Switzerland came second in this year’s World Digital Competitive Ranking, which ranks 67 nations across the world. The 2024 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, produced annually by IMD, placed Singapore at the top, followed by Switzerland and Denmark. This year’s ranking is the highest for Switzerland over the eight years that the report has been published. […]
Expert calls for new approach to solar power in Switzerland
Renewable energy, such as electricity produced from the sun, comes with challenges. Sunshine does not follow our pattern of electricity consumption. Storing excess production helps. However, sometimes batteries hit full capacity. When this happens any excess must be dumped. Christoph Bucher and his team at Bern University of Applied Sciences advocate adding a system that […]
Widespread hygiene deficiencies in Swiss hospitals
According to a study by Swissmedic, there are deficiencies in the disinfection, sterilisation, packaging and storage of medical products in Swiss hospitals. The recently published report based on a study done in 2023 by Swissmedic shows that almost all of the 25 Swiss hospitals inspected have deficiencies in the disinfection, sterilisation, packaging and storage of […]
Minister launches Swiss supercomputer
Switzerland has a new supercomputer, which was inaugurated by Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin this week at the national high-performance computing center in Lugano, reported RTS. The computer, known as “Alps” is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. To perform the calculations that “Alps” manages in one day, would require a standard laptop […]
Male chicks to be identified before birth
Male chicks are not wanted by egg producers because they cannot produce eggs. Until fairly recently, they were identified at birth and shredded. On 1 January 2020, shredding live chickens was banned in Switzerland. Since then, suffocating the unwanted chicks with CO2 has been a popular alternative. This week, egg industry association Gallosuisse announced that […]
Swiss supercomputer aims to make AI open to all
Much of the progress being made in AI is captured within private companies aiming to keep it to themselves in order to profit from it. Open AI, a project started as an open-source non-profit has morphed into a largely closed-source profit-maximising project increasingly integrated into the software company Microsoft. Many see open-source as critical to […]
The Swiss company using car batteries to store solar
Households typically need most electricity in the evening after the sun has set. This means the solar electricity created during the day needs to be stored somewhere. The challenge with car batteries is the need for high performance. Cars need range and rapid power delivery. This means car batteries with less than 80% of the […]
Switzerland to make USB-C standard
This week, Switzerland announced it is introducing USB-C as a uniform charging standard from 1 January 2024. The revision was approved by the Federal Council on 22 November 2023. From 2024, consumers in Switzerland will be able to use the same charging power supply for devices from different manufacturers. The rules will apply to mobile […]
Swiss politics poorly aligned with science
A study published this week highlights a significant disconnect between Switzerland’s scientists and politicians during the Covid-19 pandemic, reported SRF. Science and politics did not work together sufficiently during the Covid-19 pandemic, wrote the authors of the NRP 78 report. The partnership between the scientific community and government institutions was not sufficiently developed to withstand […]
Swiss car sets new world acceleration record
A prototype electric car built by a team of students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences has broken the world acceleration record. This week the team announced that their “mythen” car had accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 0.956 seconds in a space of […]
