Service Design, a brand new concept in China, is now becoming more and more popular. An Opening Event together with a Sino-Swiss Service Design Workshop marks a successful beginning of promoting this concept in China.

Opening Event

August 29th, in a traditional Chinese garden, swissnex together with Soong Ching Ling Foundation hosted the Opening Event of Sino-Swiss Service Design Workshop. During the event, awards were given and lectures were presented. The event has witnessed not only the knowledge transfer concerning service design between School of Tourism, HES-SO Valais Wallis from Switzerland and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in China, but also the friendship among students from both sides.

The event is destined to be a moment full of knowledge, cuisine and entertainment. In addition to lectures provided by Prof. Trombitas from School of Tourism, HES-SO Valais Wallis, there were also keynote speeches on service design delivered by Prof. Fragniere and Prof. Ju from both universities. Apart from the above, Pascal Marmier, Deputy Consul General of Switzerland, Yitao Qian, General Secretary of Soong Ching Ling Foundation have shared their ideas with the guests as well. And a person has to be mentioned is Prof. Tingfang TAO from SUFE, who has been contributing to this project for quite a long time.

Outstanding students and organizations have been presented with Golden Oscar as Project Memorial Medals and Outstanding Contribution Awards. To be noted, signing ceremony of summer project of two universities has also been included. The evening was filled with joy thanks to the traditional Guqin performance and quiz, during which the guests had a lot of fun. In the end, students from SUFE presented all the guests a Chinese-version Auld Lang Syne, which was quite touching.

The event has turned out to be a great success, marking an excellent opening of the coming Sino-Swiss Service Design Workshop.

Sino-Swiss Service Design Workshop

September 1st, the Sino-Swiss Service Design Workshop was held in the conference room of swissnex China. We’ve invited guest speakers including Vincent Billiard, General Manager of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Shanghai; Alexandre Nickbarte, CEO of Hotel Beau-Rivage, Geneva as well as professors from both sides. They’ve shared their experience in service design field in various styles. For example, Vincent attracted the audience including students from both sides and expertise from relative industries with humorous expressions and interesting videos, while Alexandre emphasized more on theoretical aspects. Together with eye-catching speeches presented and panel discussion, the entire conference room was filled with happiness. This is also the first time we’ve witnessed a Service Design workshop in China.

Both the opening event and the workshop are of fruitful achievements and joy, and will doubtlessly serve as a milestone in the Sino-Swiss Service Design industry.

- Contributed by Betty Dong, Junior Project Leader Academic Affairs