CEE Swiss IT Solutions & Cross-Cultural Talent Summit 2025
Program
08:30 – 09:00 Registration & Welcome Coffee
09:00 – 09:15 Opening & Welcome
- Oliver Bertschinger, President and Managing Director SEC, CEO Triple Eight Solutions
- Laurentiu Mihai Amitroaie, CIO mindit. io
- Anna Lupina Wegener, Professor and Head of Center of Cross Cultural Management, ZHAW
09:15 - 09:45 Keynote: Transforming Deep Tech: How IBM Research is Reshaping Computing
- Dr. Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow, Vice President of IBM Europe and Africa, and Director of the IBM Research Lab in Zurich, Switzerland
09:45 – 10:15 Panel 1: The Future of Deep Tech
Moderation by Laurentiu Mihai Amitroaie, CIO mindit.iO
- Dr. Maria Grazia Frontoso, Head of Field Engineering, Switzerland, Austria, Eastern Europe, Data Bricks
- Marc Holitscher, CTO Microsoft Switzerland
- Dawid Ostrowski, Senior Program Manager, Developer Relations, Google
- Knut Sauer, Expert in Advanced Technology, Physical AI, and Industrial Innovation
10:15 – 10:45 Panel 2: Cultural Intelligence in AI Implementation: Why Technical Excellence Isn’t Enough
Moderation by Prof. Dr. Anna Lupina Wegener
- Agnes Bade, Expert in Strategic AI Governance, Privacy Compliance, and Technology Law
- Patricia Enzmann, Senior Lecturer ZHAW
- Prof. Dr. Alisa Rupenyan-Vasileva, Rieter Endowed Professor of Industrial AI, ZHAW School of Management and Law
- Dr. Magdalena Żabicka-Włodarczyk, Visiting Scholar, Associate Researcher, ZHAW
11:00 – 12:30 6x B2B Matchmaking Session 1 (6 × 15 min) – powered by B2Match - and various parallel workshops (Tech Solution Sessions and Swiss Business Insight Sessions)
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch & Networking
13:30 – 16:30 12x B2B Matchmaking Session 1 (12 × 15 min) – powered by B2Match - and various parallel workshops (Tech Solution Sessions and Swiss Business Insight Sessions)
16:30 – 17:00 Keynote tba.
17:00 – 18:30 Apéro offered by Greater Zurich Area
Workshops
A) Tech Solutions Sessions
- Balz Zürrer, CEO of Group: "AI-First Refresh: What Worked, What Flopped, What We Learned"
B) Swiss Business Insight Sessions
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Oliver Bertschinger, CEO and President Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Central Europe: "How to enter the Swiss Market"
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Dr. Katharina Lasota Heller, Lawyer at LEXCELLENCE AG: "Swiss Labour and B2B Law Essentials"
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Anna Lupina-Wegener, Professor and Head of the Center for Cross-Cultural Management at the ZHAW School of Management and Law — “Swiss Business Culture: Similarities and Differences to CEE”
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Michel Patteet, Founder and CEO of Prodigo, "Doing Business in Switzerland"
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Sirpa Tsimal, Senior Investment Promotion Specialist, Switzerland Global Enterprise, "Switzerland as an Investment Opportunity for High-Tech companies"