Switzerland President Johann N. Schneider-Ammann will open this year’s CeBIT

BERN, 11-Mar-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — On Monday, President Johann N. Schneider-Ammann will open this year’s CeBIT – the world’s largest digital economy convention – in Hannover, together with Sigmar Gabriel, the German vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and energy. Switzerland is this year’s CeBIT Partner Country. On Tuesday, President Schneider-Ammann will take the traditional tour of the convention with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, Education and Research Minister Johanna Wanka and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, will cover bilateral and European policy issues.

The CeBIT Switzerland Summit on Digital Transformation will take place on the first day of the convention. Government officials from Switzerland and Germany, along with leading figures from business, science and professional associations, will discuss key technological developments. President Schneider-Ammann will open the CeBIT Switzerland Summit together with the German Minister for Research, Johanna Wanka.

The centrepiece of Switzerland’s presence as CeBIT Partner Country is the approximately 1,500 square metre Swiss Pavilion where around 60 exhibitors – including established companies, start-ups, educational institutions and the Swiss Innovation Park project – will present themselves to the international audience. Switzerland’s presence as Partner Country is being organised by ICTswitzerland, which functions as an umbrella organisation for associations and companies providing or using Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

Switzerland: “One of the most innovative countries in the world”
In Switzerland, the ICT sector employs approximately 200,000 people and in 2013 accounted for 4.4 per cent of GDP. Swiss companies will also be given the opportunity to showcase their innovations during the tour of the convention with Chancellor Merkel. Switzerland – which is CeBIT Partner Country for the first time this year – is considered by the organisers as ‘one of the most innovative countries in the world’, and as ‘an internationally recognised centre of R&D excellence’.

The theme of CeBIT 2016 is ‘d!conomy: join – create – succeed’; 3300 exhibitors and 220,000 visitors from around 100 countries are expected to attend the event.

Address for enquiries

EAER Information Service
+41 58 462 20 07
info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

Publisher

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch