Advancing Swiss AI Trinity: Zurich’s entrepreneurship, Geneva’s governance, and Communal subsidiarity

Switzerland can chart a unique path in the global AI race by combining three strengths: Zurich’s innovative entrepreneurship, Geneva’s responsible governance, and communal enabling subsidiarity. 

Swiss “AI Trinity” can advance beyond technology by reimagining the national social contract for the AI age, firmly grounded in Swiss values.

The country’s AI transformation unfolds as the tech world faces profound flux. Amid the US push for unfettered tech growth and escalating US-China rivalry resembling an AI arms race, the EU and nations worldwide seek their own strategies. Uncertainty grows alongside deepening concerns about AI’s impact, from jobs and the economy to education and media.

In this fluid environment, Switzerland has a rare opportunity to carve out a distinctive approach to cutting-edge AI development, anchored in subsidiarity, apprenticeship, and national traditions.

Time is short, but the timing is favourable for Switzerland:

AI is commoditised: Switzerland’s delayed start in developing LLMs is no longer a disadvantage. New LLMs emerge daily; open-source models enable easy retraining; AI agents can be built in minutes. Success now hinges on data, knowledge, and uses of AI, not just hardware or algorithms. The key is the nexus between artificial and human intelligence, where Switzerland can excel due to its robust educational and apprenticeship model.

Pushback on AI regulation: After a frenzied regulatory race last few years, a more balanced approach now prioritises short-term risks (jobs, education) over existential long-term threats. The Trump administration has already slowed down US regulatory momentum, while the EU re-evaluates parts of its AI Act concerning generative models. Switzerland’s prudent regulatory stance has become an advantage. New AI regulation may be adopted as technology matures and cristalyse real policy problems that should be regulated.

Against this backdrop, Switzerland’s AI Trinity proposes a three-pronged strategy:

• Zurich: A hub of private-sector innovation;
• Geneva: A crucible for global governance and standardisation;
• Swiss cantons, cities, and communities: Upholding subsidiarity to drive inclusive, bottom-up AI development.

Each pillar builds on existing strengths while addressing the urgent need to rethink business models, governance, and social contracts for the AI era.

Zurich: Supercharging business and innovation

While cutting-edge technology often seems concentrated in massive data centres and trillion-dollar corporations, DeepSeek exemplifies how breakthroughs can spring from lean, agile labs. Zurich is ideally placed to harness both approaches.

• World-class ecosystem: ETH Zurich—ranked among the world’s top universities—alongside R&D hubs for Microsoft, Google, and others, provides the talent, research excellence, and entrepreneurial mindset to keep Switzerland at AI’s forefront.
• Global reach, diverse perspectives: Partnerships must extend beyond Silicon Valley. Engaging Chinese and Indian tech players fosters competition, sparks creativity, and mitigates over-reliance on Western supply chains.
• Stronger academic-industry ties: Deeper collaboration between ETH and private-sector leaders will accelerate ventures. Breakthroughs in healthcare, climate tech, and beyond emerge when elite research meets real-world application.

Zurich is thus not just a global financial centre, but a beacon for responsible, human-centric AI.

Geneva: Forging global governance and standards

While Zurich drives innovation, Geneva ca shape balanced global AI governance—a race intensifying amid rival initiatives from the Gulf and emerging tech hubs. Geneva must act decisively:

• Translating hype into action: Nations urgently need pragmatic AI tools for pandemic response, environmental risk, and equitable education. Geneva-based bodies should prioritise tangible solutions, dispelling perceptions of AI as abstract hype.
• Mainstreaming AI: Treating AI as integral to health, commerce, and labour rights is vital. As AI becomes a universal necessity, Geneva’s institutions must weave digital policy into all major global negotiations.
• Modernising international organisations: Outdated, top-heavy management of international organisations lack the agility for rapid AI evolution. Embedding AI translation services, automated reporting, and similar tools will boost transparency, efficiency, and collaboration.
• Defining standards where treaties fall short: Without robust international agreements, technical standards ensure interoperability. Geneva’s standardisation expertise positions it to lead in healthcare AI, digital trade, and environmental data.

By embracing this role, Geneva can ensure that multilateral bodies guide AI ethics in a transforming world.

Communities and cantons: Inclusion through subsidiarity

Switzerland’s greatest AI advantage lies in subsidiarity—the principle of localised decision-making. Distributing AI development across cantons and communities ensures innovation aligns with real needs, addresses local contexts, and leaves no one behind. Key activities include:

• ‘AI for All’ programme: Offer small grants to citizens and small businesses for developing AI agents, democratising access to tools and catalysing solutions rooted in local needs.
• AI education and apprenticeship: Develop AI apprenticeship building of Swiss long tradition of vocational training; integrate AI education from primary schools to universities.
• Libraries and local AI labs: Repurpose libraries, community centres, and post offices into AI knowledge hubs. Applying machine learning to hyper-local challenges – agriculture, tourism, health – can empower communities as active creators of AI innovation.

A call to action: Switzerland’s moment to lead

Switzerland stands at a decisive juncture. Uniting Zurich, Geneva, and its cantons can nurture an AI future that is cutting-edge yet fair, transparent, and Swiss at its core.

By adopting this AI Trinity approach—balancing innovation, governance, and subsidiarity—Switzerland can show the world how to embrace advanced technology without sacrificing societal values.

Practical steps forward:

• Scale AI apprenticeships through Switzerland’s vocational tradition.
• Launch a national AI capacity-building programme for citizens and companies.
• Adapt school and university curricula to foster creativity as AI automates tasks like essay drafting.
• Repurpose libraries and post offices into community knowledge hubs.
• Prioritise ‘AI for All’ principles in public projects, procurement, and grants at all governmental levels.

Swiss AI Trinity approach can democratise AI, empower local innovation, and fuel inclusive growth from the ground up. The tools, talent, and tradition are in place. The time to act is now.