Rule breakers win economic award
The eighth Swiss Economic Forum in Thun has crowned what it believes are the country's three best small and medium-sized businesses with its annual award.
The organisers chose a company with binding technology with potential medical applications, a family entrepreneur and a clever restaurant owner.
The winners, representing one of three categories – high-tech/biotechnology, trade/industry and services – will share SFr75,000 ($62,000) in prize money.
The award is aimed at encouraging innovative companies less than six years old or bought out by management within that timeframe.
Woodwelding, a Zug-based company, was recognised for its innovative technology that uses ultrasound to bind porous materials such as wood or bone.
The company says its Sonicweld system can be used to join bone fragments in facial surgery for example.
“We were told by the medical profession that woodwelding technology could not be transferred to bones, but we had the tenacity to prove them wrong,” said Woodwelding board member Gerhard Plasonig.
The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Union have certified this technology. Applications in the fields of orthopaedics, dental implants, woodwork and building are being considered.
“It is vital not to become fascinated with one area, but to examine at least 10 different angles and break the rules,” Woodwelding co-founder Marcel Aeschlimann told swissinfo.
Recipe for success
Thömus Veloshop is a family-owned business based outside the Swiss capital Bern. The company’s founder, Thomas Binggeli, designs and builds high-tech bicycles at his parents’ farm and creates a range of clothing for cyclists.
His customers are prepared to hand over SFr2,000-SFr8,000 to buy one of his bikes. His annual exhibition at the farm – which dates to the 13th century – attracts thousands of people.
His business has thrived despite everyone telling Binggeli it couldn’t be done from a farmyard.
The third winner, Bern’s Lorenzini company, runs two restaurants in the older part of the city. In 2001, owner Remo Neuhaus split the original loss-making establishment into two separate ones: “Lorenzini” and “Du Théâtre.”
While the first still caters as a restaurant, the second has become a bar as well as a place for events with hundreds of guests.
The Swiss Economic Forum took place over two days and was attended by 1,200 business people, politicians and media representatives.
swissinfo with agencies
The eighth edition of the Swiss Economic Forum, the annual meeting of SME leaders, took place in Thun.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are companies that employ up to 250 people.
They account for 99.7% of the 307,000 companies in the Swiss private sector and provide jobs for 66.8% of the workforce.
87.9% of SMEs have fewer than ten employees.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.