Name: Z-Forum on Sustainability and Innovation
Start: 2026-01-15T08:15:00+01:00
End: 2026-01-16T16:00:00+01:00

Toward an Opportunity-Driven Approach in Resilience Management

Bridging Swiss economic tradition with global foresight, this gathering invites senior scientists, executives, investors, and policy makers to reflect on and reshape the strategies that will define opportunity-driven leadership in an age of disruption. With keynotes by global thought leaders and a site visit to world-class companies in the Zurich Greater Area, the overall objective to the event is to equip its participants with the ability to better grasp not just the risks but also the opportunities associated with the current highly volatile political and economic environment.

The conference is conceived as a bridge-building event designed to improve communication and mutual learning between the local and the global level as well as between potentially rivalrous world regions through cooperation and innovation.

Programm/Ablauf

Thursday 15 January 2026 ETH Hauptgebäude, Zürich
Time	Session	Speaker
08:15	Registration, Coffee
08:30	Welcome Address	Philipp Aerni, Director of CCRS, Max Bergman, University of Basel, and Raphael Tschanz, Director of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce
08:45	Opening Keynotes	Marianne Binder, Member of the Swiss State Council Martina Hirayama, Head of State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
09:15	Panel 1: Infrastructure and bottom-up solutions for urban resilience	Chaired by Markus Schaefer, President of Switzerland Innovation Park Central, Zug • The future of resilient water and waste management systems, Reto von Schulthess, Partner, Holinger AG • Advanced systems of clean and safe energy production, Annalisa Manera, Professor at ETH Zurich • The importance of cybersecurity in the provision of public services, Shira Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Cyverse, Zurich
11:00	Break
11:30	Keynote	Keyu Jin, Professor at London School of Economics and Author of Bestselling Book ‘The China Playbook’
12:00	Plenum Discussion
12:15	Lunch
13:30	Panel 2: Rural-urban linkages and their contribution to an inclusive bioeconomy	Chaired by Beat Keller, Professor of Plant Science at the University of Zurich • The contribution of Buhler Group to resilient economic ecosystems in Switzerland and abroad, Ian Roberts, CTO Bühler Group • The bioeconomy as a driver of sustainable rural-urban economic linkages, Jan Grossarth, Professor of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy, Germany • Innovation in food and agriculture for stronger urban-rural bonds, Louise Fresco, Professor and former President of University of Wageningen
15:15	Keynote	Bruno Basso, Professor at Michigan State University and Founder and CEO of CIBO Technologies
15:45	Break
16:15	Panel 3: An opportunity-driven approach to migration-induced urban growth	Chaired by Rajib Shaw, Professor at Keio University, Japan • Economic empowerment outside the metropolitan areas in high income countries through value chain integration, Alisée de Tonnac, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of SEEDSTARS • Resilient structures in fragile contexts: economic integration of migrant workers, Max Bergman, Professor of Sociology, University of Basel • Decentralized economic complexity in Switzerland and its contribution to sustainable and inclusive change, Philipp Aerni, CCRS
18:00	Keynote	Doug Saunders, Award Winning Canadian Journalist, Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and Author of Bestselling Book ‘Arrival City’
18:30	Discussion and Wrap-Up
19:00	Conference Dinner

Friday 16 January 2026
Druckerei, Baden
08:00	Registration, Coffee
08:15	Welcome Remarks	Rico Baldegger and Thomas Lütolf (Baden 4.0)
08:30	MDPI OA and Sustainability	Stefan Tochev, CEO of MDPI AG
09:00	Opening Keynote	Pascale Bruderer, Vice-President of ETH Board, Founder and Chairwoman of Swiss Stablecoin AG
09:30	Panel 4: Investment in sustainable and inclusive technological change	Chaired by Markus Reubi, Federal Council Delegate for the 2030 Agenda, FDFA/STS \| Deputy Head of the Prosperity and Sustainability Division • Chinese 15th 5-year (2026-2030) plan for resilient and sustainable development, Shan Jiang, Humboldt Fellow • Trade and Investment Policies that enable inclusive growth and sustainable economic change in Latin America and the Caribbean, Victor Umaña, Professor at INCAE Business School, Director Center for Studies in Tourism • Why private equity rather than classic development assistance will create inclusive growth in Africa, Roland Decorvet, Founder and CEO of Alpha Talents • Why Building up an Insurance Industry matters for development, Risto Schmid, Head Climate Resilience Switzerland \| Zurich Resilience Solutions
11:15	Break
11:45	Keynote	Eleni Gabre Madhin, Founding CEO Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Executive in Residence at Georgetown University, USA
12:20	Discussion and Wrap-Up	Antonio Hautle, Global Compact Network Switzerland and Lichtenstein
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Resilence in Practice	"From Baden 2.0 to Baden 4.0", Keynote Address by Nora Teuwsen, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of ABB Switzerland
14.30	Companies viewpoints	Christian Brönnimann, CEO of Dectris Guido Konrad, CEO Varian Medical Systems Imaging Lab Dr. Marjan Kraak, Jury Member of Venture Kick and Innovation Manager at KSB Innovation Park
16:00	End of Program