Moving Toward an Opportunity-Driven Approach in Resilience Management
Sponsors and Partners
Organizers
Partnering Societies
Purpose of the Event
Bridging Swiss economic tradition with global foresight, this gathering invites senior scientists, executives, investors, and policy makers to reflect on and reshape the strategies that will define opportunity-driven leadership in an age of disruption. With keynotes by global thought leaders and a site visit to world-class companies in the Zurich Greater Area, the overall objective to the event is to equip its participants with the ability to better grasp not just the risks but also the opportunities associated with the current highly volatile political and economic environment.
The conference is conceived as a bridge-building event designed to improve communication and mutual learning between the local and the global level as well as between potentially rivalrous world regions through cooperation and innovation.
Relevance for Business and Society
Recent insights from empirical research as well as the world of practice confirm the view that resilience is not a reactive but a proactive concept. It includes the ability of business and society to develop, test and eventually deploy solution-oriented innovations that effectively address emerging challenges related to climate change, environmental hazards, supply chain disruptions, food shortages and energy blackouts and migration-induced urban growth. Joint investments in innovation, in return, enhance the capabilities, agility, and flexibility cope with disruption These theoretical considerations have been successfully put into practice in innovative and complex economic ecosystems, often located in unexpected places. The conference aims at giving such decentralized clusters of innovation more visibility to enable decision-makers in government and business to learn from the experience and integrate the insights into their own resilience strategies.
Further Reading:
Aerni P (2025) Innovation in times of crisis: a pragmatic and inclusive approach to cope with urgent global sustainability challenges. Frontiers in Environmental Economics 4:1498138. http://doi.org/10.3389/frevc.2025.1498138
Aerni, P. (2021a) ‘Decentralized economic ecosystems in Switzerland and their contribution to inclusive and sustainable change’. Sustainability 13(8), 4181. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084181
Aerni, P. (2021b) Business as Part of the Solution": SDG 8 Challenges Popular Views in the Global Sustainability Discourse’. MPDI Book Series on Transitioning toward Sustainability, pp 67-101).
Aerni, P. (2018) Global Business in Local Culture: The impact of embedded Multinational Enterprises’. SpringerBriefs in Econom-ics, Springer, Heidelberg.
Aerni, P. (2016) Aerni, Philipp (2016). Coping with migration-induced urban growth: addressing the blind spot of UN habitat. Sustainability, 8(8):800.
Arias, J., Jank, M. S., Cardoso, V. M., Umaña, V., & Gilio, L. (2024). The role of international trade in promoting food security. Brasília: G20 Agriculture Working Group.
Basso, B., Tadiello, T., Millar, N., Robertson, G. P., Paustian, K., Maureira, F. S., et al. (2025). A multi model ensemble reveals net climate benefits from regenerative practices in US Midwest croplands. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 24881.
Canuto, O., Emran, S., & Mandri, B. (2024). Financializing Commodity Markets: Consequences, Advantages and African Case Study (No. 2414). Policy Center for the New South.
Doug Saunders (2011) Arrival city: How the largest migration in history is reshaping our world. Random House, New York.
Jin, K. (2023) The New China Playbook. Beyond Socialism and Capitalism. Viking, New York.
Juma, C. (2016). Innovation and its enemies: Why people resist new technologies. Oxford University Press.
Jung, J. (2020) Laboratorium des Fortschritts: die Schweiz im 19ten Jahrhundert. NZZ Libro.
UNCTAD (2024). Global cooperation in science, technology and innovation for development. Report to the Secretary General by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development. E/CN.16/2024/3. Economic and Social Council of the UN, Geneva. (Available online: https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ecn162024d3_en.pdf).
WHO/FAO (2023). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023: Urbanization, Agrifood Systems Transformation and Healthy Diets Across the Rural–urban Continuum (Vol. 2023). World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, Italy.
Organizing Committee
Director, Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CCRS) and
Professor at the School of Management Fribourg (HSW-FR)
Philipp Aerni is Director of the Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CCRS) and also Professor for Sustainability and Impact Entrepreneurship at the School of Management Fribourg (HEG-FR). He received his Masters Degree in Geography (with Minors in Environmental Science and Economics) from the University of Zurich and his PhD in Agricultural Economics from ETH Zürich. Prior to his position at CCRS, Dr. Aerni worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Institute for Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich, the World Trade Institute at the University of Berne as well as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Philipp Aerni is also a senior lecturer at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. Among numerous other engagements, he is a member of the Jury of the Swiss Family Business Award, the Forum Genetic Research (SCNAT), and Liberethica (a Platform on ethics, business and religion). As an interdisciplinary social scientist he is interested in the role entrepreneurship and innovation as potential driving forces for inclusive and sustainable change.
Swiss Sustainability Foundation
Rico Baldegger is the President of the Board of the Swiss Sustainability Foundation and the former Director of the School of Management Fribourg where he was also Professor of Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation.
Max Bergman is the Chair of Social Research and Methodology, Director of the Social Transitions Research Group, and Affiliated Professor of European Global Studies at the University of Basel. Furthermore,he is a Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Academic Society for Environmental Research and Ecology (saguf).
Liliane Auwerter obtained her PhD in Civil Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London. She works for MDPI as Conference Organizer and Scientific Reviewer.
Innovationspark Central
Markus Schaefer is the President of The Innovation Park Central Switzerland and a founding partner of Hosoya Schaefer Architects. He has a Master in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Keynote Speakers
Member of the Swiss Council States and the Parliamentary Commission on Security Policy, President of the Party ‘die Mitte’ of the Canton of Aargau
Head of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.
Professor at London School of Economics and Author of Bestselling book ‘The China Playbook’
Professor at Michigan State University and Founder and CEO of CIBO Technologies
Award Winning Canadian Journalist, Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and Author of Bestselling Book ‘Arrival City’
Vice-President of ETH Board, Founder and Chairwoman of Swiss Stablecoin AG
Founding CEO Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Executive in Residence at Georgetown University, USA
Invited Speakers
Max Bergman is the Chair of Social Research and Methodology, Director of the Social Transitions Research Group, and Affiliated Professor of European Global Studies at the University of Basel. Furthermore,he is a Member of the Executive Board of the Swiss Academic Society for Environmental Research and Ecology (saguf).
CTO Bühler Group
Partner, Holinger AG
Professor at ETH Zurich
Founder and CEO of IBX
Professor of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy, Germany
Professor and former President of University of Wageningen
Embassy of India in Switzerland
Seed Stars
CEO of ABB Switzerland
Baden 4.0
Professor at INCAE, Costa Rica and Founding partner at Aequitas Consulting Group
Founder and CEO of Alpha Talents
Head of Zurich Resilience Solutions
Global Compact Network Switzerland and Lichtenstein
Founder and CEO of Cyverse, Zurich
Keio University
Reliance Foundation
Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Tentative Program
| Thursday 15 January 2026 | ||
| Time | Session | Speaker |
| 08:15 | Registration, Coffee | |
| 08:30 | Welcome Address |
Philipp Aerni, Director of CCRS and Max Bergman, Unversity of Basel |
| 08:45 | Opening Keynotes | Marianne Binder, Member of the Swiss State Council Martina Hirayama, Head of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. |
| 09:15 | Panel 1: Infrastructure and bottom-up solutions for urban resilience | Chaired by Markus Schaefer, President of Switzerland Innovation Park Central, Zug • The future of resilient water and waste management systems (Reto von Schulthess, Partner, Holinger AG) • Advanced systems of clean and safe energy production (Annalisa Manera, Professor at ETH Zurich) • Aerospace, disruptive technologies, and strategic business leadership (Kam Ghaffarian (tbc), founder and CEO of IBX,) • The importance of cybersecurity in the provision of public services (Shira Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Cyverse, Zurich) |
| 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:30 | Keynote | Keyu Jin, Professor at London School of Economics and Author of Bestselling book ‘The China Playbook’ |
| 12:00 | Plenum Discussion | |
| 12:15 | Lunch | |
| 13:30 | Panel 2: Rural-urban linkages and their contribution to an inclusive bioeconomy | Chair : Beat Keller (tbc), Professor of Plant Science at the University of Zurich • The contribution of Buhler Group to resilient economic ecosystems in Switzerland and abroad (Ian Roberts, CTO Bühler Group) • The bioeconomy as a driver of sustainable rural-urban economic linkages (Jan Grossarth, Professor of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy, Germany) • Innovation in food and agriculture for stronger urban-rural bonds (Louise Fresco, Professor and former President of University of Wageningen) • Viksit Bharat@2047 and its contribution to sustainable bioeconomy (Shri Piyush Goyal (tbc), Embassy of India in Switzerland). |
| 15:15 | Keynote | Bruno Basso, Professor at Michigan State University and Founder and CEO of CIBO Technologies |
| 15:45 | Break | |
| 16:15 | Panel 3: An opportunity-driven approach to migration-Induced Urban Growth |
Chaired by Rajib Shaw, Professor at Keio University, Japan • Building Resilience in international value chains (Nora Teuwsen (tbc), CEO of ABB Switzerland) |
| 18:00 | Keynote | Doug Saunders, Award Winning Canadian Journalist, Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and Author of Bestselling Book ‘Arrival City’ |
| 18:30 | Discussion and Wrap-Up | |
| 19:00 | Conference Dinner | |
| Friday 16 January 2026 | ||
| Location: Trafo Baden. Auditorium | ||
| 08:00 | Registration, Coffee | |
| 08:15 | Welcome Remarks |
Rico Baldegger and Thomas Lütolf (Baden 4.0) |
| 08:30 | MDPI OA and Sustainability | Stefan Tochev, CEO of MDPI AG |
| 09:00 | Opening Keynote | Pascale Bruderer, Vice-President of ETH Board, Founder and Chairwoman of Swiss Stablecoin AG |
| 09:30 | Panel 4: Investment in Sustainable and Inclusive Technological Change |
Chaired by Shan Jiang, Humboldt Fellow • Building up economic resilience in rural communities (Vanita Sharma, Strategic Initiatives, Reliance Foundation) • Trade and Investment Policies that enable inclusive growth and sustainable economic change in Latin America and the Caribbean (Victor Umaña, Professor at INCAE, Costa Rica and Founding partner at Aequitas Consulting Group) • Why private equity rather than classic development assistance will create inclusive growth in Africa (Roland Decorvet, Founder and CEO of Alpha Talents) |
| 11:15 | Break | |
| 11:45 | Keynote | Eleni Gabre Madhin, Founding CEO Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Executive in Residence at Georgetown University, USA |
| 12:20 | Discussion and Wrap-Up | Antonio Hautle (Global Compact Network Switzerland and Lichtenstein) |
| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| 13:45 | Site visit - Introduction to the history of the high-tech ecosystem of Baden by ABB | |
| 15:30 | End of Program | |
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