This exciting project will come to India from 27 February to 24th of March 2012 to first build the mobile solar sound unit and then hold events in the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune.  swissnex India is pleased to support the project. It is a joint project by Atelier2ce (designers) and Vialka (Musician group).

Team members:

• Cedric Carles (Atelier2ce)
• Eric Boros (Vialka)
• Marylise Frecheville (Vialka)
   

Their programme schedule will be updated soon on this page.

University of Zurich delegation headed by Prof. Dr. Andreas Fischer, President of the University of Zurich will explore the future collaboration possibilites with some of the top universities and Institites of India during their 8-day official trip to India.

The delegation will visit New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune during the period.

The delegates are:

• Prof Dr Andreas Fischer, President of the University of Zurich
• Dr Yasmin Inauen, Head of International Relations
• Prof Dr Angelika Malinar, Chair of Department of Indology
• Prof Dr Lawrence Rajendran, Co-Director of the Division of Psychiatric Research

Entry: by invitation

For details please write to: ladina.rageth@swissnexindia.org

This joint symposium will provide an opportunity for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) researchers from both sides to meet and foster new research collaborations to explore challenging problems in frontier areas of biophysics, molecular & structural biology and material science. This meeting will also offer scope for discussing recent developments and future directions in the field of NMR.

The program will consist of talks by invited speakers and students on applications of NMR in biophysics, biochemistry, advanced materials and methodology developments.

swissnex India is pleased to support this bilateral initiative.

For registration log on to: http://www.ncl.org.in/indo_swiss_2012/

The Board of Higher Education of the Canton of Vaud (DGES) actively collaborates with educational and research institutions in Switzerland and internationally to enrich learning for Swiss and foreign students.

In January 2012, their delegation headed by Director General Dr. Chantal Ostorero visited Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi in India. swissnex India is pleased to support the delegation and hosted a networking event at their office premises on 17 January 2012.

ETH Zurich sent the winning team from 2010 ’ Game Design class to the IIT Bombay Techfest 2012. The team has designed a computer game called “Trunk Enlargement”. swissnex India is pleased to support the student team for the largest technical fest among Indian higher education institutes.

The team has programmed the game entirely from scratch including all the visual computing aspects of it. During the exhibition the team demonstrated the game and the IIT Bombay as well as large number of outside students played the game and enjoyed it.

swissnex India brought together its stakeholders with movie and music on the occasion of its year end celebrations. The programme started with welcome address by Dr. Silvia Hostettler followed by screening of the movie"It snows in Marrakesh!". Audience loved the movie

The guitar duo of Felix Anto (Classical Guitar) an Dinesh K (Portugese Guitar) performed traditional Portugese music. Bangalore school of Music artists presented their concert " A Joyous Celebration" with carols.

World Advanced Vehicle Expedition (WAVE) 2011 that has just travelled from Paris to Prague reached Bangalore on 9 December 2011. The 15 day Indian road trip to  promote electric mobility running on renewable energy started on December 3rd from Mumbai. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay tech-fest committee is organising the event in India with the support of swissnex India and the Consulate General of Switzerland in Mumbai.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore in collaboration with swissnex India held the demonstration event and lecture in the campus of IISc on 10 December 2011. The response was overwhelming with a full auditorium and many more remained outside to learn about the cars.

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies |Geneva, Switzerland along with Swissnex India, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and Resource Optimization Initiative (ROI)  organised a one day symposium on “Energy in India - Governance and Geopolitics" in the context of global challenges at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

The symposium presented and discussed energy challenges for India in the broader context of the energy-development nexus. The symposium took place on the occasion of the launch of the latest issue of the International Development Policy series devoted to energy and development, with an article looking in particular at the energy policy options and challenges for India. 

Performance art is one of the most happening and reserched material in art today. Live Arts Festival in Bangalore brought a new dimension to the current art scene in the city.

The festival created a dialogue with performance artists and performance art theoreticians with the artists, arts students and art enthusiasts in the city. Workshops were conducted along with an open house artist presentations and informal talks.

The two performers Dorothea Rust and Monical Klinger and one theoretician from Switzerland participated in this festival with the support of swissnex India.

This year's swissnexDay had been assigned to the topic "Future Cities". The swissnex network's overall mission is to foster cooperation around strategic scientific topics, the swissnex network will met its stakeholders at the 3rd swissnexDay, organised by the Swiss Federal Insitute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) to -

• Discuss Switzerland's recent local and global urban planning initiatives

• Get a global perspective on the future urban models at the swissnex locations Bangalore, Boston, Shanghai, Singapore and San Francisco.

• Share expertise with the panel of experts on a variety of topics ranging from spatial design and sustainable building to urban mobility, energy optimisation and the role of new communciation technologies in the city governance.

Entrepreneurship Awareness Drive (EAD) is a massive national drive to create greater consciousness about entrepreneurship in colleges accross 15 cities in India in 15 days. The drive has a huge footfall of 20,000 college students and entrepreneurs, most of them being from engineering/commerce background aspiring to go overseas to pursue higher education/jobs.

The drive was organised by Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) of IIT Kragarpur. A series of lectures by successful entrepreneurs was given during the drive at colleges in 15 cities accross India. swissnex India is associating itself as Overseas Education Partner of EAD'11 and City title sponsor - EAD'11 Bangalore and gave a brief presentation. The event took pace at PES school of engineering, Bangalore.

Bangalore event speakers were:

• Dr. Kiran Majumdar Shah, Chairman &MD, Biocon Ltd.
• Mr. Suranarayanan A, Head operations, IIHS
• Mr. Freeman Murray, Co-founder Jaaga

The Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) in collaboration with National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Bangalore is organised an open consultation on ' Bangalore as a Creative City' to address the role of art and culture in urban planning and development.  Aim of the workshop was to  work towards a set of policy recommendations involving art and culture spaces in the attempt to envisage 21st century Bangalore as a creative city.

swissex India is pleased to support the event as a co-sponsor along with Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Techniche, the techno-management festival of IIT-Guwahati was held from September 1 to 4  in Guwahati, Assam. Techniche’11 had a lecture series in which scientists and management gurus from top institutions gave students an insight into their areas of work. This year, Dr Lyn Evans – Project Leader of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva was the keynote speaker for the lecture series. swissnex India is pleased to support IIT Guwahati in this initiative.

EPFL summer school in Contemporary Asian Studies in Bangalore (22-31 August 2011)

EPFL finished its second summer school in Contemporary Asian Studies in Bangalore. Topics explored range from governance, working conditions, rural-urban migration, religion to the status of women in the Asian context. Furthermore, the specific role of India in the IT sector will be discussed as well as issues of globalization in the field of consumerism, art, and popular music. swissnex India gave a lecture on energy and development in India as well as hosted the final dinner reception for the students.

   

oikos swissnex Practitioner day in Bangalore (26 August 2011)

As part of the one-week oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy, the oikos swissnex Practitioner Day was a stock-taking and agenda-setting event covering top research and practice on inclusive market development. Besides the fifteen selected young scholars participating at the academy, it engaged Ph.D students from reputed institutes of India and abroad. The  highly interactive workshop involved local practitioners from IDEI, SELCO and Digital Green. They presented their case studies as well as challenges and came up with ideas through  problem solving exercises with the participants.

Camera..light...action... (23 July - 9 August 2011)

swissnex India team had  fun days while shooting for the 'Future of Cities' documentary in Bangalore. 'Frame of Mind', a professional agency, was helping us in the work. Few glimpses of the team at work..

Workshop on Current and Future priority Research Areas in India (15 July 2011)

Swissnex India together with its Indian knowledge partner on multi-disciplinary research, Center for Study of Science Technology and Policy (CSTEP) organised the workshop on "Current and future priority research areas in India" on July 15 2011 in Bangalore. The objective of the workshop was to identify priority research topics in India, in particular topics requiring a multi-disciplinary approach. Panel of experts from science, technology and development sector participated in the full day brainstorming workshop. Areas like sustaible development, urban development, climate change (adaptation & mitigation), ICT & its applications, health care, poverty alleviations emerged out as possible areas of collaborative research between India & Switzerland for the next phase of Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme.

Architecture students of the Universität der Künste, Berlin present swissnex projects (11 July 2011)

25 architecture students of the Universität der Künste in Berlin presented the result of their six months project: A building for swissnex India in Bangalore. Prof. Jan Kleihues (architect, Berlin), Claus Käpplinger (architecture critic and journalist, Berlin) and Dr. Silvia Hostettler (Director swissnex India) were invited for the final critique of this Master class. Even though this is an academic undertaking under the direction of Professor Alfred Grazioli, several projects were very impressive and hopefully some of the ideas can be integrated in the ongoing construction. 

Ambassador of Switzerland to India, H.E. Mr. Philippe Welti in Bangalore ( 17 June 2011)

H. E. Mr. Philippe Welti visited Bangalore from 16-18 June 2011. The objective of this visit was to thank the Honorary Consul Mr. H.S. Nagaraj for his loyal services to Switzerland over many years and to introduce the new Consul General of Switzerland Mr. Rolf Frei.

In the framework of his visit the Ambassador also got an impression of the Science and Technology hub Bangalore with his visit to the premier research institute Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He interacted with the members of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce in the evening followed by a joint press meet. 

IN:CH 2011 Transcultural Sustainability Platform India Studio - 2 June 2011

For the 8th consecutive year, Indian and Swiss architecture students worked together for 14 weeks developing their projects in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. This transcultural studio was initiated by the Bern University of applied sciences in collaboration with Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi institute of architecture Mumbai, Footprints EARTH in Ahmedabad and RV College and Biome Solutions in Bangalore. The final event on 2 June began with an inspiring lecture by Delhi architect Ashok Lall about "Living City" followed by the inauguration of the final architecture student projects.

Journée de la Francophonie at Alliance Française Bangalore (15-30 March 2011)

 As part of world-wide celebration of the French language, swissnex India in collaboration Alliance Française, the Embassy of Switzerland and Pro Helvetia in New Delhi organised the Swiss Film Festival intitled "Moving Movies". All movies were shown in the Auditorium at Alliance Française Bangalore which attracted enthusiatic patricipation of both French speaking and Indian participants. Movies showed were -

Tuesday 15 March 2011
07:30pm "Farewell my Mountain" and "ID Swiss"

Wednesday 16 March 2011
07:30pm "Home"

Thursday 17 March 2011
07:30 "Return to Gorée"

Attakkalari India Biennial (28 February - 3 March 2011) 

In the framework of the Attakkalari Biennial, Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council and swissnex India invited to NINGYO a multimedia dance performance by the Nicole Seiler Company from Switzerland on Sunday 30 January 2011 at Ranga Shankara, 36/2 8th Cross II Phase JP Nagar, Bangalore 560 078.

As part of the Attaswissnex supported a "Writing on Dance Workshop" was conducted by Esther Sutter Straub from Switzerland and Gabriele Wittmann from Germany. Two newsletters WRITINGS ON DANCE were produced and enthusiastically received.

CERN at IIT Kharagpur Techfest Kshitij 2011 (28-30 January 2011)

Dr. Philippe Lebrun, Head of the Accelerator Technology Department of CERN gave his keynote lecture at IIT Kharagpur Techfest Kshitij 2011. swissnex India is proud to be associated with the event which attacted lot of students attention.

Lecture on Plasma Physics by Prof. Fasoli (EPFL) at IISc and IIA Bangalore (10 and 11 January 2011)

Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli is Head of the Centre for Research in Plasma Physics at EPFL in Switzerland. He gave two guest lectures on "Plasma Physics for Magnetic Fusion Research" at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bangalore.

Workshop on biorobotics by Prof. Pfeifer at National Institute of Design Ahmedabad (10 January 2011)

Professor Rolf Pfeifer, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Zürich in Switzerland gave a workshop on biorobotics to students of the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad on 10.01.2011.

ETHZ at IIT Bombay Techfest 2011 (7-9 January 2011)

A team from ETHZ presented the Alcedo roboter at the IIT Bombay Techfest 2011. This event draws each year around 30'000 visitors to the IIT Bombay campus.

Concert by Swiss musician Bruno Bieri and Indian artist Shanthi Rao (15 December 2010) 

The Embassy of Switzerland and swissnex India invited to  concert by Swiss musician Bruno Bieri together with Shanti Rao and accompanists. The event took place at  the National Gallery of Modern Art. 

Research in a development context: Putting knowledge into practice (14 December 2010) 

Five research teams currently funded by Cooperation@epfl (www.cooperation.epfl.ch) held their annual reunion 2010 in Bangalore. Cooperation@epfl is focusing on scientific cooperation with emerging and developing countries. 

3rd Bangalore Nano (8-9 December 2010)

Bangalore Nano - flagship event on Nanotechnology is organised by Department of IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and MM ACTIV Sci Tech Communications. 3rd Bangalore Nano will offer an unparallelled opportunity for Business networking and for knowledge sharing in the exciting field of Nanotechnology. For more information: www.bangalorenano.in/nano_2010

SCIENCEsuisse Exhibition in Ahmedabad (24 November 2010) 

After Bangalore and Delhi the SCIENCEsuisse exhiibition was inaugurated in Ahmedabad at the MillOwner's Building. At the occation of the inauguration Prof. Rolf Pfeifer, who is featured in the exhibit, gave a lecture about biorobotics. More information about SCIENCEsuisse: www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/science_switzerland/index.html. Professor Pfeifer also held talks at Universities in Bangalore and Mumbai.

State Secretary for Education and Research in Bangalore (7 October 2010) 

Dr. Mauro Dell'Ambrogio, State Secretary for Education and Research of the Swiss Confederation  came to Bangalore to give first hand information about the upcoming projects of the Swiss government in Bangalore, such as the Consulate General with its scientific annex swissnex India.   

TOPtoTOP coming to Bangalore  (27 September to 10 October 2010)

The TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition is the 1st expedition over the 7-Seas to the 7-Summits that will be achieved by human and nature's power only. A Swiss family together with volunteers share the joy of sport and enviromnmental action to protect the climate with young people all over the world. www.toptotop.org

CERN at IIT Madras (15 September 2010)

Shaastra (meaning "Science" in Sanskrit) is one of the biggest science and technical festivals of India, with a slew of events, encompassing all aspects of science and technology and attracting thousands of students across the country.

swissnex India is happy to announce the sponsoring of a lecture by Dr. Lyn Evans, Project Leader at CERN, Large Hadron Collider. More information on www.shaastra.org/2010

ScienceSuisse Exhibition with conference by Prof. Bernd Scholl from ETHZ (6 Sept 2010)

On the 6th of September swissnex inaugurates the ScienceSuisse exhibition at Dayananda Sagar Institutions, Bangalore. Prof. Bernd Scholl, Head of the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning will give an inaugural conference on his research.

The challenges of urban planning: a series of presentations at NGMA Bangalore (7 Sept 2010)

Swathi Ramanathan, Sathya Prakash Varanasi from Bangalore as well as Prof. Bernd Scholl from Switzerland will present their perspectives on urban planning. The discussion will be moderated by architect Soumitro Ghosh. Excerpts from the event "From Chandigarh to NanoCity: Past and Future of Urban Planning in India" that took place at swissnex San Francisco on 8 July 2010 will be screened.

Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art, 49 Palace Road, Bangalore, auditorium, 6-8pm.

EPFL Summer School event (27 August 2010)

The EPFL Summer School travels to Bangalore and Shanghai for 4 weeks. Introductions to topics such as (mega) cities, company life, universities/research labs, consumerism and art are followed by filed trips. The main instructors to the Summer School are scholars from local universities and locals professionals/experts.

During their stay in Bangalore swissnex invited the EPFL Summer School and the local instructors for an informal dinner. 

SCIENCEsuisse in Bangalore (9 and 20 July 2010)

SCIENCEsuisse showcases 25 world class researchers working in Switzerland. Nationality was irrelevant; excellent research was the key criterion to be portrayed in the exhibition. The portraits present research and achievements in a wide variety of disciplines ranging from astrophysics, geology, medicine, and robotics to art history and philosophy.

swissnex presented the SCIENCEsuisse exhibition at Christ University and at St. Joseph's College along with a talk by Dr. Silvia Hostettler, Director swissnex India. More than 1'300 students attended the two event.

EPFL Alumni event (3 June 2010)

swissnex held an EPFL/ETHZ alumni event in Bangalore. It was an informal evening around a fondue and BBQ - a great evening with many EPFL/ETHZ alumni attending.

MoT at EPFL, 5.30pm Swiss time (6 May 2010)

Under the framework of the Executive MBA in Management of Technology - MoT. MoT Event 2010: Becoming a Global Entrepreneur at EPFL, Auditorium CO1, with a video link with swissnex India.

ETHZ President Prof. Ralph Eichler visits Bangalore (8 April 2010)

A high level delegation from ETH Zurich visited Infosys and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to explore future collaboration.  

EPFL Professor Michael Grätzel - lecture at JNCASR in Bangalore (31 March 2010)

Prof. Graetzel discovered a new type of solar cell based on dye sensitized mesoscopic  oxide particles.  He is author of over 500 publications and amongst the most highly cited scientists in the world. His lecture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore focused on "The Advent of Mesoscopic Solar Cells".  

Focus India (30 March 2010)

Focus India is a student project within the bachelor degree programme "International Management" at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). It is organized by students for students in their final year of studies. Launched five years ago, it has the core objective to give students deep insights into various aspects of India with focus on its business environment. 

Mario Botta at the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad (8 February 2010)

Conference by Swiss architect Mario Botta at the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad (www.cept.ac.in) followed by inauguration of exhibition on Swiss Italian architecture. Large and enthusiastic audience of approximately 350 people. Also Professor Balkrishna Doshi, a famous architect of Ahmedabad, helped light the flame. 
         

IIT Bombay Techfest (22-24 Januar 2010)

swissnex is sponsoring ETHZ, EPFL and CERN's participation at IIT Bombay Techfest 2010, the largest Science and Technology festival in Asia. At this prestigious event, two keynote speakers and four teams will be exhibiting Swiss excellence in virtual reality and robotics will be showcased. Lyn Evans, Project Manager at CERN's Large Hadron Collider is also among the keynote speakers and "one of the most eagerly awaited lectures in Techfest's history" according to the organisers. www.techfest.org 

Swiss Delegates of Canton de Vaud to Bangalore (20 - 25 November 2009)

Swiss Delegates of Canton de Vaud will meet with Indian representives from the field of Biotechnology, IT, Business administration, Engineering, Hotel Management, Physiotherapy and Nursing. 

ETH Big Band tour to India (6 - 15 November 2009)

The ETH Big Band will be holding concerts at the Swiss Embassy Delhi, at IIT Delhi, at National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, at IIT Chennai, at Anna University Chennai and at IIT Mumbai. Moreover at all the institutes there will promote education and science in Switzerland.

Indo-Swiss Symposium on Infectious Diseases (12-13 October 2009)

It is with greatest regret that EPFL has to announce the postponement of the Indo-Swiss Symposium, initially scheduled on October 12th and 13th, 2009.

EPFL has just been informed by the Department of Science & Technology that following the severe drought and the subsequent emergency measures taken by the Government of India, the Indian partners have not received the authorization to travel to Switzerland. Therefore, EPFL has been asked to postpone the Symposium to a later date.

For more information please visit: wiki.epfl.ch/indoswiss

SwissCube - First Swiss satellite (23 September 2009)

SwissCube is the first satellite built entirely in Switzerland. This endeavor is led by the EPFL Space Center in Switzerland in collaboration with several Swiss universities since 2006. Although small in size (1 liter, 1kg), it contains all the major sub-systems, that are present in much larger satellites.

SwissCube will be launched in 2009 with an Indian PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) from the Satish Dhawan Center in Sriharikota, on the Indian South-East coast. coast. http://swisscube.epfl.ch

[Source of picture: HES//Valais http://isi.hevs.ch]

Lecture series by Prof. Claude Nicollier and Mrs. Muriel Noca (10-17 August 2009)

Prof. Claude Nicollier, Swiss Astronaut and Mrs. Muriel Noca, Project Manager of SwissCube presented lectures highlighting Space & Astronomy to senior school and pre university students in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai.  

Networking evening on "Innovation" (2nd February 2009)

A networking evening for swissnex San Francisco representing Nestlé Innovation Partnerships was hosted by swissnex Bangalore at the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi. We are very happy that Federal Counsellor Moritz Leuenberger gracefully took part in the event.

EPFL at IIT Bombay Techfest 2009 (24-26 January 2009)

Two professors from EPFL gave keynote speeches at IIT Bombay Techfest 2009. Prof. Dario Floreano, Director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems talked about "Evolution of Robots between Biology and Engineering". Prof. Henry Markram, Director of the Blue Mind Institute at EPFL presented the Blue Brain Project which focuses on neuroscience. Two researchers (A. Crespi and J. Knuesel) from the Biologically Inspired Robotics Group (BIRG) headed by Auke Ijspeert presented a "swimming salamander robot". 

The Jaipur Forum (15-20 November 2008)

The Jaipur Forum takes place in the town of Jaipur (Rajasthan, Northern India) from 15-20 November 2008. www.nordsud.ch/english/programme.html

On 19 November 2008 swissnex Bangalore co-organises a round table on "Climate change: ethical and scientific challenges" in collaboration with SDC. On 20 November swissnex Bangalore participates at a panel discussing on "Student exchanges, training and research - future perspectives between Indian and Swiss Universities and Institutes". Panelists are Professor Yadava, Dean of the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi, India), Professor Suren Erkmann, Chairman of the Commission for International Relations, University of Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland), Preofessor Golapagan Balachandran, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland) and Dr. Silvia Hostettler, Executive Director, swissnex Bangalore (New Delhi, India).

A poster exhibition on Indo-Swiss research projects has been mounted by swissnex Bangalore together with EPFL (ISJRP) and will be shown throughout the week.

2008: Celebrating 60 Years of Friendship

The year 2008 is a year of celebrations for India and Switzerland - a year that commemorates 60 years of the signing of the Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty and of friendship that dates back to much earlier than that. Visit the www.indiaswitzerland.org website for upcoming and ongoing events.