Swissnex in San Francisco

📅 On September 17, we will host our Swissnex Startup Pitch Night at Pier 17. This time, we’ll be back with seven of Switzerland’s top AI startups. For this fall Startup Bootcamp, our cohort will focus on Trust & AI. 📍 Date: September 17, 2024 | Swissnex in San Francisco (Pier 17) ⏰ Time: 06:00 PM - 08:30 PM 🚀 Swissnex Startup Pitch Night is part of Swissnex in San Francisco’s startup Bootcamp powered by Innosuisse. Selected Swiss startups explore the US market during a two-week Bootcamp featuring expert sessions, mentoring, and, of course, the Startup Pitch Night. 🤖The startups part of this Trust & AI cohort are: - Peerdom: Peerdom empowering organizational change through interactive, data-driven maps. - ScoutSync: ScoutSync uses AI-driven analytics to connect athletes with coaches, streamlining global talent discovery and recruitment - Dotphoton: Dotphoton's Jetraw platform is the enterprise-grade hub for raw image data, streamlining AI development and reducing operational costs. - Taskbase AG: Taskbase AG uses AI-driven educational technology to help solve the problem of personalized learning by tailoring content to individual student needs. - Rapidata AG: Rapidata utilizes the wisdom of the crowd through a vast network of mobile apps bringing instant access to global human feedback to make large-scale AI training, fine-tuning, and validation feasible. - AIDONIC: AIDONIC is a fintech enabling global payments and financial inclusion for emerging markets in the global south.  - Nuvolos: Nuvolos uses cloud-based workspace technology to help solve the challenges of managing large-scale data science projects and collaborations. 🤝 Join us on September 17 and get to meet these innovative Swiss Startups. Get your free tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eH268Xy4

🗓️On September 9, we will kick off our Startup Bootcamp Digital Trust + AI. The 2-week program in collaboration with Innosuisse is designed for startups with a Trust & AI focus, looking to immerse themselves in the Bay Area entrepreneurship ecosystem and to build relationships on the US West Coast. 👉Bastiaan van Rooden, CEO & Co-founder and @Nathan Evans, Head of Research & Co-founder are representing Peerdom, one of 7 selected startups to join the program.  Peerdom simplifies organizational change, whether through mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, scaling up, or transforming into new forms. The dynamic platform creates interactive maps that visualize your organization, making roles and structures transparent. During this 2-week program, the participating startups will take part in toolbox sessions, fireside chats, networking events, a demo night, and more. This opportunity gives participants strategic advice to internationalize, visibility, and a home base to succeed in the US. 🤝 Connect with our startups on LinkedIn to support their project.

🌁Welcome to Swissnex in San Francisco, Ayfer Cengiz! 📊Ayfer is a business analyst at la Mobilière, one of the biggest Swiss insurance companies, and is joining us in San Francisco to immerse herself in best practices for AI implementation. 🤔During her time here, she looks forward to learning from and with Bay Area experts. On her mind are questions like: - What are the success factors for companies to adopt AI as standard tech in core business processes? - What are the best practices followed? - What challenges are encountered during AI project implementation?? 🫂If you want to explore those questions with her, please connect with her on LinkedIn. She’ll be in the area until October 3, 2024, and is excited about meeting people with diverse backgrounds. 🫶We also invite you to share with Ayfer your best activities and discoveries in the Bay Area.

- Fair Play? - Human and AI Biases in Gaming - 🎮This event in collaboration with The MADE (Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment) and HEAD – Genève, University of Art and Design explores the role of AI in enhancing creativity within game design. As part of our Déjà Vu event series, “Fair Play?” investigates the impact of artificial intelligence on the gaming industry, focusing on the role of AI. 👉How will AI change creative processes in the gaming industry? The discussion will explore how AI-driven tools and algorithms are revolutionizing game development, from procedural content generation to advanced character AI and dynamic storytelling, and address the ethical considerations of AI in gaming. 📈The event will also consider future trends, envisioning the next frontier of AI in gaming and its implications for both developers and players. 🤩Participants will have the opportunity to learn and exchange with researchers and designers in the gaming area, among them: Anthony Masure (he/him): Associate Professor & Dean of Research at the Geneva University of Art & Design (HEAD – Genève, HES-SO) Ari Kalinowski (they/them): AI Technical Designer at Delta_Ark Mason Young (they/them): Executive Director at the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment Tamara Kneese, Ph.D. (she/her): Director of Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab at Data & Society Research Institute 📍Swissnex in San Francisco (Pier 17) 🗓️August 29, 2024 | 5:30-9:00 pm 🥰Get your free ticket here: https://lnkd.in/e2VPYWkh

🗓️ On August 22, 2024, Swissnex in San Francisco had the pleasure of hosting the Opening Night of “Assembling Intelligence: Hybrid Strategies for AI, Art, and Design” in collaboration with the HEAD Haute École d'Art et de Design, Geneva, Switzerland. 🖼️This event was dedicated to showcasing recent research projects and students’ artistic works and their take on artificial intelligence. Part of our “Déjà Vu” event series, “Assembling Intelligence” reunites a diversity of approaches that do not oppose the old and the new, seeking instead a form of “lateral thinking” in an era of ever-accelerating technologies. 🤝We were delighted to welcome: Anthony Masure, Associate Professor & Dean of Research at the Geneva University of Art & Design (HEAD–Genève, HES-SO) Douglas Edric Stanley, Maître d’enseignement at the Geneva University of Art & Design (HEAD–Genève) 🔥You missed the event? Don’t worry, the exhibition will be open to the public on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday from 10 am to 4 pm until November 30. If you would like to have a private showing, please contact us through our website. Open-House: Exhibition, Open Night Tech Week | October 8 🙏 A big thank you to everyone who joined us. Check out all the photos here: https://lnkd.in/eHUx26pt 📸 by Patrick Perkins

✨Swissnex Bridge – Silicon Valley Immersion Program ✨ 🥳We are excited to announce that our Swissnex Bridge program in collaboration with SWISS USAccelerator and Kaspar Zimmerli started its US part today at Pier 17. 💡The program adopts an approach that emphasizes mindset cultivation, network expansion, and skills development, nurturing a growth mindset, and facilitating connections with local experts. It fosters leadership skills so that entrepreneurs can successfully build and develop their startups and position their businesses sustainably in the market. - Bay Area workshops - ⭐Storytelling with Jeff Cabili ⭐Pitch Polishing with Jeff Cabili ⭐Navigating Business Cultures with Philip Stauffer ⭐Fast Track to Startup Success with LeStudio ⭐USA Launching Pad workshop with Gert Christen ⭐Network Mastery with Eric Quon-Lee - Visits - ⭐Plug and Play & Google ⭐SF Startup&Tech Networking Mixer ⭐Waymo Experience - Events - ⭐Mentors Speed Dating ⭐Fair Play? – Human and AI Biases in Gaming 🎉We look forward to sharing this week with the participants! 👉 Don't hesitate to connect with our participants! Cristiano Magnoni Sebastian Schroeder Ondrej Zak Barbara Flueckiger Nour Ghalia Abassi Chrystel Orsatti

🗓️ On August 22, 2024, Swissnex in San Francisco had the pleasure of hosting “The Last Original – The Future of Creatives Practices” in collaboration with the HEAD Haute École d'Art et de Design, Geneva, Switzerland. 🖼️This event was dedicated to exploring the dynamics, opportunities, and implications of artificial intelligence technologies for creatives and designers. Part of our “Déjà Vu” event series, “The Last Original” fostered the dialogue between the creative industry and academia from both the United States and Switzerland. 🤝We were delighted to welcome: Brett Amory, Artist/Educator at Stanford University Douglas Edric Stanley, Maître d’enseignement at HEAD–Genève Erin Bradner, Director, Strategic Foresight and Adjunct Professor at Autodesk and CCA Nichol Bradford, Executive-in-Residence at Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) 🔥You missed the event? Key takeaways include: “I think we should embrace AI as a tool and see it as a collaborator” “It is interesting to see how AIs are interpreting images to generate new ideas. These new technologies lead us to new unexpected outcomes.” -Brett Amory- “I have more of a lateral approach regarding AI, it helps human optimization and we should use it as a collaborative partner” “Photography took a hundred years to be considered as art” regarding the use of AI in art -Douglas Edric Stanley- “There is often a misconception about AI, that it will replace humans. The process of implementing creativity in tools like AI is complicated and needs editing that is made by humans.” “AI is a collaboration tool and not a replacing tool” - Erin Bradner- 🙏 A big thank you to everyone who joined us. Check out the photos here: https://lnkd.in/eBKDyeGT 📸 by FotosByFlee

And that’s a wrap! Today is the end of our Multimedia Lab for Journalists program 🥹 Thank you to all our journalists for making this experience so wonderful: Adina Renner, Benjamin Magnin, Célia Héron, Cyrill Pinto, Fabian Hock, Geraldine Normand Jacot, Harry Stitzel, Hugo Savary, Mirja Gabathuler and Pierre Ballenegger 🙏 🤔For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about: 🤖🗞️The Multimedia Lab for Journalists was an intensive 2-week program designed to support experienced and aspiring professionals in journalism and multimedia storytelling. Over the last two weeks, 10 journalists from Switzerland’s largest media houses and local news outlets, immersed themselves in multimedia storytelling and innovative communication strategies at Swissnex in San Francisco. The program helped participants develop new ideas, practices, and models aiming to create engaging and immersive digital experiences. Our participants had the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with each other as well as with our workshop's hosts. The program featured workshops, public events, campus visits, and visits to some of San Francisco's largest media houses. 💥The program wasn't just about learning; it was about action. Participants explored cutting-edge practices to craft immersive digital narratives around pressing subjects like the implications of Generative AI and the broader challenges our society faces today. 🎥 Curious about the program experience? The testimonials from our participants are coming soon! 🫶Thank you to all of our program participants for being present and engaged during our workshops, and our hosts for sharing their knowledge and creating a space in which we can look critically at our work and receive the support of experts and peers. This program was made possible thanks to the support of Gebert Rüf Stiftung. #ScientainmentGRS

Join us in welcoming Markus Hackenfort, Ph.D to San Francisco 🌁. He joins us as part of Swissnex’s Impact Sabbatical program, which allows Swiss researchers, professors, and lecturers to spend an Impact Sabbatical at Swissnex in San Francisco. 🧳 Markus Hackenfort, Ph.D is a professor and the Head of the subject group Human Factors Psychology. He is particularly interested in AI, Mobility, Safety, and Psychology as well as Traffic Safety and Human Machine Interaction in Automated Driving. Over the recent years, giant steps have been taken to establish robotaxi services in San Francisco, but significant setbacks in trust and safety have been experienced. Within that scope, the current perspectives on safety with regard to automated systems are unique in San Francisco but crucial for Switzerland and Europe. Therefore, Markus wants to achieve several goals, among them, understanding the latest developments in the Bay Area and integrate them into his expertise to extend the professionalism of Human Factors Psychology at ZHAW IAP Institut für Angewandte Psychologie. He also aims to expand his ability to assess the consequences of recent technological developments and infer research necessities applicable to the Swiss context. During his time at Swissnex San Francisco, Markus aims to connect with organizations, researchers, and practitioners who share his interests to advance his research. The sabbatical program at Swissnex is designed to immerse participants in the vibrant innovation ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Area, offering them access to new ideas, connections to a local audience, and support in further developing their research projects. We invite you to connect with Markus!