"The hybridization of knowledge and skills is accelerating" Delphine Seitiée, General Secretary, Alp ICT
For the past 3 years, Delphine Seitiée has been coordinating and leading the Alp ICT network. At the heart of digital innovation in Switzerland, she is delighted to see new projects emerging every day. Tomorrow promises to be exciting!
What are Alp ICT's missions?
We help Swiss SMEs understand the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation. Our first mission is to monitor and inform them so that they can integrate these new digital technologies into their innovation process. We surround ourselves with experts to understand and respond to companies' needs, supporting them and encouraging them to work together to create interdisciplinary projects that are the breeding ground for innovation.
Is Switzerland a country of innovation?
Switzerland is not renowned for its strong technological culture, but we do have quality schools, numerous research laboratories and an industrial fabric that is still sufficiently developed to test innovations. Key people are relatively accessible, which means that many innovative projects are born at the crossroads of several business sectors.
What are the next challenges for Swiss SMEs?
Cybersecurity, because the increase in teleworking and the hyperconnectedness of our world is expanding the playground for hackers. Companies and their employees are not aware of the risks, and are not sufficiently trained in best practices. Imagine what it means for a small business to lose access to its customer files or research results overnight! Its very survival is at stake.
The second challenge is training and recruitment. We already need hybrid profiles in all sectors. For example, a radiologist who hasn't mastered artificial intelligence tools and doesn't know how to interpret data will soon be out of date. Universities and schools also need to adapt their training courses and create interdisciplinary curricula. Alp ICT is actively monitoring companies' needs in this area, and will be able to provide some initial food for thought this autumn. The needs of the digital age are evolving very rapidly, and we need to break down the barriers between courses and promote continuing education to meet the needs of companies.
Finally, the theme of responsible digital technology is also becoming crucial, with the question: how can we be responsible and sustainable while retaining the benefits of digital technologies?
Can technology help to achieve sustainable development goals?
The United Nations has defined 17 sustainable development goals, and digital technology can undeniably accelerate their achievement. Health, education, finance, trade, governance, agriculture... Every day, new solutions are imagined to improve the resilience and performance of life's essential sectors. The fight against climate change will not be possible without digital technology. Even if it does consume energy, it can improve the energy efficiency of buildings and transport, and help make cities and communities more sustainable. Several Swiss companies are already very active in these fields.
What's your vision of tomorrow's world?
Thinking about the future is necessary, but first we need to highlight the incredible wealth of existing initiatives in French-speaking Switzerland. With Les Pépites romandes du numérique, we're inaugurating a series of portraits of innovators who have created their own companies or innovated in those they work for.
Worlds that used to evolve in parallel are now coming together thanks to digital technology. For example, musicians are appropriating new tools to revolutionize their art, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry are already working on treatments adapted to each patient, and biologists are revolutionizing agriculture thanks to analysis tools that provide a better understanding of living organisms... The hybridization of knowledge and skills is accelerating, opening up an infinite number of possible futures. Paradoxically, predicting what tomorrow will bring is becoming increasingly difficult.
Biography of Delphine Seitiée
Delphine Seitiée holds a Master's degree in Communication and Hypermedia from Lyon and the United States, and works for various agencies in Switzerland in the field of Digital Marketing. In 2015, she co-founded an international association dedicated to the development of immersive technologies in Switzerland connecting the fields of arts, education, science, medical and academic research, which immersed her in the world of new technologies.
She joined the Alp ICT team in 2018 and was then appointed Secretary General of the organization in January 2020. Since then, she has been working to make Alp ICT a platform for networking SMEs with digital, information and communication companies. "We help them discover these new technologies and make them their own, so that they can continue to innovate." Delphine believes that supporting innovation must involve creating synergies between entrepreneurs, academic, cultural, political and financial circles, as well as raising awareness of the opportunities that digital technology can offer.
Involved in numerous collaborative projects such as the Manufacture Thinking Think Tank, theSwiss Institute for Responsible Digital, where she co-directs the scientific committee, and the national Virtual Switzerland network as a member of the Board, she likes to believe Paul Eluard's quote " Il n'y a pas de hasard, il n'y a que des rendez-vous" and remains receptive to market trends. Since January 2019, she has hosted the program Le Monde de Demain devoted to innovation in industry on the local Léman Bleu TV channel.
Based in Neuchâtel, she firmly believes in the importance of a connected Switzerland, a country characterized by so many singularities representing a great strength.
