Celebrating the partnership with swissnex and the GGBa

Since January 2017, the GGBa has strengthened synergies with the swissnex network.

To celebrate its new collaboration with swissnex, the GGBa held a kickoff event at swissnex Boston on July 17, bringing together friends and partners for a festive night of networking and discussion. Thomas Bohn, Executive Director of the GGBa, attended the inaugural event and shared a few details about the GGBa’s work at swissnex Boston. “Western Switzerland and the Boston area have a lot in common”, he noted. “They are among the world’s most competitive and dynamic ecosystems for life science research, development, and commercialization. And they both have a buzzing start-up scene, with pioneering players in the fields of biopharma, medtech and digital health”. Attracted by the strong technological expertise and the presence of innovative companies, MassChallenge, the Boston-based start-up accelerator, set up camp in Lausanne last year with the support of the GGBa.

A fertile ground for the GGBa’s activities

The GGBa established a presence at swissnex Boston and at the swissnex NYC outpost in January 2017. Since then Karolyn Chamberlin, the GGBa director in charge of the U.S. market, has been splitting her time between New York and Boston, working part-time in swissnex offices in both cities. “The thriving tech ecosystem of the Boston and New York areas is a fertile ground for the GGBa’s activities: I get to meet innovative companies on a daily basis”, she explained. “And, very importantly, working out of swissnex makes me feel closer to current events in Switzerland”. The GGBa also has a base at the swissnex San Francisco site.

With offices in San Francisco, Boston, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore and Shanghai, the swissnex network aims to connect Switzerland and the world in science, education, art and innovation. It is an initiative of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) managed in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs.