Successful Gathering of the Alumni of the University of Zurich

Published by Nicola Hofer, Junior Project Manager - Academic Relations

October 21, 2019 was a great opportunity for the alumni of the University of Zurich to meet and toast past and future times.

We were delighted to welcome an Executive MBA delegation from the University of Zurich to our Shanghai office in the afternoon. The EMBA program of the University of Zurich offers upper level executives a cutting-edge, advanced interdisciplinary management training. The program includes study visits to China, India and the USA.

swissnex China – the Science Consulate of Switzerland in China – has taken the opportunity to illuminate China’s innovative strength. Our esteemed speakers rounded off the overall picture of China by providing interesting and at the same time useful information about China’s business culture. We would like to express our sincere thanks to our keynote speakers:

Erwin Luthi, Deputy Consul General of Switzerland in Shanghai
Marco Duri Cabalzar, Business Development APAC, REMATEC / IWK GROUP
Thomas Ahlers, Senior Manager Sales Products & Programs Greater China, Lufthansa
Robin Trebbe, Managing Director China & Asia Pacific, Intersport International

 We are convinced that the presentations and insider tips will give our guests important and personally enriching insights that can be of great use back in Switzerland.

Another highlight took place in the evening on the roof of the bar "Kartel" in the center of Shanghai. Alumni of the University of Zurich, who were present in Shanghai, had the opportunity to meet old acquaintances and make new friends.

A big thank you goes to Dr. Matthias Schaub, Eric Schinzel, Thorsten Klein and Hui Jun (Shawn) Shi from the EMBA University of Zurich program’s managing team as well as Makiko Aikawa and Sabine Katrin Neuhaus, co-chairs of the UZH Alumni Chapter in Shanghai.

SWISS ALUMNI CHINA 2019 – Adding value and Connecting in Shanghai

By Gabriel Bishop, Junior Project Manager for Academic Relations

More than 3000 Alumni from about 25 Swiss Universities are currently based in China. Every year, swissnex China – officially representing all Swiss Public Universities in China – holds a gathering and offers a platform for this large community to connect.

SWISS ALUMNI CHINA 2019 took place on May 24 on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art, in the heart of Shanghai. This year’s edition was the biggest so far: over 270 guests from 23 Universities registered for the event, some of them travelling all the way from Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Chengdu, as well as other cities for the occasion!

The night was once again the opportunity to share some fond memories from the times studying in Switzerland but also to engage with new members of the community. Indeed, the aim of the evening was to provide a quality setting for the Alumni to connect and strengthen the ties between them.

For this purpose, the networking reception was complemented with a job fair activity, offering a high-in-demand platform for exchanging job perspectives. swissnex China further gave the floor to the active Alumni Chapters in Shanghai. EHL, EPFL, ETH Zurich, HEC Lausanne and UZH shared the latest news and presented their activities. This was also a chance for the Alumni from the other universities to gather, thus paving the way for new chapters to be created. Our hope is that UniGE will set the pace and launch their chapter soon.

Dr. Felix Moesner, Science Consul & CEO at swissnex China, with the Chapters’ representatives.

The success of SWISS ALUMNI CHINA reflects the excellence of Swiss Higher Education. It is always a pleasure to reunite with the exquisite group that the Swiss Alumni community is. The swissnex China Team would like to give a special thank to the chapters and to our generous sponsors, Lindt, Orange Garten, Ricola and swissmooh!

We look forward to seeing all of you again at SWISS ALUMNI CHINA 2020!!!

What the Alumni had to say:

"Great event, it brings me back to all the wonderful memories I have from when I studied in Switzerland"

"Brilliant event! Old connections met again through the night and I made new friends in the city"

"It is my first time attending the Swiss Alumni gathering and I am sure there will be many more in the future! Got to know nice people, which is the most valuable thing. Thanks a lot for the organization!"

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EMBA delegation of University of Zurich visits swissnex China

By Libing Gu, Project Leader Academic Relations

In the afternoon of October 22nd, swissnex China had the great pleasure to receive the visit of 36 EMBA students from University of Zurich (UZH). Dr. Felix Moesner, CEO swissnex China presented the landscape of higher education, research and innovation in China as well as the mission and activities of swissnex China.

Dr. Felix Moesner, Science Consul and CEO of swissnex China, presented the swissnex China mission to the delegation.

Mr. Olivier Zehnder, Consul General of Switzerland in Shanghai introduced to Sino-Swiss relations and Swiss presence in China and Shanghai.

The group was then instructed by Gianna Abegg, Swiss-Attorney-at-Law of eiger about legal issues when doing business in China.

Patrick Glauser, Head of Operations & Business Development of M-Industry China gave a glimpse of doing e-commerce in China and shared some experiences of the company with the group.

Marco Duri Cabalzar, General Manager of Garaventa Lift (Shanghai) then talked about the lessons he learned during his professional experience in Shanghai with useful suggestions about how to develop business in China.

During the Q&A session, all the students were keen to know more about the opportunities and challenges of Chinese market entry and asked numerous questions about business operations under the complicated economic, social, technological and cultural environment of China.

After the rich afternoon program, the delegation attended a networking apèro organized by UZH and swissnex China in Kartel Wine Bar, where they met 20 UZH alumni, including participants of MAS in European and Chinese Business Management program and enjoyed the fresh evening of Shanghai.

Composed of leaders and senior managers in enterprises or government administration, the EMBA delegation of UZH embarked on a field trip to China to get in-depth knowledge about doing business in the most fast-growing economy. swissnex China wishes them a fruitful trip in China and looks forward to welcoming them again in 2019!

University of Zurich and Shanghai Jiao Tong University sign Exchange Agreement at swissnex China

Michael Hengartner, President of UZH, and Lin Zhongqin, President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), sign a new exchange agreement. The signing ceremony was attended by Swiss education minister Johann Schneider-Ammann.

On the occasion of the visit of Swiss Federal Councillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann  (Minister for Economic Affairs, Education and Research) and his high-profile business and science delegation, swissnex China held a Press Briefing with local and Swiss media on September 7 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of swissnex China.

As a testament to swissnex China's capability of connecting educational institutions of the highest level, the briefing also brought together the University of Zurich and Shanghai Jiao Tong University for an exchange agreement signing ceremony, which was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Michael Hengartner, president of the University of Zurich, and Prof. Dr. Zhongqin Lin, president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, under the auspices of the Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann. This signing was also attended by members of the UZH Alumni China Chapter. The exchange program will enable Bachelor's, Master's, PhD students as well as faculty members to benefit from an international experience by studying or working abroad at the partner institution.

Visit to the University of Zurich

The swissnex annual meeting was held from 11-15 December 2017, various meetings and visits on topics of research, education and innovation were organized during the week, among which the visit to UZH on 14 December to learn about the latest research development there. 

UZH is known for its stand at the forefront of cutting-edge researches, and the visit highlighted its efforts on digital society. Welcomed by Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President of UZH, the delegation had the pleasure to learn about the following nine research projects that are currently being conducted by different researchers at UZH: 

Prof. Michael Baudis, “Life Sciences Data” 

Prof. Baudis’s research focus is on the analysis of structural variations in cancer genomes by computational genomics, including bioinformatics and systems biology methods. His work centers around their collection of genomic tumor data, assembled from copy number screening experiments in cancer. More details: http://www.imls.uzh.ch/en/research/baudis.html 

Prof. Patricia Schlagenhauf, “ITIT-Illness tracking in travelers” 

Patricia Schlagenhauf is a Scientist and Professor at the University of Zürich, WHO Collaborating Centre for Travel Medicine, Switzerland and is active in research, teaching and travel clinic duties. She explained how digital tool can be used to collect data about illness and disease among travelers. More details: https://www.ebpi.uzh.ch/en/aboutus/departments.html

Prof. Anita Gohdes, “Politics in the Digital Age” 

Prof. Gohdes’s research focuses on political violence, state repression and the measurement of human rights. Her research project theoretically and empirically investigates how governments use digital communication technology to inform their strategies of violent repression. More details: https://www.ipz.uzh.ch/en/institut/mitarbeitende/staff/gohdes.html 

Dr. Amani Said, Science matters (UZH Startup) 

“Stories can wait, science cannot” - Being aware of the difficulties that scientist have been facing when publish articles, instead of publishing stories, Matters and Matters select publish single, validated observations, thus highlighting the fundamental unit of scientific progress – the observation. More details: https://www.sciencematters.io/ 

Prof. Abraham Bernstein, “digital Society Initiative” 

The digitalization is fundamentally changing science and society. This process challenges existing paradigms, enables novel approaches for research and teaching, and requires new competences in a rapidly changing societal reality. The Digital Society Initiative provides an academic platform for promoting critical, interdisciplinary reflection and innovation on all aspects of the digitalization of society and the sciences.

Made in Swiss, Drug discovery seminar

Based on an innovative strategic partnership agreed between the Chinese President and the President of the Swiss Confederation in 2016, Swiss innovation gets traction among Chinese investors and companies. 

As leading country in drug discovery, Switzerland embraces the academic and industry collaboration and keen to have Chinese healthcare companies carry out research collaboration with universities and research institutes in Switzerland. 

On Dec 5th,  “Made in Switzerland Drug Discovery “seminar was held in Novartis Shanghai center with over 80 participants from healthcare industry in China.  Keynote speakers from university of Zurich Prof Christoph Hock and Prof Michael Hennig from university of Basel shared Swiss advantage in new drug discovery especially early stage by leveraging the research sources and talent power which are unparalleled in the world.

Panelists discussed the key pain in exploratory  and optimization stages in drug discovery in China. To shape the future of drug discovery, partnering with Swiss research power for scientific collaboration and  sending staff  to Switzerland in proximity to research institutes would be an idea win-win method.  Such healthcare hub and research  powers as Basel, university of Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute etc. have strong know-how and leading in drug discovery science and technology development. 

Executive MBA of University of Zurich discovers Shanghai

In October 2014, the 10th batch of the Executive MBA Program of the University of Zurich had the privilege to visit Shanghai on the occasion of a week-long study trip. Getting an “on the ground” impression of this vibrant city, as well as a first glimpse into the Chinese market was the aim of the study trip.

Various forms of teaching allowed the group led by Professor Xinhua Wittmann and Dr. Matthias Schaub to get a unique insight into this growth market. While participants attended lectures on strategic management in China at Fudan University in the morning, they had the opportunity to take part in inspiring company visits at Sulzer and Sika in the afternoon. 

Together with swissnex China, the Alumni of University of Zurich in Shanghai organized interactive workshops on current topics of utmost relevance to everyone keen on “doing business in and with China”. After an introduction on the various activities performed by swissnex China and a presentation on the Swiss presence in the Yangzte River Delta by Isabel Götz and the Consul General of Switzerland, Alexander Hoffet, the workshops were led by experts with profound knowledge about China: Marc Finsterlin, Managing Director at Aquarius Asia introduced our participants to the world of social media and online marketing in China, whereby the various marketing strategies were derived from the online behavior of Chinese consumers. In the area of intellectual property protection, Denis F. Berger, Swiss Attorney-at-Law/ LLM at Eiger provided an overview on the characteristics of Chinese law in the field of trademark protection, focussing on strategies allowing for protection, commercialization, management and enforcement of intangible property rights in China. The concluding presentation was given by Andrea Nessi, Managing Partner at Unitouch China on the topic of "Approaching the 1.4 Billion Market". He developed and described the triangle "Market-Government-Culture".

The participants of the study trip were given the opportunity to network and exchange experiences with alumni of the Executive MBA of Fudan University and other businessmen from Shanghai on the occasion of an aperitif, generously sponsored by swissnex China, Aquarius Asia, Eiger, Unitouch China as well as the Executive MBA Program.

The study trip to Shanghai was once again peppered with highlights, and we are already looking forward to the visit in 2015!

- Contributed by Dr. Matthias Schaub, Managing Director, Executive MBA University of Zürich