Alp ICT interview on Radio Lac: Let's talk business

Alp ICT would like to thank the CCIG for its invitation to appear on Radio Lac's "Parlons Economie" program on Thursday April 30, 2020, from 2 to 3 pm. The program takes a close look at the Geneva economy and the current crisis, with its guests, analyses and decipherings. To listen or listen again. 

Podcast of the show:

First part (3 min) to discover Alp ICT and its activities.

Second part (3 min ) on innovation, digital acceleration and the digital economy.

Please note: podcasts don't work with Safari, so please use another browser.  

Who is Alp ICT?

Alp ICT is the platform for the promotion of information and digital technologies.

Initiated in 2008 by the cantons of Western Switzerland and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Alp ICT is part of an inter-cantonal program to support innovation.

We are several platforms in different fields:

• BioAlps (life sciences)
• CleantechAlps (clean technologies)
• Micronarc (micro- and nanotechnologies)

There are also the platinn and Alliance coaching organizations.

Alp ICT relies on the support of Promotions économiques and Antennes cantonales. 

What do you do?

Our role is to create synergies and make SMEs aware of the opportunities that digital technology can offer. In a way, we act as a liaison between all the players involved in innovation: companies, startups, academia, as well as political and financial players.

In concrete terms, our activities can be summarized in 3 pillars:

• Inform: technology watch, sharing of reliable digital information, network of experts;
• Connecting: networking companies, identifying key players in digital innovation;
• Animate: support and organize events on digital themes, once again with the aim of bringing everyone together.

For a number of years now, we've been focusing on small and medium-sized businesses, helping them to make the transition to digital technology. Technologies are not the objective, but the tools to achieve what companies need. The real change takes place at the level of management and the reorganization of the company and its processes. They then select the digital tools that will enable them to realize their projects. Every company's digital project has to make sense. 

Is innovation a key to success in today's digital economy?

Swiss companies have been innovating for a long time; they didn't wait for COVID-19 to come along.

On the other hand, the crisis we're experiencing is an upheaval for our society that requires us to reflect, question the world and perhaps rethink our economic models.

Above all, this period has opened up the field of possibilities, and we are now in a state of mind for change.

So there are real opportunities for all sectors, and clearly an acceleration in digitization projects. 

Will the pandemic have a positive impact on accelerating this digital transformation?

Yes, that's what Alp ICT has found, based on companies' own experiences. A large majority of them were already aware of the digital transition that is taking place, but today it has become much more important.

A rather significant example of acceleration: the IT manager at EPLF explains in an ICTjournal interview that his teams did in a week what would have taken 3 years in project mode!

As long as you don't lose the sense of what you're doing, digital technologies have become an obligation for companies, and projects that weren't priorities at all now are.

The entire digital industry sector is currently hiring and has a huge number of projects that their customers are asking them to complete fairly quickly.

Companies no longer have a choice: they have to adapt to the "new" world, and digital is part of that. New players will be arriving, new technologies will be developing, and we can't afford to miss the boat.