew products, compaies should be pushig iovatio to the back-burer. Right? O the cotrary, argues iovatio cosultat Thomas D. Kuczmarski. The compaies that cotiue to build a iovatio culture ad make modest ivestmets to keep the iovatio pipelie full will be the oes that ejoy a big competitive advatage a few years from ow, he writes i a recet piece i BusiessWeek. Iovatio is ot ivetio, or is it the result of a eureka momet. The iovatio process, properly doe, begis with research to idetify eeds, wats, ad problems ad the addresses them i a way that draws upo may differet disciplies ad fuctios. Iovatio breaks through a busiess-as-usual midset, revealig a array of opportuities with a high probability of success A Europea champio of iovatio I spite of its small size, Switzerlad files more patets tha ay other coutry i the world. This year s Europea Iovatio Scoreboard puts Switzerlad 2 d out of 31 coteders. Switzerlad raks first i such areas as research, techological iovatio ad itellectual property ad ties with Germay for the umber of SMEs active i techological iovatio. Switzerlad is also top performer i terms of throughputs, while the expertise of its workforce (judged by the umber of doctorates i the age group) raks secod out of all of Europe. The aual Europea Iovatio Scoreboard evaluates 27 EU coutries, as well as Icelad, Turkey, Norway ad Switzerlad. A ew paradigm of iovatio

7 A ew paradigm of iovatio Sed us your ideas, say Geeva s multiatioals Geeva-based multiatioals o loger wat to do all their iovatio i-house. Ad that s good ews for the may smaller compaies ad research groups i the area. The Ope Iovatio Evet, held at P&G s Lacy Iovatio Ceter i Jauary, gave otice that major compaies are eager to hear your ideas. We used to be a do-it-yourself compay, Jeffrey Weedma, Procter & Gamble s Vice-Presidet for Exteral Busiess Developmet, explaied that eveig. Our approach ow is to ask: What do we eed? Where do we look? Ad what do we do with it whe we fid it? The thikig at DuPot used to be that the lab is our world, added Ia Hudso, Presidet of DuPot Europe, Middle East & Africa. Now it s that the world is our lab. We are here as a Goliath lookig for lots of Davids i this audiece. The tur-out o Jauary 15 - a stadigroom-oly crowd from across Geeva s The brad ew iovatio ceter of Procter & Gamble i Geeva Ope Iovatio Evet opes the way for major corporatios to collaborate with idividuals, compaies ad research istitutes busiess commuity surprised eve the orgaizers. The itetio ow is to develop a platform to ecourage the ope iovatio process i the Lake Geeva Regio, with the ed goal of further developig ad diversifyig the Geeva ecoomy. We are here as a Goliath lookig for lots of Davids i this audiece. Start-ups have good ideas but usually do ot have practical kowledge of markets ad o iteratioal etwork, says Daiel Loeffler, Director of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. The structure of multiatioals i Geeva could improve the success rates of start-ups. We kicked off this evet to see if there was iterest ad we saw that there was real iterest from multiatioals. The challege ow is to build bridges betwee the research istitutios, start-ups, SMEs ad multiatioals. Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office, Beoît Chatre et Sébastie Fasel Just call us first! Procter & Gamble, with over 27,000 patets, is oe of the most IP-rich compaies i history. Iroically, it was also oe of the first compaies to adopt ope iovatio. Jeffrey Weedma, P&G s Vice-Presidet i charge of Exteral Busiess Developmet, explais why he thiks the Lake Geeva Regio could be fertile groud for ew ideas Why did P&G adopt ope iovatio? Because there are three millio people out there with the same educatio, traiig ad expertise as our 8-9 thousad researchers o the iside. Historically, P&G has always strogly ivested i IP. We liked patets ad they were highly protected. Now, we have come to the poit of view that what is importat is accessibility. What is the best ecoomic value-creatio proposal? Sharig? Licesig? This does t mea we do t protect our IP; just that we are much more flexible tha we were 10 years ago. How has this approach affected iteral iovatio? Our ivestmet i R&D has still multiplied every year. Ope iovatio allows us to focus o what we do best. Geeva is a place we ivest i. How does P&G carry out ope iovatio? We have a good uderstadig of what we eed ad what the cosumer eeds. If we idetify techology that we do t have to meet those eeds, we search the globe for solutios. We should be doig a better job of tappig the broader etwork of Geeva ad Switzerlad to show that we are ope for busiess! We kow there has got to be a lot of creativity i the regio. You spoke at the Ope Iovatio Evet i Geeva i Jauary. Has P&G siged ay cotracts as a result? We have a couple of coversatios goig o but it is still early days. I was pleased that there was such broad participatio from the govermet ad idustry. Now, whe will I see results? It s like platig a crop. Some seeds come up right away; a baaa tree, well, that takes loger What do you thik are Geeva s stregths as a platform for ope iovatio? Geeva is a big city i a small package with the umber of multiatioals here out of all proportio to the city s size. The welcomig ature of govermet ad the people to havig multiatioals i their frot ad backyards bodes well for the ability to do busiess here. How would a compay based i Geeva eter ito a ope iovatio project with P&G? Phoe us! I have a hadful of people workig for me i Geeva ad the submissios we receive do t disappear. The people who get them sit about eight feet from me. But perhaps the best way to reach the right people is to cotact us through our website, www. pgcoectdevelop.com. If you submit a iovatio opportuity there, it is immediately routed to the right team for review, ad we will respod to you. The website esures maagemet has visibility. Portrait: SPD Swiss Precisio Diagostics I 2007, P&G joied forces with Iveress Medical Iovatios to create SPD Swiss Precisio Diagostics. Better kow through such brads as Clearblue ad PERSONA, SPD has already become a world leader i cosumer diagostics with its reliable ad easy at-home pregacy ad fertility/ovulatio tests. It is easy to uderstad why the two compaies joied forces: SPD combies Iveress s expertise i diagostics ad P&G s ability to brig iovative products to market. But, why was Geeva chose as its headquarters? Because it was the logical place to be, says Jeffrey Weedma, Procter & Gamble s Vice-Presidet for Exteral Busiess Developmet. Beig i Geeva gives SPD access to key fuctios. Iveress has a small footprit here ad P&G s EMEA headquarters ad Iovatio Ceter are i Geeva. Geeva is a place we ivest i. A ew paradigm of iovatio

8 A ew paradigm of iovatio DuPot DuPot is oe of Geeva s flagship multiatioals. The US chemical compay came to Geeva i the aftermath of World War II, seekig a stable Europea base for busiess. That iitial tiy office has today become DuPot s EMEA headquarters, employig some 450 people, with aother 200 workig i the Europea Techical Cetre i the Meyri suburb of Geeva. This year, DuPot is plaig to ope a ew photovoltaic cetre there. Accordig to Ia Hudso, locatig the ew photovoltaic ceter i Geeva was a logical choice. We realized that we eeded a ceter of competece i Europe for our customers i the solar eergy sector, he explais. We chose Geeva because of the taleted people here, the locatio ad because the govermet is supportive of R&D. DuPot s Europea Techical Cetre, celebratig its 20 th year i Geeva, is a global ceter for R&D i extrusio capabilities. DuPot has ivested over 200 millio Swiss fracs i the Cetre where ew products ad applicatios are developed ad tested. Geeva is where we fid ew ways to put DuPot products to work for our Europea customers i idustries ragig from trasportatio, cosmetics, telecommuicatios, as well as food, chemicals, electroics ad sport, says Mr. Hudso. Now is the time Some of these customers, like the Europea automobile maufacturers, are, of course, curretly havig a rough ride. So, has DuPot trimmed back iovatio? O the cotrary, says Mr. Hudso. Now is the time to be doig iovatio to be ready whe these idustries come out of the recessio. keeps the machie turig I 2009, DuPot is celebratig its 50 th year of activity i Geeva. A ew photovoltaic applicatio developmet cetre is plaed for this year. Ia Hudso, Presidet for Europe, Middle East ad Africa Regio, explais why the worst recessio i decades ca be the best time to focus o iovatio... Now is also the time whe our customers i the supply chai have time to do trials. So, DuPot has t stopped the iovatio machie. Ad what a machie it is. If you average it out, DuPot has pateted a iovatio every day for the past two ceturies, says Ia Hudso. I the First Quarter, we brought out 500 ew products globally. The Europea Techical Cetre, for example, recetly developed a ew oil pa for Mercedes. The ew pa, made out of a polymer, ot oly weighs much less tha metal, it is also more resistat. Our lab i Geeva eve desiged a ew way to test it, simulatig what happes o a autobah whe a stoe hits a oil pa, says Mr. Hudso. Ope iovatio DuPot has developed a collaborative relatioship with EPFL ad awards a prize each year for the most promisig research i materials sciece. The prize, says Ia Hudso, is a way of actively ecouragig ope iovatio potetial. As both DuPot ad the Uiversity of Geeva are celebratig aiversaries this year, the two orgaizatios decided to joi together i makig public demostratios of the liks betwee fudametal ad applied sciece. This summer (30 Jue - 1July), DuPot opes the doors of the Europea Techical Cetre to show how sciece ad high performace materials ca improve our quality of life, everyday. For a market-drive sciece compay, the problem has always bee how to reach out to the larger commuity of scietists, says Mr. Hudso. Uiversities, start-ups, eve established compaies have ideas ad techology without the ability to brig them to market. Gettig ew techology i shape to be a usable product is where you sped the moey. I the polymers area, there are oly a hadful of compaies capable of doig it. Ia Hudso, Presidet of Dupot for Europe, Middle East ad Africa regio Iovatio made i Geeva New cocept polymer oil pa for Mercedes New-cocept collar for Salomo ski-boot Cold-resistat plastic ski clamps BIC cigarette lighters meetig striget safety stadards Thermoplastic railroad tracks Self-regulatig temperature cotrols for buildigs High-performace, thermo-resistat cables for automobile idustry Developmet ad commercializatio of Cool -Pack cotaiers Latest-geeratio bottles ad packagig for cosmetics www2.dupot.com Dupot Dupot Ghost ski-boot Ghost ski-boot Oe example of iovatios from DuPot s Europea Techical Cetre is a ew alpie ski-boot developed for the prestigious Frech sports equipmet compay Salomo based i earby Aecy. The collar of the ew Ghost freerider ski-boot is made from DuPot Hytrel thermoplastic elastomer. Not oly is Hytrel impact-resistat ad flexible at low temperatures, it is also made from reewably-sourced materials. Su power DuPot sees great growth prospects i photovoltaic techology. After all, explais Ia Hudso, «DuPot supplies more tha 10 products critical to solar pael productio» ad is workig o the developmet of ext geeratio photovoltaic materials i its R&D ceters ad i collaboratio with customers worldwide. I particular, the photovoltaic ceter plaed for Geeva will make the coectio with DuPot s customers i Europe Middle East ad Africa. DuPot s Europea Techical Cetre Six Strategic Busiess Uits o site 60 scietists (R&D ad techical service) m 2 laboratory ad office space Focusig o high performace polymers ad fibers: ew applicatios, techologies ad products A ew paradigm of iovatio

9 A ew paradigm of iovatio A iovative platform for sciece-based busiess The hub of global health If critical mass is a prerequisite for iovatio, cosider this. The Lake Geeva Regio has some 200 biotechology compaies (i fact, the US magazie Sciece calls Geeva the Number 1 life scieces cluster o the Europea cotiet), 500 research laboratories, 12 research istitutes ad uiversities ad hospitals ad is the home base of Merck Seroo ad other sciece-drive healthcare compaies. It was from Geeva that the World Health Orgaizatio led the successful global program to eradicate small pox i the 1960s ad moitors outbreaks of pademics such as SARS ad Swie Flu. It is also from Geeva that NGOs ad private-public iitiatives are today carryig o the worldwide fight agaist drug-resistat tuberculosis, malaria ad so-called eglected diseases. To complete the healthcare cotiuum, the Iteratioal Federatio of Pharmaceutical Maufacturers & Associatios ad the Iteratioal Coucil of Nurses both have headquarters i Geeva A scietist workig i the Merck Seroo research lab i Geeva Geeva is the hub of global health, isists Dr. A Kato, professor of eurosciece at the Uiversity of Geeva. A few years ago, to make the most of this cocetratio of expertise, Dr. Kato started the Lake Geeva Iovatio Society (LGIS). The LGIS has ow become a importat local associatio promotig parterships betwee scietists ad pharmaceutical compaies, ad has plas to expad its scope to other scietific fields. But Geeva also has a iformal etwork made up of people who studied together at uiversity ad/or bega their careers here, ad who have remaied i the area. The four fouders of Epithelix, for example, were all workig at the Geeva Uiversity Medical Ceter (CMU) ad the Uiversity of Geeva whe they came up with the techique for egieerig i vitro recostituted huma tissue Merck Seroo As we were all workig i the field, we realized that somethig was missig ad that we could fill the gap with our kowhow, says Samuel Costat, oe of the fouders. Epithelix is ot a real spi-off from the uiversity, because we were t doig research o this, but our beig there together gave us the ecessary critical mass. The gap betwee a good idea ad a busiess pla able to attract veture capital is a wide oe. For some fortuate start-ups, Geeva s life scieces icubator, Eclosio, provides the bridge. Eclosio offers office ad lab space ad biotech equipmet adapted to the eeds of life scieces compaies as well as prove etrepreeurial guidace ad fudig. The idea behid Eclosio is to covert iovatio ito a realistic veture ad to help the start-up eter ito its growth phase, says Eclosio co-fouder ad director, Jesús Marti-Garcia, himself a serial etrepreeur. Geeva is a great ope iovatio platform because it is a place where you have so may atioalities cultures laguages, compaies, R&D istitutes, start-ups all together i a small place. At Eclosio, we are i cotact with thousads of researchers ad we brig them together o actual developmet projects. Samuel Costat puts it more succictly: If Eclosio had ot bee here, as well as the Fodatio Naef for I Vitro Research ad the Swiss Ati-Vivisectio League (LSCV), I m ot sure we would be, he says. Ad that would be a shame. Epithelix, created just three years ago, is oe of the 2009 wiers of the Red Herrig Award for iovatio i busiess. Epithelix s techology is expected to put a ed to the eed for aimal testig i pharmacology ad toxicology. Idustry aalysts also expect the youg compay, privately owed by the four fouders, to take a large share of the market geerated by REACH, the Europea Uio requiremet that the toxicity of all chemicals produced ad sold o the cotiet be tested For all the services we eed, we fid that expertise i Geeva. Aother start-up compay i cotact with Eclosio is PregLem, a biopharma compay addressig beig gyaecological coditios ad ifertility. Its fouder, Dr. Erest Loumaye, oce worked i Geeva as Head of Cliical Developmet for Reproductive Health at Seroo, cotributig to the worldwide registratio of three importat biotechology products. I Paris at the poit of startig up his compay, he decided to retur to Geeva because Geeva itself offered a pool of expertise that would make life easier for the ew compay oce it got up ad ruig. Geeva is a place where it is relatively easy to recruit skilled people i the pharmaceutical idustry, especially for the developmet of products, because there are a sigificat umber of compaies, explais Dr. Loumaye, ad people wat to stay i Geeva because the quality of life is excellet. The regio is very iteratioal ad iteratioal experiece is a asset i this idustry. The support of a wide rage of service compaies is also a valuable resource, he otes. I our busiess model, we subcotract everythig: we do t have lawyers i-house, we do t have a patet house, we do t have a pharmaco-vigilace departmet. From the start-up level to the ruig of a sizeable compay, we fid that expertise i Geeva. Dr. Vicet Mutel, CEO of Addex Pharmaceuticals, credits what he calls the substratum ad history of life scieces i the Lake Geeva Regio. For Dr. Mutel, this foudatio has bee a good place to build a compay at the cuttig-edge of pharma: Addex is developig a emergig class of therapeutic agets called allosteric modulators that have the potetial to deliver highly selective drugs, which may offer patiets better efficacy with fewer side effects. I thik it is excitig to be i Geeva today because the emergece of sciece as a vector of growth is owhere so clear as here, Dr. Mutel says. Iovatio i techology i the regio rus from mi- A ew paradigm of iovatio

10 A ew paradigm of iovatio cro ad ao-techology all the way to the life scieces. There is a legacy of sciece here, ot hype. This legacy ca eve smooth the way for fudig: sciece-based compaies i the coutry ofte commet o the high level of scietific expertise iside Swiss VC firms. Oe of the Europea veture capital firms that iitially backed Addex, for example, was Idex Vetures, specialists i high tech ad life scieces, ad - ot icidetally - based i Geeva. Eve Switzerlad s traditioal expertise i such fields as fie tool-makig ad watchmakig ca come i hady i terms of providig good parters, as Thierry Clidière of Alco otes: Alco acquired a compay i Schaffhause that makes tiy surgical istrumets used i eye surgery. It s oe of those icredible Swiss egieerig compaies - i fact, that compay competes with the fie watch idustry for its huma resources! Clearly, iovatio i scietific fields is a itegral part of the idustrial fabric of the Lake Geeva Regio as a whole. With populatios i the developed world agig, healthcare is a growth idustry. It is o accidet that I wated to put Health ad the Ecoomy uder the same miistry, explais Miister Pierre-Fraçois Uger. Bioiovatio Day ad the Eclosio Prize I Jue Geeva will host the secod Bioiovatio Day, orgaized by Uitec, the techology trasfer office of the Uiversity ad the Uiversity Hospitals of Geeva, ad the Alliace Cosortium, a collaboratio of regioal tech trasfer offices. The goal of the evet is: To give the opportuity for researchers ad compaies to share ew developmets i the field of life scieces, i particular, the biotech ad medtech sectors. To ecourage iteractio betwee scietists, iovators, etrepreeurs, ivestors, idustry ad distributors To discuss busiess opportuities To reward the Eclosio Prize ad give the etrepreeur the meas to develop it. 18 All the elemets What Most people ivolved i life scieces i the Lake Geeva Regio remark the luck of havig a world-class player like Merck Seroo i tow. Dr. Joer-Peter Halle, Vice Presidet Early Stage Licesig of Merck Seroo, explais that the beefits flow both ways Merck Seroo has agreed to fud three chairs at EPFL, described as settig a ew stadard i idustrial-academic parterships. What do you expect from this collaboratio? It creates a lik betwee basic ad applied research i the subjects we are most iterested i, that is, ocology, drug delivery ad euro-degeerative diseases. We believe it sets a ew stadard because, i other places, we pay for post-docs ad they preset research that may or may ot lead to patets, HUG Prize for Iovatio The Uiversity Hospital of Geeva (HUG) is ot oly a research hospital ivolved i every aspect of moder medicie, it is also the largest employer i the Cato, with over 8500 people workig iside. To promote the iovative research goig o withi its walls, HUG bega two years ago to hold a aual Iovatio Day. I such a vast istitutio, it is sometimes difficult to kow who is doig what, explais Nicole Rochat, orgaizer of the evet. We created the Iovatio Day to make people o the iside better aware of the iovative work goig o i all areas at the hospital. Realizig that some of the best ideas ca come from people with hads-o experiece, Nicole Rochat adds that The competitio is ope to all members of the hospital, from doctors ad researchers to urses, techical staff - eve ambulace drivers. I 2008, the prize was wo by Jea-Berard Buchs, head of the hospital s surgical R&D lab. With help from the Lake Geeva Regio s Biomedical Imagery Ceter (CIBM), Dr. Buchs ad his team developed a machie that keeps orgas alive ad allows the detectio of microscopic tumors. By removig ay doubts about a orga s safety, the techique icreases the umber of orgas available for trasplat by aroud 30%. The HUG s ext Iovatio Day will be held i September. whereas, with EPFL, there is more iteractio at the start. Researchers at EPFL ad Merck Seroo make joit proposals ad a joit committee decides which projects to select. Our scietists go to EPFL professors o a regular basis ad their scietists do part of their work i our labs. Is Merck Seroo ivolved i ay other local parterships? We etered ito collaboratio with NovImmue two years ago. We also have regular exchages with the Uiversity of Geeva s School of Sciece i more classical research collaboratios. We perceive Geeva to be o the same level as the Bosto area. How does Merck Seroo approach ope iovatio? Most of our exteral busiess developmet team is i Geeva, that is, six people scoutig from here. They are locally coected but actig globally to idetify the best opportuities for i-licesig ad developmet for the market. More tha 50% of our pipelie comes from collaboratios. Dr. Joer-Peter Halle, Vice bla bla Presidet Early Stage Licesig Merck Seroo 19 do you see as the Lake Geeva Regio s stregths as a platform for sciece-based idustry? Merck Seroo has three research hubs: Darmstadt i Germay, which beefits from the proximity of the Uiversities of Frakfurt ad Heidelberg; Bosto, a major biotech hub; ad Geeva, which we perceive to be o the same level as the two other areas. That s impressive cosiderig how small Geeva is! Geeva is smaller but it has all the elemets. First, the academic istitutios are first-rate i the Lake Geeva Regio the Uiversity Hospital of Geeva (HUG), the Uiversity Hospital Cetre of Vaud/Lausae (CHUV), the Uiversity of Geeva ad EPFL. Secod, the biotech idustry here is very active with may established compaies, ad with local orgaizatios like BioAlps that create cotacts betwee etrepreeurs, compaies ad R&D. Third, I would cite the veture capital idustry here. We have a close relatioship with Idex Vetures ad discuss with them o a regular basis: where they are lookig, how their portfolio compaies are doig, what product opportuities would itegrate ito our operatios. Global VCs ivest i the best opportuities ad we are lookig for licesig opportuities o a global basis, so it is importat to see them o a regular basis. Sice we are all i Geeva, we just meet for luch! Fially, beig i Geeva makes it easy to recruit from all over the world. Geeva is a very iteratioal city ad that goes had-i-had with the iteratioal spirit at Merck Seroo. The brad ew Merck Seroo headquarters i Geeva A ew paradigm of iovatio Merck Seroo

11 Coutry profile LITASCO SA Office Buildig i Geeva Russias i Geeva At aroud 8,000 (uofficial estimates put the umber closer to 20,000), the Russia commuity is ot the largest expat commuity i the Lake Geeva Regio, but it is oe of the oldest ad quite possibly the most iterestig. Reflectig the upheavals of that coutry over the past 200 years, the Russia commuity i Geeva has raged from vacatioig aristocrats to revolutioaries plottig their demise, from diplomats at the Russia Missio ad iterpreters at the UN to, most recetly, oil traders (two-thirds of Russia oil is traded here!), studets ad etrepreeurs. The historical ad cultural ties betwee Geeva ad Russia are strog ad each ew geeratio of Russias i Geeva add to this richess. LITASCO Group The Russia-Swiss relatioship has always bee a two-way flow of people, culture ad ideas. Two compaies i Geeva exemplify this relatioship: LITASCO, the oil-tradig arm of Russia petroleum giat, Lukoil, ad IvestDialog, helpig Russia start-ups make it i the global market. Over the past decade, Geeva has tured ito the Number 1 hub for oil-tradig, a ulikely role for a city with either seaport or oil reserves of its ow. Lukoil s decisio i 2000 to set up a tradig office i Geeva is oe reaso. As LITASCO, that Geeva office is ow the headquarters of eight subsidiaries aroud the world. It was a wise move to set up i Geeva but it was ot self-evidet, recalls LITASCO CEO, Gati Al-Jebouri. At that time, tradig activities were still located maily i Lodo, but, little by little, Geeva has become the tradig ceter of the world. This cocetratio, he says, helps LITASCO i two ways. Virtually all the major trade fiace players have a base i Geeva ad it is importat to be close to the baks that support ad grow your busiess, he says. Secod, the close cotact with other traders helps i expadig Litasco s busiess. Sixty percet of the oil we trade is Lukoil system barrels, but 40% is third party oil, so beig i Geeva with other tradig compaies ad close to the Europea market, we beefit from a large umber of opportuities. For example, we are oe of the largest suppliers of diesel to the Frech market, Number 2 after Total, ad we are tryig to expad ito the Italia market havig purchased a Sicilia refiery, which, i terms of processig, is also maaged out of Geeva. Employmet LITASCO s staff has grow by 15% i the past three years. I the first quarter of this year, LITASCO added aother strig to its bow: the global maagemet of Lukoil s petrochemicals tradig busiess. We are ow recruitig people to joi that part of our busiess ad growig that desk, says Gati Al- Jebouri. Thirty-five percet of LITASCO s staff is made up of Swiss atioals, so it is very much a Geeva compay, says Mr. Al-Jebouri. But LITASCO s Russia flavor is udeiable. The mother compay is Russia ad much of our activity comes from Russia, he explais. Beig i Geeva with other tradig compaies ad close to the Europea market, we beefit from a large umber of opportuities. LITASCO also cotiues the traditioal Russia-Swiss relatioship of exchage. We have a lot of Russias comig here all the time for traiig ad locals workig here for a while that we the sed out to our braches, says Mr. Al-Jebouri. Gati AL-JEBOURI, CEO of LITASCO Group LITASCO s Geeva headquarters 100% owed by the Russia compay Lukoil, the 6 th largest oil productio eterprise Became resposible for Lukoil s petrochemical-tradig i Q Maages global presece (over 80 coutries) Employs 170 people i Geeva of 28 atioalities Coutry profile LITASCO Group

12 Coutry profile A ew cocept for collaboratio Meawhile, Dr. Olivier Liossier, fouder ad CEO of Eurasia Idustries, is workig to iterest the Russias i a ew versio of the Russia-Swiss relatioship. Dr. Liossier sees the two coutries as mirror images, opposite but complemetary. Whereas Russia is a lad of vast atural resources with large, vertically itegrated idustrial projects servig geographically restraied markets, Switzerlad offers a cocetratio of highly specialized SMEs who prosper by beig good at sellig i the global market. Dr. Liossier saw that the time was ripe to tur these differeces to mutual beefit. Despite great efforts by VC firms ad the Federal govermet to sustai the developmet of start-ups ad SMEs, most of these compaies struggle with their commercial developmet at the atioal ad iteratioal level, he says. They suffer from serious drawbacks whe ruig idustrializatio or productio of goods, but also whe tryig to export valued services ad techologies. The R&D lab is i the Urals, maagemet is i Geeva ad productio is i earby Aecy. Dr. Liossier s idea was to get the Russias to maufacture their techology i Switzerlad We tell the Russias, You have ivested a lot, you have a very advaced uiversity system, you have iterestig techology. We Swiss kow how to maufacture with a dese etwork of sub-cotractig ad we kow how to distribute because we have cotacts all over the world. Let s work together! To help the Russias uderstad a ecoomic structure so differet from their ow, Dr. Liossier started IvestDialog, offerig ivestmet ad marketig services, ad the aual IvestDialog Forum brigig Russia idustrialists to Switzerlad. We orgaize visits i Swiss compaies to see first-had the efficiecies of this model.the typical Russia start-up ivests $10 millio dollars i a huge structure but the fids that operatioal costs, especially due to the distace betwee subcotractors, suppliers ad customers, are simply too high to allow competitive productio. We show them that, i Switzerlad, they ca ivest $200 thousad ad get the same results because the subcotractor is ext door. The result has bee a series of joit vetures ad compaies maufacturig Russia products o Swiss soil ad maagig global distributio from Switzerlad. We have doe it i electroics ad food-packagig. Today, Olicorp has 65% of the market of power cotrol i blow-moldig machies used i the maufacture of PET bottles. The R&D lab is i the Urals, maagemet is i Geeva ad productio is i earby Aecy. Eurasia Idustries IvestDialog: Esures the iteratioal busiess expasio of Russia compaies by the meas of fiacial, marketig ad idustrial-orieted services all over Eurasia. IvestDialog Forum: orgaizes aual meetig for Russia fiacial ad idustrial commuity i the Swiss alpie resort, Verbier. Some of EI s successful projects over the last few years: Olicorp: Curret world leader for the power cotrol of heaters used i the PET bottlig idustry, OLICORP is also developig a ew type of ijectio machie to produce PET performs. MasComposites: Iovative ceramics ad ao-structured materials for demadig applicatios where resistace to frictio or specific physical properties are required. MC compoets are used i bearigs, seals ad idustrial mechaical parts. Peter the Great s right-had ma Fraçois Le Fort, so of a Geeva judge, emigrated to Russia i 1676, becomig a itimate fried of the Tsar ad cotributig to Russia s opeig to the world. The Lefortovo district of Moscow still bears his ame ad Geeva s Museum of the Swiss Abroad i the Château de Pethes devotes a room to his life. But Fraçois Le Fort was ot aloe: from the later 17 th to late 19 th cetury, a estimated Swiss emigrated to Russia. The ews i Russia The Russia commuity i Geeva has its ow Russia-laguage media, icludig the prit magazie, Gagari Times, a olie portal, Russia Switzerlad, the glossy magazie, Swiss Affiche, ad the latest arrival, NashaGazeta, a olie daily lauched by the local press group, Edipresse. Fie cigars Aother, quite differet Geeva istitutio, Davidoff s, was also fouded by Russias who opeed a tobacco shop i Geeva i (A early customer was a certai Vladimir Ilyich Ulyaov.) I 1929, the so, Zio Davidoff, opeed a special sectio devoted solely to cigars. Cooisseurs cosider Davidoff cigars to be amog the world s fiest. Historical ties Joseph Corad set part of his 1911 ovel about Russia revolutioaries, Uder Wester Eyes, i Geeva. More recetly, i Russia Switzerlad, the youg award-wiig Russia ovelist, Mikhail Shishki, explores the strog historical ties betwee the Russias ad the Swiss, i particular, the ihabitats of Lake Geeva Regio Peter the Great s right-had ma Fraçois Le Fort, so of a Geeva judge, emigrated to Russia i 1676, becomig a itimate fried of the Tsar ad cotributig to Russia s opeig to the world. The Lefortovo district of Moscow still bears his ame ad Geeva s Museum of the Swiss Abroad i the Château de Pethes devotes a room to his life. But Fraçois Le Fort was ot aloe: from the later 17th to late 19th cetury, a estimated 60,000 Swiss emigrated to Russia. Golde domes over Geeva Oe of Geeva s loveliest sights is its Russia Church. For 150 years, the church has welcomed Orthodox worshipers from all sectors of society, icludig the writer Dostoievsky, whose daughter, Sophie, was baptized there. The church s iterior features icos from the 16 th to 20 th ceturies. Bo appetit! The Geeva Russia Church Coutry profile Cafe Nikolaj is a chic Russia restaurat servig afteroo tea ad, i the eveig, the five-course Meu des Tsars featurig caviar. Place de la Fusterie Troïka showcases specialties from the differet regios of Russia ad the ex- Soviet Republic, icludig a rage of zakouski, Russia hors d oeuvres, served with vodka. Offers a Russia buffet at oo ad live traditioal music o Friday ad Saturday ights. 35 rue des Bais The Russia Café is a temporary Russia restaurat/bar set up o the lakeside durig the Fêtes de Geève (30 July - 9 August). A great spot from which to watch the fireworks!

13 I Geeva Get a life istatly! Cogratulatios! You ve laded a great ew job i Geeva. Trouble is, you do t kow ayoe. You eed to fid a place to live. You do t speak Frech ad you have a lot of questios about isurace, settig up a bak accout, eve gettig the right mobile phoe service. Plus, a log weeked s comig up ad you d really like to fid somethig to do No problem, Glocals is here! A Swiss-wide website with over 35,000 members (24,000 i Geeva aloe!) made up of youg iteratioal professioals (25-35) might be expected to geerate sparks ad Glocals is o disappoitmet. I get daily s from people tellig me that it has bee a lifesaver for them, says oe of the fouders, Nir Ofek, a Israeli who has lived i Geeva for over 10 years. Movig to a ew city is tough aywhere. With Glocals, boom!, you re i cotact with thousads of other people who have similar iterests ad cocers. Glocals Glocals is free ad takes oly a few miutes to joi. The heart of the site is the Member Activities sectio, where ay member ca post a activity (skiig, dacig, wie-tastig, bowlig or discussig etho-botay, ayoe??), ad see which other members wat to joi. Other site features iclude Marketplace (apartmets, goods, services, you ame it), Forums (for exchagig tips o local life), ad City Guide (with reviews of local service providers ad veues). The suggestios are as diverse as the members who make them ad, i Geeva, that ca be diverse ideed. With Glocals, boom!, you re i cotact with thousads of other people. Members, i fact, are the heart of Glocals, says Nir Ofek, ad growig all the time. The site bega i Geeva i 2006, but has recetly bee exteded to the rest of the coutry. I a few moths, Zurich ad Lausae have brought i 3000 ew members each. We deped o olie advertisig so we expaded out of Geeva to give more exposure to our advertisers, explais Mr. Ofek. Corporate sposors have take otice. Both UBS ad Orage offer free public-iformatio olie guides (how to ope a bakig accout i Switzerlad, how to get a local mobile phoe) through Glocals ad offer special services tailored to expats through the site. Now Glocals is workig with the Swiss Chamber of Commerce ad the Geeva Welcome Ceter to offer free semiars with experts o practical issues of livig i Geeva. We have bee bombarded by s, eve from people who have t arrived i Geeva yet, says Mr. Ofek How to build a cluster ALP ICT brigs ICT compaies together The Lake Geeva Regio has some of the top R&D istitutes i the world, some of the major ICT multiatioals, a rapidly developig cluster of ICT early-stage compaies ad a host of public etities, from icubators to tech-trasfer offices, desiged to assist them. Now, it has a orgaizatio to brig all these elemets together: ALP ICT. I 2008, the seve catos of Wester Switzerlad set up ALP ICT, a platform to support ad stimulate the developmet of start-ups, SMEs ad research istitutes i Iformatio ad Commuicatio Techolgies (ICT). Led by the cato of Geeva, through its Office of Idustrial Promotio (OPI), ALP ICT, is the latest i a series of collaborative efforts betwee the catos. The other two are BioAlps, for the biotech idustry, ad Microarc, for micro- ad ao-techology. A third, to promote startups i cleatech, is uder developmet. It makes sese for the catos of Wester Switzerad to collaborate, just as it makes sese for foreig ivestors to look at what we ca offer together, explais Daiel Loeffler, Director of the Geeva Ecoomic Developmet Office. Wester Switzerlad has start-ups ad SMEs with the potetial to go global, says Didier Mesier, Director of ALP ICT. Our strategy is to focus o compaies with the potetial to deploy o the iteratioal level. I Geeva

14 I Geeva Oe way of doig this, he says, is to help these youg compaies begi relatioships that may lead to ope iovatio deals with multiatioals. Ope iovatio gives a real dyamic for small compaies, Mr. Mesier explais. It ecourages them to go ahead ad it opes doors to busiess models that they may ot have cosidered. Multiatioals based here also beefit from syergies with local players, he says. The big ICT players implated i Switzerlad, like Google, Yahoo, HP ad Logitech, are more ad more iterested i lookig at local iovatio, he says. A view of the Lake Geeva Regio stad at ITU World Telecom 09 Gree Fiace: explorig the risks ad the returs We all kow by ow that climate chage is a threat to the plaet ad to the global ecoomy, but is it also a ivestmet opportuity? What about the eergy crisis? Or the scarcity of clea water? Problems or opportuities? Well, both, accordig to JetFi, a Geevabased fiacial cosultig compay ad orgaizer of professioal cofereces.to examie the strategies ad risks ivolved i these ew ivestmet fields, JetFi is holdig a specialized coferece for ivestors ad fud maagers i Geeva i September. I Geeva Catalyst ALP ICT s role is to be a facilitator, to brig all the players ivolved i ICT together towards a ed objective: creatig a source of ecoomic value for the etire regio. To help start-ups coect with multiatioals, ALP ICT sposors their participatio at idustry evets ad assists them i meetig potetial parters ad cliets. Before each evet, ALP ICT issues a call for projects across the seve catos i Wester Switzerlad. We cotact all the uiversities, icubators ad sciece parks ad go through our data-base, ad the we select projects o the basis of their promise, he says. I October, the global ITC compaies will be comig to Geeva for ITU World Telecom 09. ALP ICT will be part of a major Lake Geeva Regio stad icludig Swisscom, research istitutes, start-ups ad SMEs. ALP ICT brought the theme Gree City that was picked up by the other participats, says Didier Mesier. We will create a showcase to preset projects o three themes: mobility, domotics ad the eviromet. Amog the projects we ll be showig are droes that ca detect chages i ozoe over traffic ad etworks of captors that ca measure the differece i flow, temperature or pollutio i water. How the digital ecoomy ca help revive the global ecoomy World Telecom is a trade fair where the most importat global compaies show their ewest techology. It is also a high-level coferece, the Forum, where the CEOs of those same compaies debate with each other, miisters, idustry regulators, stadard-setters ad the geeral public. This year s Forum should be most iterestig. I a period of ecoomic crisis, ITU Secretary-Geeral Hamadou Touré remids us that the ICT sector is the powerhouse of the global ecoomy i terms of GDP. Ivestmet i ICTs makes as much sese ow, he says, as it did i buildig the physical ifrastructure of roads ad railways durig the great depressio of the 1930s.» Maagig the dowtur while providig a platform for ew growth is the essece of the Forum program, says Bosco Ferades, Forum Chairma. The subjects ad speakers have bee chose to explore the may challeges facig the idustry, from ew ivestmet ad employmet opportuities, techical chage ad ew busiess models ad evirometal sustaiability. The evirometal issue is a relatively ew cosideratio i the ICT sector, but oe that may soo prove determiig, he says. The amout of power used i telecom etworks the electricity cosumptio of switches, radio statios for wireless, back office equipmet, etc. - is bigger tha used by some major cities, says Mr. Ferades. This has a cost impact ad a impact o our lives ad is a fact that must be looked at. For the ITU, it is very importat, especially i terms of emergig markets. This will be the chace to hear where the idustry is goig. ITU World Telecom 09 returs to Geeva October 5-9 at the Palexpo coferece ad exhibitio ceter, 10 miutes from the city ceter ad withi walkig distace of Geeva Iteratioal Airport Gree ivestig is ot ew, explais Pierre Lavaud, fouder of JetFi. What has suddely made gree more topical is a chage i perceptio due to volatile oil prices ad the ecoomic crisis. I tryig times, it is essetial to have political backig, says Mr. Lavaud. The Obama Admiistratio s strog support of a idepedet eergy strategy will have a impact o fiace. Aother factor, he says, is the struggles of the automobile idustry i the US: If it is goig to survive, it will survive gree it has o chace to stay like it is ow. A third is the growig acceptace of stricter cotrols of CO2 emissios. The mechaisms of carbo-tradig that will be put i place to couter climate chage represet opportuities for smart ivestors who uderstad them, he says. A fourth is the chage i the perceptio of wid, geothermic ad solar power as icreasigly maistream, as well as the eed to replace agig ifrastructure with evirometally sustaiable techology. Every bak, every asset maager will, sooer or later, have products i the gree field, says Pierre Lavaud. JetFiGree 2009 focuses o ivestmet fuds i developig coutries advises ivestors o strategy ad fud selectio