Swiss Stories

Rio de Janeiro

OMEGA & Viva Rio

Society
OMEGA, the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, has concluded its successful Community Countdown with Viva Rio. The #OMEGAVIVARIO partnership began in August 2015, with 12 social projects planned over 12 months that would benefit vulnerable young people in the Olympic Games host city.
CSEM

Switzerland showcases its capacity for sustainable energy innovation in Astana

Science & Education
In keeping with the overall theme of Expo 2017 – “Future Energy” – the Swiss pavilion in Astana focuses on renewable resources. This international showcase enables Switzerland to highlight its leading-edge expertise and capacity for innovation in energy.
Bollywood und die Schweiz

Bollywood and Switzerland

History
Switzerland and its mountain scenery are hugely popular in India, mainly because of the Bollywood blockbusters filmed there. Indian filmmakers' passion for Switzerland has helped make it one of the most popular destinations for Indian tourists seeking the locations of some of their favourite film scenes.

by Tatiana Tissot

Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich

Emmy Ball-Hennings

Society
She beguiled cabaret audiences as a singer and dancer and pushed the art scene in new directions. But outside the world of theatre, the German artist Emmy Hennings and her partner and eventual husband Hugo Ball lived in exile and grinding poverty. In February 1916 the couple opened the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich's Niederdorf district – Dada had arrived!
Barbara Piatti

by Barbara Piatti

Red Divico grapes

Swiss wine without pesticides

Science & Education
Switzerland's centre of excellence for agricultural research Agroscope has been creating new grape varieties for 50 years. Their goals are ambitious – particularly the targets for disease resistance. Several generations of resistant varieties have emerged, helping to gradually reduce the impact of diseases and the use of pesticides. Fungal diseases – a major concern for winegrowers Swiss winegrowers face considerable difficulties with fungal diseases, two of which are particularly entrenched in Switzerland: downy and powdery mildew. It is very hard to cultivate grapes without pesticides today – both in conventional and organic vineyards. To help avoid this, Agroscope's viticulture research team focuses its efforts on creating resistant grapevines.
Switzerland: cradle of the Winter Olympics

Switzerland: cradle of the Winter Olympics

History
In January 2020, Switzerland will host another Olympic Winter Games. Whereas the Winter Olympics of 1928 and 1948 took place in St Moritz, the 2020 games will put Olympic capital Lausanne in the spotlight.
Matthias Vauthier

by Matthias Vauthier

Lake Lucerne

Combating climate change with Swiss lakes

Environment
Switzerland’s lake surface waters contain vast amounts of thermal energy, collected from the sun and stored as heat. This can be extracted and used for heating. At the same time lake water can be used as a coolant.