Western Switzerland's Digital Ecosystem: A Focus on the Canton of Valais
Making digital technology a tool for simplification and competitiveness for SMEs, rather than an additional source of complexity, is precisely what sets apart the approach championed by Jérôme Salamin within the Alp ICT Expert Committee.
With many years of experience supporting businesses in Western Switzerland, Jérôme believes that technologies create greater value when they take a back seat to how they are used. Artificial intelligence, automation, and assisted development should not impose new ways of working, but rather facilitate them to enhance existing work environments. This approach also helps strengthen a regional ecosystem capable of offering solutions tailored to the realities of local businesses and naturally fuels the discussions within the Alp ICT Expert Committee.
Jérôme Salamin
Head of Digital Tourism & Head of Business Operations at platinn
"Globally recognized technology, combined with digital skills and expertise cultivated locally, to ensure a deliberate, sustainable, and well-managed digital transformation of our businesses and our economy."
This philosophy resonates particularly strongly in Valais, where innovation policies have for several years prioritized the transfer of technology and digital expertise between companies, focusing on concrete use cases.
A Digital Value Chain Supporting Economic Sectors
Through The Ark Foundation, Valais has spent more than 25 years building an ecosystem in which research, innovation, businesses, and institutions are organized around a genuine value chain. This strategy focuses on the needs of economic sectors to develop concrete solutions. Energy, industry, healthcare, tourism, and mobility thus become areas for experimentation where digital technologies strengthen sectors that are already firmly established in the region.
This approach is particularly evident in Digitourism, which harnesses local technological expertise to support the transformation of a sector that is emblematic of the Valais economy.
This approach also extends to the creative and cultural industries through the PRISM program, a platform that fosters collaboration among businesses, cultural institutions, designers, creators, and technology companies. By promoting the convergence of digital innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, it helps foster the emergence of new business models and new ways of using technology.
“The strength of Valais lies in its ability to transform cutting-edge expertise into collaborative projects, in which research institutions, businesses, and organizations work together to develop solutions that directly benefit the local economy.”
Eric Bianco
Head of the Department of Economics, Tourism, and Innovation
