Switzerland is the world’s most competitive economy for a ninth straight year, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
Since suffering a rare blip in 2008, when it was nudged into second place by the United States, the Swiss economy has maintained an efficient but unshakeable grip on the top spot in the WEF annual ranking .
Swiss voters have thrown out plans to reform the creaking state pension system, highlighting the difficulties even prosperous western European countries face adapting welfare regimes to cope with ageing populations.
Authorities pushing the first serious reform of the pension system in two decades had warned that old-age benefits were increasingly at risk as life expectancy rises and interest rates remain exceptionally low, cutting investment yields.
Switzerland economy will fall short of 1 per cent growth this year, the government said on Thursday, the weakest performance in eight years at least partly the result of a lack of global sporting events.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said it now expects economic growth of 0.9 percent in 2017, below its June forecast of 1.4 per cent.
The Swiss luxury giant Richemont has opened a research and innovation center in Microcity, Switzerland’s well-known think tank and laboratory.
The Richemont’s group research and innovation director, Edouard Mignon, said the partnership was intended to supplement the research and development teams of the brands, promote sharing among companies, “and serve as an innovation incubator for the group as a whole, to develop mechanical specialties and, for example, to imagine new materials.”
Swisscom is establishing a new blockchain unit to develop applications, including for possible solutions to enable off-exchange trading, the Swiss government-owned phone company said on Thursday.
The Swiss company, according to new reports, has established "Swisscom Blockchain AG" to focus on a range of services around the tech. These include enterprise-facing solutions as well as support for companies looking to launch initial coin offerings (ICOs).
Logistics company Matternet has announced a permanent autonomous drone network in Switzerland that will now see lab samples like blood tests and other diagnostics flown between hospital facilities, clinics, and labs. The first delivery network will be operational from next month, with several more to be introduced later in the year. Matternet says medical items can be delivered to hospitals within 30 minutes.
For the first time, scientists have put a figure on their important work transporting pollen between flowering plants. Experts at the government’s agriculture research centre, Agrosope, have calculated that the work of Swiss bees is worth CHF350 million ($365 million) annually.
The State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) under the Swiss Federal Department of Finance and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched on Tuesday in Bern a financial dialogue to promote co-operation on financial market issues of common interest. At the margin of the Dialogue, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) and the HKMA facilitated an open seminar for the private sector.
