Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern!

It’s looking a lot like autumn here in Bern. The skies may be gray today, but we have a colourful selection of stories for you.

But first, cantons are starting to take stock of the enforcement of the Covid certificate, which is now required to do just about anything indoors. Zurich is the first canton to report “positive” results. Of the 600 checks since Monday, largely in bars and restaurants, the police only made 3 reports of non-compliance and issued 2 fines. Let’s see what happens when the rain brings everyone looking for cover inside.

Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

In the News: Parliament calls on Netflix to pay up; and the WEF is heading back to Davos

• Streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney will most likely be expected to shell out 4% of their profits to support the Swiss film industry. Parliament agreed on the proposal today, which could amount to an additional CHF18 million for the culture sector, but it still has to be passed into law and could face a referendum. France already requires streaming services to invest 25% of their income into the domestic film industry.
• The fact that Switzerland is expensive isn’t exactly breaking news. But, just how much more expensive is always eye-catching. Today the German statistical office reported that in July the cost of living in Switzerland was the highest of 36 European countries. More specifically, it is 51% more expensiveExternal link in Switzerland than in Germany.
• The annual Education at a Glance report published by the OECD shows the pandemic’s heavy toll on children’s education over the past year. Switzerland fared better than many countries, in large part because schools were only closed for about two months during the first wave in 2020. However, since the start of the new schoolyear there has been a spike in coronavirus cases in schools. Last week, my daughter’s teacher said seven classes in our district were in quarantine because of coronavirus cases, causing huge disruptions to learning. It’s also created challenges for teachers and parents who have had to reorganize work schedules and lesson plans at the last minute.
• The World Economic Forum also announcedExternal link today that after a botched plan to hold its annual event in Singapore in the summer, it has now decided to go back to Davos in January 2022. This includes strict hygiene and safety conditions but what that means isn’t quite clear yet.

Keystone / A4796/_silas Stein

New revelations from massive cyberattack has companies on alert

You may remember that a few months ago, the small town of Rolle in the French-speaking part of the country was the victim of a cyberattack. At the time, authorities played it down as a weak attack that only affected a few servers. Fast forward a few months to August, and it turned out to be a massive attack that exposed personal data of the entire population, some of which was highly sensitive.

French-language paper Le Temps has continued to follow the story, making contact with the hackers, which go by the name Vice Society, who said that they would continue to attack any target that showed vulnerabilities, adding that “if the data or the company is interesting, we publish it”.

The paper has also been combing through data and information from documents that reveal the real impact of the hacking. Among the data hacked into at the cantonal office – and now freely accessible on the darknet – is a 24-page letterExternal link from Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), an American agrobusiness company that has offices in Rolle. The letter requests a 75% exemption from cantonal and municipal income taxes for the next ten fiscal years. It talks up the company’s investments in job creation and other local activities to justify the request.

ADM told the paper they were doing nothing illegal but the fact that a wealth of sensitive information, relating to a listed company, has been made available is causing plenty of concern even if the victims aren’t talking about it. The list of companies that have been victims of attacks in the last months is growing, and quickly. Online paper Watson revealed that machine maker Saurer had been the victim of two attacks, that led to the theft of 10 gigabytes of data and a ransom of CHF500,000. “For several weeks now, businesses have suffered from relentless and devastating ransomware attacks,” writes Le Temps.  

Keystone / Raul Martinez

Swiss companies launch joint venture for innovation on lab-grown meat

Meat that looks like it was churned out of a factory has never been something to brag about but this could change with concerns about the climate impacts of meat consumption. Three of the biggest corporate names in Switzerland – retailer Migros, fragrance and flavour multinational Givaudan and manufacturing giant Bühler – announced they were teaming up to create an incubator called the “Cultured Food Innovation Hub”.

The hub, which should open next year in Zurich, aims to encourage start-ups to develop “products of animal origin” but without raising cows, chickens or catching fish explains Swiss public television, RTS. The basic idea is to use animal cellsExternal link and with the help of technologies such as fermentation create meat.

Apparently, the amount of money going into start-ups in this field is ballooning with Swiss retailers investing in groups like Aleph farm and Dutch Mosa Meat. Whether meat lovers will accept the alternative is another thing.

What do you think about the trend? Have you ever tried lab-grown meat or would you? Curious to hear your thoughts: [e-mail]