St. Gallen, located in the heart of Eastern Switzerland, is rapidly emerging as a leader of innovation and entrepreneurship. 

The city has a strategic location with direct transportation links to Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. It blends its rich historical background with its emerging status as a leading global destination for business events.

Traditional industries like precision engineering and textiles continue to anchor its economic stability. At the same time, St. Gallen is embracing a new identity. This is shaped by cutting-edge research and the fresh dynamism of startups.

This transformation is largely fueled by the collaborative efforts of local institutions. These include: University of St. Gallen, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen. These collaboration is bridging the old with the new.

During my visits to St. Gallen in September 2023 and March 2024, the city’s innovative spirit was unmistakable.

St. Gallen is now making significant advancements in sectors such as IT, healthcare, and agriculture. This progress is further fuelled by proactive government initiatives supporting startups.

With an investment strategy aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, the local government is enhancing St. Gallen’s economic landscape. This approach helps the city raise its global standing. It puts St. Gallen on par with top-tier destinations like London and Berlin in attracting global talents and events.

The Swiss resort Interlaken is a prime destination for congresses, exhibitions, meetings and of course, incentive travel. Incentives are a unique aspect of MICE (Meeting, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions) travel because they can be customised to the tastes of the client and are highly exclusive. On a visit to Interlaken in April, I had the pleasure of interviewing Camilla Struben, Team Leader MICE at Congress Kursaal Interlaken, about why Interlaken is the perfect destination for incentive travel. Camilla shared the variety of possibilities for incentives in Interlaken and how the Congress Kursaal Interlaken can support event planners for organisations.

Interlaken caters for different group sizes and requirements and offers a variety of programmes for incentives, ranging from adventures to luxurious activities. The destination provides access to privatise hotels and venues, surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains. The availability of customisable programmes and the natural environment makes it an extraordinary experience.  

Even though Interlaken is small, it has many possibilities. There are more than 30 hotels and a variety of venues, including the Kursaal Interlaken. There are rooms for more than 1,000 people. As the adventure capital of Switzerland, it is centrally located with easy access by train.

This interview will showcase the destination and what activities can be organised for corporate groups.  

Over 60 percent of young adults in Switzerland choose vocational training or apprenticeship over an academic path. This is an important economic factor that affects a country’s competitiveness in terms of the labour market and low unemployment rate, which in Switzerland is at about 4 percent.  

SwissSkills is an agency focused on promoting the vocational education system in Switzerland. Its goal is to demonstrate the benefits of apprenticeship in Switzerland and to showcase a wide range of professions to young people who are interested in pursuing a career path that enables on-the-job learning. 

SwissSkills organises a biannual event which will take place this year from 7 to 11 September at the Bern Expo in Bern. The experiential event format will showcase 150 professions and will allow attendees to engage directly with the employers and ask questions of current apprentices in the programmes. 

Vocational training is common in many countries around the world. The EuroSkills and WorldSkills events are two global events in which young people compete to showcase their skills and win gold medals for their countries. These events are important to promote the variety of career paths available to young adults and also to support them in identifying and integrating the new skills required by the job market today, such as digital skills. 

I interviewed André Burri, General Manager of SwissSkills, about the event this year and the uniqueness of the vocational training and apprenticeship system in Switzerland. We also discussed why Bern is the perfect destination to host an event of such scale and importance. 

Bern’s positioning as a leader in the energy and environmental sector, and its easy accessibility within Switzerland and from neighbouring countries, make it the most suitable city to host the Swiss Sustainability Forum. 

Organised by media company NZZ Connect and as part of the overall initiative Sustainable Switzerland by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the highly ambitious event, the Swiss Sustainability Forum, will take place from 22 to 24 September 2022 at the Kursaal Convention Centre in Bern. 

I interviewed Isabel Niklaus, Lead Ecosystem Sustainability, who is responsible for events that are part of the sustainability projects at NZZ Connect including the Swiss Sustainability Forum and Impact Finance Forum.