14th Information Day Markant Syntrade Schweiz AG

Christina Tönniges, Senior Consultant Advanced Solutions, and Dr Amata Ring, CPS Business Development Director Switzerland, gave the partners an overview of the current consumer situation in Europe in their presentation: "Crisis(es) - was there something? The path of DACH shoppers into the future", they gave an overview of the current consumer situation in Europe.  

"A habit of crises has settled in - this has an impact on consumer sentiment," explained Dr Amata Ring by way of introduction. However, according to the forecast, inflation will continue to fall in 2024 and consumers will feel more relaxed again. There will be a general recovery in consumer confidence in the DACH region. The Swiss are buying more branded goods again and are also showing a slightly higher general willingness to buy premium products.

In a study conducted for the event, a third of Swiss respondents stated that they were critical of regular and conscious shopping in neighbouring countries. When shopping abroad, the respondents most frequently take drugstore and cleaning products with them, as well as fresh staple foods such as meat, milk, fruit and vegetables. In Switzerland, the Swiss, who are also shopping tourists, also like to buy fresh food.

Then the agenda moved on from consumer behaviour to space: Prof. Dr Thomas H. Zurbuchen, astrophysicist and Head of Space ETH Zurich, divided his lecture "How NASA is exploring the secrets of the universe and improving life on Earth" into three topics: How space research is changing, what impact this is having on observing the Earth and how the topic of AI is opening up new markets.

"All of us are on this planet together. Nature influences us all, no matter where we are," says Prof Zurbuchen. Earth observation satellites give mankind an impression of the Earth that has never been seen before in human history, and this impression can also be very valuable in relation to climate change. With today's capabilities, they can send down radar signals from space and identify how ice is moving, for example. "85 per cent of all climate data in assessments now comes from space. The accuracy is incredible". These measurements play a particularly important role in forecasting major storms, but also in fighting major fires. Satellites can also be of great benefit in Switzerland: for example, slopes are not only mapped, but also measured using radar.

The use of artificial intelligence offers a boost here: all trees, vines or even fields could be identified individually and AI could be used to calculate how to reduce water, fertiliser etc. and increase yields. "This data is increasingly needed to understand what is happening before the future becomes the present," Prof Zurbuchen concluded his presentation.

The next lecture moved from the large to the small orbit: Prof Dr Thomas Druyen, sociologist and futurologist, President of the opta data Future Foundation and Prof Dr at the Sigmund Freud Private University in Vienna, provided an insight into the greatest change in human history with "Learning from the future".

"AI was created to push the boundaries of our perception," began Prof Druyen. "We have an inner tendency to reject the new and feel most comfortable in familiar ways." However, change has always been part of human history. The agricultural revolution changed our relationship with nature, the industrial revolution changed our relationship with labour and the digital revolution changed our relationship with information. Now, however, artificial intelligence is changing man's relationship with himself. "AI will reshape the world in an unprecedented way." This also shows the exponential nature of the technology. It would therefore be an exponentially expanding disadvantage to rely on the familiar.

For retailers, AI will also result in shopping innovations of the future: automatic recognition and personalisation, virtual shopping assistants and shelves with robotics and automation. He therefore called for innovations to be seen as an opportunity and established the mindset of the future: only decisions and realisations shape the future.

The high-calibre closing speaker Joschka Fischer, former Foreign Minister & Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, took the guests from the bright heights of the future to the dismal lowlands of today's foreign policy in his lecture "USA, China, Russia & the EU - Switzerland in the midst of an uncomfortable world", as he himself opened.

"What doesn't change is us. Man remains as he is. They are not driven by reason, but by instinct, and politics lives from the question of power. War is back in Europe and we have to face up to this situation," began Joschka Fischer. The world is currently experiencing a change in the entire order, which is leading to increasing military conflicts. The idea that weapons technology is being enriched with AI fills him with additional concern. "We are currently experiencing a dramatic situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian nuclear programme looming in the background. This is what we are currently dealing with - including Switzerland."

He emphasised the danger of a rebirth of European nationalism, which is endangering the pillars of the European construct at a time of war in Ukraine and the threat of nuclear confrontation. He advised changing priorities and focusing on the defence of Europe and democracy: "This crisis holds a huge opportunity for us."