The annual Swiss Green Economy Symposium took place in Winterthur from 27 to 29 August 2024. This year, Technopark Winterthur had the honour of hosting the pre-event. In addition, the tenant companies Borobotics and Sympheny exhibited during the SGES in Winterthur.
Between 27 and 29 August 2024, the annual Swiss Green Economy Symposium took place in Winterthur. On Tuesday, 27 August 2024, the SGES Pre-event with the topic ‘Sustainable supply chains: due diligence and human rights’ took place at Technopark Winterthur. For 2.5 hours, speakers spoke about solutions, perspectives and challenges in the world. The subsequent panel discussion took a closer look at supply chains and the associated due diligence obligations based on real-life circumstances.
A wide range of speakers – in-depth presentations
Technopark Winterthur was not only the host of the Pre-event. Managing Director Stève Mérillat kicked off the evening with a short and inviting welcome speech. The opening speech was then given by Karin Mössenlechner, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
In the first keynote of the evening, Prof. Dr Christine Kaufmann, Chair OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct; Centre for Human Rights Studies, University of Zurich, introduced the audience to the challenges, obligations and impacts of supply chains with a fascinating presentation. Her reference to the current political tensions in the world greatly simplified understanding and allowed the audience to gain a new perspective.
Markus Weber, Senior Development Expert Combustion Chamber, Research and Development at WinGD, gave a comprehensive presentation on how modern maritime transport is developing and where modern marine technology comes in today.
Afterwards, Antonio Hautle (Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein), Stephanie Ossenbach-Keller (Group Sustainability Officer, dormakaba), Susanne Sinclair (Sustainability Lead Switzerland, Nestlé Suisse SA), Dominik Meier (Managing Partner, Miller & Meier Consulting) and Markus Reubi (Delegate of the Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, FDFA Federal Department of Foreign Affairs) discussed challenges and solutions for supply chains in a panel discussion.
Exhibition with TPW tenant companies
During the two event days on 28 and 29 August, there were not only exciting keynotes and panels at SGES 2024, but organisations and companies were also present at the exhibition at Stadthaus Winterthur. There were also two TPW tenant companies.
TPW start-up Sympheny presented its energy planning platform. Using a unique combination of digital twin technology and intelligent algorithms, this enables a comprehensive analysis of the optimal solutions, including sensitivity analyses. This allows a large number of scenarios to be simulated quickly, life cycle costs, CO2 emissions and other important criteria to be evaluated and sensitivity analyses to be carried out. CEO Franziska Steidle-Sailer was in constant dialogue with interested visitors.
Borobotics also presented its innovative Grabowski drilling robot. The start-up is revolutionising the drilling process for geothermal heat pumps. The entire machinery, which today consists of a drilling rig, diesel-powered compressor and drill pipe, is integrated into the borehole. CFO & COO Moritz Pill and engineer Justin Staller explained their drilling technology to the visitors.
