Swiss Stories

VANILNOIR

Swiss wheat breeding know-how

Science & Education
Swiss bread is famous for both its quality and diversity, with each region of the country boasting its own speciality. Switzerland's success story is down to the work of its wheat breeding programme, which is more than a century old and continues to produce new varieties for the bread of tomorrow.
GoGermany startup

20 promising Swiss startups

Economics

Switzerland may be a small country but its promising start-up scene has gained international recognition.
'SCT Monte Rosa'

The Swiss merchant navy

History
The Swiss merchant navy was established at the height of the Second War World to ensure the supply of essential resources to Switzerland, which at the time stood alone in the middle of devastated Europe. The fleet continues to sail the high seas three quarters of a century later.

by Olivier Grivat

Hackbrett © Verband Hackbrett Schweiz

Swiss folk music: 5 traditional instruments

Society
Yodelling, the iconic style of song that echoes through the Swiss mountains, is well known, as is the accordion and the alphorn. However, there are other original instruments in the Swiss folk tradition. Here is a non-exhaustive inventory.

by Tatiana Tissot

Swissloop gives concrete shape to the ultra-fast train of the future

Swissloop gives concrete shape to the ultra-fast train of the future

Science & Education
A team of students from the ETH Zurich is revolutionising land transport with the development of carriages for a subsonic levitation train capable of speeds of up to 1,200 km/hour, travelling through vacuum tunnels.

by Mehdi Atmani

Agroscope's rice cultivation trial in Schwadernau in the northern part of the canton of Bern © Kathrin Hartmann

Innovative Swiss agriculture

Environment
Will rice, soya beans and sweet potatoes – which originated in Asia and the Americas – become normal Swiss crops in the future? Valued for their adaptability to climate change and nutritional qualities and also as a potential source of diversification, these crops have in fact begun to be grown in parts of Switzerland and could be much more widely cultivated in the future.
© Photo: Fabian Biasio.

A Swiss chef cooks up the forest

Environment
'Wizard of Entlebuch' Stefan Wiesner cooks with stone, earth, ash, wood – and ants.