On September 5-7, 2023, during the Economic Forum in Karpacz, the Swiss Pavilion appeared for the first time under the slogan “Swiss Point. Quality, Jobs & Innovation”. Our presence in Karpacz was possible thanks to the initiative and support of the Pavilion’s Strategic Partners: ABB Sp. z o. o., Nestlé Polska, Novartis Poland, Roche Polska and Sandoz Polska, as well as Trade Fair and Project Committee from Switzerland.
Our Partners and guests had 150 m2 of Pavilion space at their disposal, arranged in a space conducive to casual business conversations, but not only that!
The rich program of the Pavilion included speeches, discussion panels and bilateral talks at the government level, a Swiss cocktail with the opportunity to taste delicious dishes prepared on an ongoing basis by Kurt Scheller, an Alpine Night and, as it turned out, the extremely popular Roboclette, i.e. traditional Swiss Raclette cheese served by a programmed Swiss robot startup.
Everything was complemented by Nescafe coffee and delicacies from the vegan Garden Gourmet product line, served by Nestle, which tasted as wonderful as they looked.
Already on the first day, Swiss Point offered guests the opportunity to take part in the panel discussion “Quality, Jobs & Innovation. How to keep the investment pace by Swiss companies in Poland?”, during which the Strategic Partners of the Pavilion talked, among others, about the possibilities of using the potential of Swiss companies and about the conditions necessary to maintain the upward trend in R&D expenditure in Poland. The discussion was attended by: H.E. Ivo Germann, Head of Foreign Economic Affairs, SECO, Stanisław Tański, President of the Board, ABB Sp. z o. o., Artur Jankowski, Country Manager, Nestlé Polska, Monique Clua Braun, Country President and General Manager, Novartis Poland, Irma Veberič, General Manager, Roche Polska, Laurent Renaudie, Country President Sandoz in Poland. The discussion was moderated by Ulrich Schwendimann, Managing Director of the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce.
We invite you to read the reports from the debate published in Rzeczpospolita and the cowzdrowiu.pl website (both in Polish):
The next point on the agenda was a Swiss cocktail hosted by H.E. Fabrice Filliez, Ambassador of Switzerland to Poland and Michał Stępień, President of the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce.
The cocktail began with a wine tasting prepared by the Swiss Ambassador. Guests had the opportunity to taste the best wines from the Ambassador’s hometown (Valais) and then go on a culinary journey around Switzerland, prepared by Kurt Scheller himself.
At the end, each visitor, thanks to our member company SSC Distribution, had the opportunity to taste delicious Swiss chocolate:
We are very pleased that the Pavilion program attracted such a large number of distinguished guests on the first day.
Already at 9:00 AM on the second day of the Forum, the Swiss Pavilion was operating at full speed. The program included Polish-Swiss bilateral talks with the participation of participants of the economic mission from Switzerland, led by Ambassador Ivo Germann, Head of Foreign Economic Relations at the Swiss Secretariat of State for Economic Affairs (SECO) and representatives of the Polish side: representatives of the Strategic Partners of the Pavilion and the Ministry of Development and Technology, headed by Minister Grzegorz Piechowiak, Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for foreign investments.
After the talks, the Pavilion was officially opened to guests, and the Roboclette was launched. For almost twelve hours, the Swiss delicacy was served on the Pavilion’s terrace by a robot and tireless creators of this attraction from the Workshop4 startup.
At the same time, representatives of a Polish startup cooperating with Novartis Poland – MX Labs – started presenting their innovative solution.
Thanks to them, visitors could become familiar with Shen AI technology and measure basic health parameters solely based on the phone’s camera! More about Shen AI.
At 12:30, the 13th Polish-Swiss Forum for Dialogue for Health began inside the Pavilion under the slogan “Health is Wealth. The Importance of Quality Healthcare for a Country’s Economic Success”. The meeting was opened with speeches by: H.E. Fabrice Filliez, Swiss Ambassador to Poland, Dr. Lukas Engelberger, Health Director of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, President of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Health Directors, and H.E. Ivo Germann, Head of Foreign Economic Relations at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO.
Then, two extremely inspiring substantive presentations were given by: Dr. Jérome Cosandey, director for French-speaking Switzerland and head of research on sustainable social policy, Avenir Suisse, and Prof. Monika Raulinajtys-Grzybek, Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH).
The meeting culminated in an interesting panel discussion with the participation of Maciej Miłkowski, Undersecretary of State from the Ministry of Health, prof. Gertruda Uścińska, President of the Health Insurance Institution (ZUS), Monique Clua Braun, Country President and General Manager, Novartis Poland, Irma Veberič, General Manager, Roche Polska and Laurent Renaudie Country President, Sandoz in Poland. The discussion was moderated by Marcin Piasecki, editor of Rzeczpospolita.
We invite you to read the reports prepared by Rzeczpospolita and Cowzdrowiu.pl website (both in Polish).
When the panel ended, the time for backstage talks began in the Pavilion space. The evening program included the Alpine Evening, i.e. “Alpine Night in Karpacz” – a joint initiative of the French, German and Swiss Chambers.
The third day was devoted entirely to business talks.
On behalf of the Embassy of Switzerland in Poland and the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, we would like to thank all Strategic Partners and guests of the Swiss Pavilion. A huge thank you also goes to Präsenz Schweiz and all the other partners who contributed to such a fantastic success.
We invite you to view the photo gallery from the Swiss Point Pavilion.
