Company Profile

Company Overview

The Organization

swissnex San Francisco (www.swissnexSanFrancisco.org) is « connecting the dots » between North America and Switzerland, in the fields of science, technology, higher education, art and innovation. We are enablers, facilitators, eye-openers, stimulators, connectors. Communication is at the very core of our activities :
1. we observe trends, ideas, projects and opportunities of strategic importance to both public and private institutions - from governments to NGOs, from startups to large corporations, from universities to think tanks. Through our contacts with the media we sometimes reach out directly to the public. We have to communicate these strategic observations - often paired with recommendations - to potentially interested people and organizations
2. to generate change, observations have to be followed by actions. Actions are easier to initiate after face-to-face discussions, during on-site visits, through immersive learning, and are often more successful outside the comfort zone. This requires that we inform clients, users and partners – potential and/or existing - about the importance of internationalization, the existence of our services and their value. Success stories are in important part of this communication
3. we promote the competencies of participating individuals and institutions, give them visibility, encourage planned and unplanned connections, create the conditions for serendipitous outcomes. We communicate about participating actors, as well as our supporters (donors, funding agencies, partners, etc.)
4. changing perceptions, going beyond the clichés, creating a different awareness for Switzerland in North America (and to some extent for North America in Switzerland) is part of our strategy. Considering the small size and limited resources of Switzerland we have to apply creative tactics, use the surprise effect, work outside the box, stay edgy and even ”itchy”. Good communication is needed to reinforce this uniqueness
5. a set of performance indicators has been chosen by our stakeholders to quantify and qualify our some¬times intangible services and their outcomes. Many of these indicators either measure directly the output of our communication (media clippings, hits on the website, subscribers to our newsletters, etc.) or the consequences of our communication (nb. of participants at our events and study tours, nb. of requests received, nb. of visitors, etc.).