Swiss Stories

Hansjorg Wyss

The Swiss entrepreneur and philanthropist who wants to save the planet

Science & Education
Hansjörg Wyss's announcement to donate USD 1 billion to conservation projects caused a sensation. Portrait of a discreet man from Bern who made his fortune in the United States.
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

90% less herbicide thanks to the robot’s targeted weeding © ecoRobotix

Swiss start-ups at the forefront of ‘green tech’

Science & Education
ecoRobotix, Vivent and AgroSustain all began life in Switzerland but have set their sights beyond our borders. These start-up companies have been working with the scientific community to develop technological innovations that enable more sustainable farming practices. This is a portrait of three Swiss start-ups at the forefront of ‘green tech’.
standby

Nestlé to cure peanut allergies

Science & Education
The Swiss multinational has just been given the go-ahead from Brussels for a drug that desensitises people with peanut intolerance, and the head of its health science division says this is just the start. How will things change for allergy sufferers?
Virtual Reality

Giving virtual reality the Swiss touch

Science & Education
Swiss start-ups are making the most of the boom in immersive technologies.
Zanziba

Swiss drones for mapping Tanzania

Science & Education
With one of the highest rates of population growth in the world, this east African country has acquired dozens of minidrones produced by the Swiss company SenseFly to map its territory.
Ursula Keller

Ursula Keller has seen the light at the end of the laser

Science & Education
Ursula Keller, the well-known Swiss physicist, has more than one string to her bow: as the first woman to obtain a professorship in physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, this inventor specialised in ultra-fast laser technology won the 2018 European Inventor Award and was awarded a gold medal in 2020 by the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE). She is also committed to encouraging women to pursue careers in science or engineering.