Board of the Greater Zurich Area Foundation

Carmen Walker Späh
Carmen Walker Späh (Chair)
Canton of Zurich, Government Councillor
Daniel Previdoli
Daniel Previdoli (Vice Chairman)
Zürcher Kantonalbank, Member of the Executive Board
Marcus Caduff
Marcus Caduff
Canton of Grisons, Government Councillor
Urban Camenzind
Urban Camenzind
Canton of Uri, Government Councillor
Paolo Di Stefano SwissLife
Paolo Di Stefano
Swiss Life, Head Real Estate Switzerland
Portrait Raphael Golta Stadtpäsident Zürich
Raphael Golta
City of Zurich, Mayor
Karin Hauser, Portrait
Karin Hauser
Canton of Zurich, Department of Economic Affairs, Deputy Secretary General
Sibylle Jeker - Kanton Solothurn
Sibylle Jeker
Canton of Solothurn, Government Councillor
Portrait Stefan Kühn BDO
Stefan Kühn
BDO AG, Partner

Head of Regional Management Zurich & Eastern Switzerland
Connect on Linkedin

Michael Künzle
Michael Künzle
City of Winterthur, Mayor
Karin Lenzlinger, Zürcher Handelskammer
Dr. Karin Lenzlinger
Zürcher Handelskammer, President
Marianne Lienhard
Marianne Lienhard
Canton of Glarus, Government Councillor
Portrait Urs Lüthy Zurich Insurance
Urs Lüthy
Zurich Insurance Company,

CEO Zurich Schweiz
Connect on Linkedin

Gianfranco Lot, Swiss Re
Gianfranco Lot
Swiss Re, Chief Underwriting Officer P&C Reinsurance & Country President Switzerland
Patrick O. Müller, UBS
Patrick O. Müller
UBS, Managing Director and Regional Director UBS Zurich
Hanspeter Rhyner
Hanspeter Rhyner
Zuger Kantonalbank, CEO
Gian Andrea Schmid
Dr. Gian Andrea Schmid
Canton of Zurich, Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary General
Elisabeth Stark
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Stark
University of Zurich, Vice President Research
Petra Steimen-Rickenbacher
Petra Steimen-Rickenbacher
Canton of Schwyz, Government Councillor
Dino Tamagni
Dino Tamagni
Canton of Schaffhausen, Government Councillor
Silvia Thalmann-Gut
Silvia Thalmann-Gut
Canton of Zug, Government Councillor
ETH Zurich, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations
Prof. Dr. Effy Vayena
ETH Zurich, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations
Christian Vitta
Dr. Christian Vitta
Canton of Ticino, Government Councillor
Kaspar E.A. Wenger
Kaspar E.A. Wenger
Holcim Schweiz, Chairman of the Board of Directors

News

A view from Tel Aviv on the Greater Zurich Area
How does Greater Zurich compare with technology hubs such as Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley? In this interview, Weltwoche Middle East correspondent Pierre Heumann explains why he sees Greater Zurich as one of the world's leading centres for AI and robotics, what surprised him most about the region, and why he believes it deserves far greater international attention.
Building tech in the world’s secret R&D hub
Greater Zurich Area has become a leading R&D hub, attracting major technology companies with its top universities, specialized talent, and strong innovation ecosystem. Rather than replacing Silicon Valley, it complements it by offering a dense network of research, startups, and industry partners that accelerates AI development and commercialization.
Zurich AI Festival 2026: Where the global AI community's who's who meets
From 29 September to 3 October 2026, the Zurich AI Festival will return to the Greater Zurich Area for its second edition. For one week, researchers, founders, business leaders, investors and policymakers come together to explore the future of artificial intelligence. But the festival is about more than artificial intelligence itself. It is about the bigger questions shaping the future: Who will benefit from the next wave of productivity?
Greater Zurich is a top European robotics hub. But who builds it?
Who is building Europe’s leading robotics hub? A new analysis by The Big Byte examines the talent, founder pipelines and industry connections behind the Greater Zurich Area’s robotics and embodied AI ecosystem. Drawing on data from 64 robotics and autonomous systems companies and more than 300 founders and leaders, the article reveals how talent moves between research labs, startups, scale-ups and global technology companies.

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