Bosch Rexroth, a specialist in drive and control technologies, defines the "Factory of the Future": "From our point of view, the factory of the future is highly transformable. Only the walls, floor and ceiling have their fixed place - everything else is mobile. The assembly lines are modular and the machines can reform into new lines as needed. Everything is wirelessly connected and communicates via 5G. Power is supplied by an inductive charging system via the floor," explains Thomas Fechner, Head of Business Unit Automation & Electrification Solutions at Bosch Rexroth.

Bosch Rexroth's commitment to the Smart Electronic Factory

Such a vision thrives on consistent research and development work. That is why Bosch Rexroth is also involved in overarching centers of competence. For example, the company is a member of the SEF Smart Electronic Factory e.V. This is an Industrie 4.0 initiative of research institutions and well-known companies that want to jointly pave the way to digitalization for Germany's industrial SMEs. SEF Smart Electronic Factory e.V. is an association founded in 2015 that develops Industrie 4.0-capable solutions - with a focus on the requirements of medium-sized businesses. At the Smart Electronic Factory, an electronics factory in Limburg a. d. Lahn (Germany), Industrie 4.0 scenarios and applications are developed and tested under real production conditions. 

Thomas Fechner explains: "In the SEF Smart Electronic Factory e.V., the competencies of companies with different specializations come together, enabling holistic solutions to be created. Special attention is paid to ensuring that companies can achieve rapid digitization benefits with the solutions - with a view to the big picture."

Industry 4.0: not a question of "if," but "how

Bosch Rexroth sees itself as a pioneer when it comes to solutions for the digitalized factory. One focus is factory automation. For example, the company has developed the ctrlX AUTOMATION automation platform, heralding a paradigm shift. The platform overcomes the classic boundaries between machine control, the IT world and the Internet of Things. It features end-to-end open standards, app programming technology, enables web-based engineering and comprehensive IoT connectivity. Apps from Bosch Rexroth and partners are available for any automation task via the ecosystem. In addition, Bosch Rexroth offers numerous other products, solutions, and services for digital transformation in the factory, helping manufacturers to make their production more flexible and future-proof.

"Digitization will continue to significantly change the world of production. Bosch Rexroth and all the other members of our Industrie 4.0 association have made it their mission to support companies with solutions that do not require additional digitization expertise, but instead ease the burden and remove hurdles. It is no longer a question of whether Industry 4.0 is implemented, but how. And we want to make a valuable contribution in this regard," explains Maria Christina Bienek, Managing Director of SEF Smart Electronic Factory e.V..

The Swiss Safety Center, part of the SVTI Group, also has recognized expertise in the fields of materials engineering and science, metallurgy, materialography, and corrosion as part of its loss prevention and fire protection responsibilities, and prepares damage analyses, expert reports, and expert opinions. To this end, the Swiss Safety Center carries out a wide range of non-destructive material tests, either stationary in its own testing laboratory or mobile on site.

Particularly well networked in the SME scene

After already recently a new quality manager was presented for the entire SVTI Group, there is another personnel development to report at the Swiss Safety Center: As of November 2021, Dr. Arnulf Hörtnagl is now the new Head of Materials Technology. He is a mechanical engineer with further specializations in manufacturing technology and materials science. His scientific activities led to a doctorate and a specialization in the fields of corrosion, tribology and stainless steels. Thanks to his professional activity, in various internationally active laboratories, he expanded his know-how in the direction of plastics technology and acquired his skills in sales as well as in the management of R+D projects. In passing on specialist knowledge, he brings experience from his two years as a lecturer in materials science. His excellent networking in the Swiss "SME scene" ideally complements his profile, according to the Swiss Safety Center.

Further expansion of materials technology capabilities

In his new position, he is responsible for the testing laboratory, which has its core competence in the area of materials testing and damage analysis on primarily metallic materials. His goal is to expand the range of services to include testing and analysis of stainless steels and the area of plastics technology, as well as to deepen the electrochemical corrosion measurements. He sees the testing laboratory as a competence center and partner for individual examinations through to complex problems for SMEs of all sizes, from a wide range of industries, both nationally and internationally.

Source and further information: Swiss Safety Center

The important topic of sustainability has been represented in the Body of Knowlegde (Overview of Knowledge Requirements) of the Person Certification for Bank Customer Advisors, which is authoritative for the content, since its inception. In this year's revision of the requirements, SAQ and the banking industry have given additional attention to this element. The topic of sustainability was further deepened in all respects and the requirements for client advisors were additionally increased.

Sustainable Finance as a Competitive Factor for the Swiss Financial Center

Thanks to the collaboration with Swiss Sustainable Finance on the revision of the sustainable knowledge requirements, the goals set have now been achieved and multi-layered benefits can be created, according to a statement to the media. The advisors are equipped for the challenges ahead. Bank customers benefit from optimal advice on all aspects of their needs for sustainable financial services. For the banks, this means even greater certainty that their advisors will be able to find their way around the ever-growing range of sustainable products and provide needs-based advice in the interests of the customer. The increased requirements for bank client advisors on sustainable finance topics meet with approval from the Swiss Bankers Association. "The SBA welcomes the fact that sustainability topics are at the forefront of this important certification. This will make another significant contribution to the high quality of client advice in Switzerland," said a statement from the association. "The Federal Council considers the integration of Sustainable Finance in financial education and training to be a quality feature as well as a significant competitive factor for the Swiss financial center," the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN also said. "The FOEN supports Sustainable Finance education initiatives and enjoys this important development, which allows SAQ certified client advisors* to play an active role in the federal government's efforts to develop a sustainable Swiss financial center."

Complete knowledge level for next person certification

The adapted Body of Knowledge is valid since 1.1.2022 and must be implemented in the certification exams within one year. For existing certificate holders, a wide range of re-certification trainings around the topic of sustainability is available. The SAQ Swiss Association for Quality, the Swiss Bankers Association, Swiss Sustainable Finance and the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN recommend that all persons with an SAQ Certificate Client Advisor Bank update their knowledge on the topic of sustainability as part of the next recertification.

Source and further information: www.saq.ch

In order to be able to monitor movement processes in industrial applications in a targeted manner, companies often need to be able to access the data in real time. In view of constantly increasing data volumes, it is therefore obvious to make Ethernet usable for industrial applications as well. This enables uniform data communication worldwide across the boundaries of local networks.

Unify your protocols

However, proprietary protocols that are only compatible with the respective devices often stand in the way of effective networking. In order not to slow down the digitization of production steps, meta protocols such as OPC UA are needed. Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture is a manufacturer-independent, industrial communication protocol. Thanks to the use of Ethernet technology, it enables continuous and transparent communication from the sensor to the cloud. Thanks to the integrated imagination mechanism, new devices can be integrated into the protocol without much effort and communicate with the existing network.

This protocol is made possible by advances in microelectronics: sensors and actuators with their own mini-processors allow universal networking thanks to their open and real-time communication protocol. However, in order to access the data in real time, all devices must be aligned to the same time base.

TSN pushes open the door to real-time communication

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created such a uniform time basis with the Ethernet standard Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). This protocol regulates data transmission (traffic scheduling) and automates the configuration of individual systems. In this way, it enables companies to synchronize the transmission behavior of data packets from individual devices over time. 

Together with the OPC Foundation's extended communication model, OPC UA PubSub, the bridge could be built and real-time capable applications in the industrial environment could be implemented as generally available standards. OPC UA PubSub accelerates communication even without implementing TSN by being able to send data continuously without having to wait for responses from the recipients between individual messages. This can significantly reduce the load on the network. OPC UA over TSN also enables users to use digital certificates and thus generate a high level of security during data exchange.

New world standard for data communication

With TSN, companies can therefore optimally prepare for Industry 4.0. It forms the basis for all IIoT applications. Thanks to its real-time capability, IT and OT merge into a common network in no time at all, and even end devices without TSN capability can be easily operated via TSN networks. As a result, compatibility limits can be overcome more quickly and time-critical plant components can be integrated into the Internet of Things more easily. With Time Sensitive Networking, nothing stands in the way of fully automated production.

Author:
Thomas Kruse is Product Manager Network Technology, Smart Home and Security at reichelt elektronik. Reichelt elektronik (http://www.reichelt.de) is one of the best-known European online distributors for electronics and IT technology.

The ongoing digitization of patient records, folders and documentation has led to, and will continue to lead to, greater accessibility of reporting or research documents. But what will truly revolutionize medical practice, research or service management is the ability to make medical and diagnostic experiences contained in this ocean of documents accessible to both software programs and the service users themselves. This involves technologies and methods that can automatically identify - according to the terminology used in each case in the report - the symptom, the associated pathology, the drug, and the effect of a treatment on that pathology, potentially at large scale, i.e., across all digital documents created by inpatient, diagnostic, or research facilities. This process of "scanning" may seem relatively straightforward, as it follows our brain's "learning by experience" model: The challenge becomes apparent when we try to automatically apply the process to documents created without any structure to describe in advance which term is a "drug", which is a "treatment", and which is a "therapy".

New opportunities for Health Care 4.0

To fill this gap, Oracle Italy is collaborating with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (DIETI) at the University of Naples Federico II on a large and, it says, revolutionary research project to develop a solution to this problem, using the latest "graph machine learning" and AI technologies. The project, which is supported by Oracle Labs, Oracle's research and development organization, may create new opportunities for Health Care 4.0 that are unprecedented, it says. It will lead to taking full advantage of the most advanced technologies - such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. This involves extracting valuable information and context from vast amounts of data that are currently unavailable due to lack of structure or unstructured storage. Furthermore, these insights enable the detection, treatment and eventual prevention of diseases.

Application of advanced data science technologies

Diagnosis, prescribed treatments, outcomes and symptoms are data that, thanks to this research project, can be used with full privacy and become part of the wealth of information available for the full digitization of healthcare processes, providing healthcare and research staff with a valuable source of data for treatment pathways. The research team is working to apply the most advanced Data Science technologies. This is initially with the goal of organizing the information content of these documents - often just cursory annotations, with abundant use of technical terms and abbreviations - into charts, units, and relationships so that they can be used for automated data analysis to extract specific indicators identified from time to time. The ultimate goal is to create a system that can be navigated and used in natural language, and that is equally capable of "training" digital assistants for use in remote services, such as teleassistance services.

Another benefit of developing such advanced information extraction techniques will be the ability to create electronic patient records in a new format that requires fewer data entry fields, providing staff with a more natural user experience, similar to the traditional one they are used to: A fundamental requirement for the rapid adoption and spread of digitization of medical activities "in the field".

Practical benefit confirmed in the clinic

"In terms of AI, ML and data management, we've done our best in this research," comments Gabriele Folchi, Strategy & Transformation Director at Oracle. "We feed it with the extensive know-how of Oracle's research and development labs in Zurich, which specialize in analytics and machine learning techniques. For data management, we apply technologies and solutions in which Oracle has been a leader for decades. In addition, we provide Oracle Cloud Infrastructure resources to the world's best scientific research institutions through our Oracle for Research program."

An initial comment on the project was made by Dr. Roberto Labianca, medical oncologist and former director of the Cancer Center at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo. "As a clinician, I see a whole range of interesting spin-offs for daily practice as well as for the design of research projects. The use of a common language and the possibility of comparing different experiences, made fully communicable with this methodology, represent the basis for a continuous gain of knowledge in my specialty, the oncology field."

In the course of the research, a collaboration between Oracle and DIETI has also been established as part of the master's degree program in "Data Science". Researchers from Oracle give lectures to the students and internship programs have been set up at the Oracle Lab facilities in Zurich.

Source: Oracle

It is a declaration of war against CO2: InterXion, operator of several data centers, and the Elektra Baselland EBL cooperative are joining forces for the Airport City region - smart, sustainable and ecological, as they say. The reason for this is the endeavor to use local energy more sustainably and to emit massively less CO2. The energy network is intended to heat buildings with virtually no CO2 emissions and to cool them in a sustainable manner. The project is also being backed by the Zurich electorate, which approved a new energy law by 62.6 percent in the vote on November 28, 2021. This law is intended to reduce the climate-damaging CO2 emissions caused by oil and gas heating systems by 40 percent. In future, oil and gas heating systems must be replaced by climate-neutral heating systems. Energieverbund Airport City now stands up for a regional, sustainable and climate-friendly heating and cooling solution.

Energy network has long been worthwhile

Data centers require a lot of power, but they produce a lot of waste heat when they are performing at their best. Until now, this heat has simply been released into the environment. So why not make smart use of it? Because then an entire region can benefit from it. The three partners came to this conclusion three years ago and, based on a study and clarification of requirements, planned the construction of an energy network with the aim of generating minimum emissions for heating and cooling and using the unused waste heat from the data center in the energy network. The energy density or demand in the area between Glattbrugg station and Balsberg for heating and cooling is so high that an energy network for district heating and cooling has long been worthwhile. "If we need so much energy, we want to use it carefully," says Hans Jörg Denzler, Managing Director of InterXion. "In 2011, we decided that 100 percent of our electricity would come from renewable sources. Since 2013, CO2 has been compensated. We therefore see the Airport City district heating network as the next logical step towards sustainable data center operations."

The partners of the energy network

For Energie Opfikon AG, it was important to carry out such a project with a leading and highly experienced energy and heat contractor like EBL. The energy group from Basel-Landschaft has been active in the heating business for 25 years and now operates 50 district heating networks in Switzerland with a capacity of over 163 MW. Based on a public tender with a subsequent evaluation process, EBL was also able to convince with the Airport City energy network. EBL will therefore now build an energy center on the InterXion site, from which the district heating/district cooling pipelines for Rümlang and Opfikon will then originate. It will be responsible for the entire project development, planning, construction, financing and operation of the plant. The energy center, with potential expansion options, will be located underground on the site of the Zurich data center.

The energy network uses the waste heat from these data centers as its primary energy source, which is available year-round and 24 hours a day. According to InterXion, the computing power of the two existing data centers and one newly added data center totals 41 MW. The waste heat, which is constantly available due to the 24/7 operation, is processed by large heat pumps and made usable for the connected customers. The waste heat from the chillers is used by the energy center to generate heat in the summer. In summer, customers require heat not only for hot water production but also for their operational processes.

Heat supply from winter 2024 at the earliest

The final project decision will now be made in mid-2022, and implementation is scheduled to start at the end of 2023. If everything goes according to plan, heat can be supplied from winter 2024. The acquisition phase has already begun, as Tobias Andrist, CEO of EBL, confirmed on request. Currently, conventional heating solutions, mostly oil or gas heating systems, are still in use in many places in the Opfikon/Glattbrugg area. Legal pressure will mean that these systems will have to be successively replaced. "We are now contacting the owners, inquiring about the respective status of the heating life cycle or whether a new construction or conversion is pending. On the other hand, companies or property owners can approach us on their own initiative," explains Andrist.

Operational safety guaranteed

But how secure is the supply of heat from data centers? Hans Jörg Denzler can reassure us in this regard. The reliability is very high, "the downtimes are no more than 10 seconds per year," says Denzler. And it is also unlikely that the company will abandon the site in the short term. That's because the long-term contracts alone with the data center customers who operate their servers at InterXion ensure that. "The service life of a data center in itself is more than 50 years," explains Hans Jörg Denzler. "This also applies to the diesel generators that would be used in the event of a power outage: These are only in operation for a few hours a year. Of course, they are constantly being upgraded." Fossil fuels for sustainable data center operation? That certainly goes together. If traditional diesel were banned, there would be a switch to biodiesel or synthetic fuel. "Since we have a high demand for operational reliability, we only use tried-and-tested products. We can't afford to experiment," says Denzler. 

Further information

Ricoh, the provider of document management solutions, IT services, communication services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras and industrial systems, is acquiring the Swiss company Axon Ivy AG. The Tokyo-based group is thus taking over the renowned platform for digital process automation. Ricoh customers worldwide are to benefit from innovations in software development and faster digital transformation processes. It will also give them direct access to a powerful, industry-recognized platform for automating and orchestrating business processes with low-code/no-code support, according to the group. "This acquisition is part of Ricoh's strategic investment in growing our digital services business. It expands our ability to support customers worldwide in their digital transformation and strengthens Ricoh's position as a Digital Services Company," said Akira Oyama, president of Ricoh's Digital Services Business Unit.

Headquartered in Lucerne, with offices in Austria and Germany and subsidiaries in the US and Singapore, Axon Ivy has more than two decades of experience in developing software platforms and solutions that help customers achieve their digital transformation goals. The company will continue to operate under its existing name as a Ricoh Group company and all employees will be retained. According to the announcement, customers and partners will continue to receive the same high-quality service. In addition, Axon Ivy customers will benefit from Ricoh's global reach and access to a broad portfolio of digital services. Ricoh's solutions are designed to make workplaces seamlessly digital and help businesses realize innovation, increased security and greater sustainability through technology. Rolf Gebhard Stephan, CEO Axon Ivy AG, said, "I see tremendous value in becoming part of the Ricoh global family. We have developed one of the most reliable and user-friendly platforms for digital process automation. Especially in Central Europe, our track record is impressive. We will continue to focus on our core competencies of technology and flexibility, benefiting in the future from Ricoh's access to all major markets around the world."

Source and further information

The new year is only a few weeks old - and already numerous ransomware cases are known again. Strengthening the line of defense does not necessarily prevent attacks, but it does demolish the hackers' business model. Attacked systems are back online within minutes, with up-to-date data. That is why the extended 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule is to be favored. All companies should introduce and apply this in 2022. The 3-2-1-1-0 rule is considered an important best practice for companies that want to maintain very high service levels while protecting themselves from data loss.

3: Keep at least three copies of your data

In addition to the primary data, there should be at least two other backup files to be adequately protected. The likelihood of "something going wrong" on three devices at the same time is much lower than on two devices - especially if the primary backup is located near the primary data, as is so often the case. In the event of a disaster, the primary data and the primary backup could be lost. The secondary backup should therefore not be located in the immediate vicinity of the primary data.

2: Store backups on two different media

It is recommended to back up one of the backup copies to an internal hard disk drive and the other copy to a removable storage device (tape, external hard disk drive, cloud storage).

Keeping both versions of the backup on the same type of storage media increases the risk of losing all backup data once a failure or cyber-attack occurs.

Alternatively, the primary backup can be on the internal hard disk drives of a physical server and the secondary backup can be on the internal hard disk drives of a NAS, and the hard disk drives of the two systems should be of different brands, sizes, and types.

1: Keep at least one backup copy off-site

At least one backup copy should not be kept at the location where the primary data and the primary backup are located. This is because in the event of some (natural) disaster - such as a fire or flood - everything in that one location could be destroyed. Therefore, if the primary data, the primary backup and the secondary backup are all kept in the same facility, they will be lost forever.

Organizations that do not have multiple locations can store a copy of their backup data in a private cloud through a service provider or in the public cloud. 

1: Save at least one copy offline

It is recommended to keep at least one backup copy offline, thus separate from the network and any IT infrastructure. Examples of offline media are rotating external USB hard disks, analog tapes and object storage with immutability as functionality.

After all, if a hacker successfully gains access to the IT environment, everything on the network is potentially vulnerable. To fully protect the data, the offline copy should be protected with an encryption key to prevent external or internal threats from accessing it over the network. This is commonly referred to as air-gapped backup.

0: Make sure your backups are error-free

Backups are only as good as the process used to check them. First, backups must be monitored daily to find errors and fix them as quickly as possible. Second, it should be ensured that the data is recoverable from the backup by performing recovery tests at regular intervals.

Take the 3-2-1-1-0 rule to heart

The 3-2-1-0 rule is a logical evolution of the better known 3-2-1 rule, which was conceived by world-renowned photographer Peter Krogh. This original rule states that one should always keep three copies of data on two different media and one copy off-site. Given the magnitude and diversity of threats to business continuity in the digital economy, this guideline should be considered a starting point. To achieve the high level of resilience required by the increasingly volatile threat landscape, organizations need to add another 1 and a 0. Not only should a copy be kept offsite, but an offline copy should also be created that is immutable - always keeping in mind that there should be no surprises from errors when data is recovered. Therefore, a solution for testing the recovery must be used to be sure that all stored data can be completely restored in the shortest possible time.

Source: Veeam

On January 27, 2022, the Energy Commission of the Council of States began deliberations on the Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy Sources (jacket decree). The target values for electricity production from renewable energies envisaged in the Federal Council's dispatch on this law are, in the view of Swissolarthe umbrella organization of the solar energy industry, is set too low to achieve security of supply on the one hand and the net zero target 2050 on the other. Therefore, Swissolar has formulated corresponding demands in an 11-point program presented on January 26, 2022. For example, instead of 39 terawatt hours (TWh) of production in 2050, 50 TWh should be targeted, of which 45 TWh should come from photovoltaic systems. This value corresponds to less than half of the solar potential in Switzerland. Therefore, an annual expansion of 1100 MW (until 2025) or 2000 MW (until 2030) is required. In particular, the enormous potential of photovoltaics on facades and the expansion of hydroelectric storage power must be exploited. In this way, according to Swissolar, the energy supply can also be guaranteed in the winter months.

Create conditions for faster expansion with 11-point program

"Solar energy will provide electricity in Switzerland in large quantities - renewable, timely and cost-effective. However, for this transition to succeed, we need to build more and faster," says Jürg Grossen, president of Swissolar. Electricity imports - for example during the winter - are not an alternative, all the more so "if bilateral agreements are allowed to erode," as Grossen states with regard to the missing electricity market agreement with the EU. All in all, more subsidies are needed for the construction of new photovoltaic plants. According to projections by Swissolar, the current situation is sufficient at most for an increase of 700 MW per year.

The decisive advantage of photovoltaics is that it produces energy where it is needed. But structural measures are only one aspect. Swissolar's demands go further. Directly related to the jacket decree, for example, is the demand for an increase in the grid surcharge of 0.5 centimes per kilowatt hour, as well as a uniformly regulated purchase remuneration, which is based on the market price, but at the same time has a lower limit.

Better integration of photovoltaics into power grids

Also to be considered in this law, according to Swissolar, are the proposals for optimal integration of photovoltaics into the electricity grids. With local energy communities, as they already exist in other European countries, incentives would be set for the construction of PV systems with local self-consumption - without additional subsidies and without the need for expensive grid expansions. For example, a company with a large roof area could build a solar plant on it and sell the electricity generated there locally, e.g. to the neighboring neighborhood. This is not yet possible or attractive today, because a necessary prerequisite would be reduced grid costs.

In addition, tariff incentives must be created to regulate flexibilities at the grid connection point in order to avoid overloads. The booming electromobility will play a decisive role here: The available daily storage capacity in electric cars will be greater than the current daily production of all Swiss nuclear power plants. The power that can be flexibly switched on and off at any time will be up to ten times greater than that of today's nuclear power plants. In order to exploit this potential, the technical standards and political framework conditions must be adapted quickly.

More solar power could be produced

The other proposed measures concern spatial planning: the approval practice must be simplified, also for ground-mounted systems. In addition, the future high demand for solar panels should no longer be met solely by manufacturers from the Far East. The solar industry in Europe, which was still the leader until a few years ago, has now migrated almost exclusively to China, where around 95 percent of the components are currently manufactured - not least thanks to massive state support. This is why Swissolar is also calling on the Swiss government to adopt a little more industrial policy: our country should participate in the rebuilding of a European solar industry and invest in the education and training of skilled workers. Switzerland is already a leader in the development of integrated photovoltaic solutions, e.g. roof tiles or façade panels that produce electricity directly.

Another demand in the 11-point program includes the reduction of unnecessary additional costs and administrative barriers. Solar installers spend around half their time in the office instead of being able to build, complains Noah Heynen, Swissolar board member and CEO of Helion, Bouygues E&S InTec Schweiz AG. The procedures are complicated and make solar installations unnecessarily expensive, he says.

Photovoltaic promotion through obligation and incentives

The cantons are also addressed in the 11-point program: Already 18 cantons have introduced an obligation for new buildings to generate their own electricity, which creates a strong incentive for the construction of photovoltaic systems. More electricity could be produced on the roofs and facades of existing buildings (approx. 66 TWh) than Switzerland currently consumes. Swissolar therefore proposes to introduce an obligation to use all suitable surfaces on new buildings and renovations in all cantons. Tax incentives could also be used to increase the expansion, for example by making the costs of new photovoltaic buildings fully tax-deductible.

However, the ball is in the politicians' court when it comes to implementing this 11-point program. Experience with the CO2 Act, for example, shows that proposals that are overloaded have a hard time with the electorate. Jürg Grossen - who, as you know, is himself a member of the National Council - is convinced, however, that we cannot afford to jeopardize photovoltaics as the mainstay for achieving the net zero target. If the expansion were to be delayed, we would have a real problem in this respect. 

The 11-point program in brief

1. Clear and binding targets for renewable energies
2. Creating professional opportunities in the solar industry
3. Solar components from Switzerland and Europe
4. Increase of the network surcharge and acceleration of the one-off payment
5. Clear and uniform regulation of the purchase price throughout Switzerland
6. Solar obligations for new construction and renovation
7. Removing spatial planning hurdles
8. Reduction of additional costs and bureaucracy
9. Local energy communities
10. Designing grid capacities dynamically, incorporating electromobility
11. Tariff structures/network usage charge

The Digital Ethics Sentiment Barometer of the HWZ and the Centre for Digital Responsibility measures the digital responsibility of companies in Switzerland every year. This year's survey by Cornelia Diethelm, head of the CAS Digital Ethics at the HWZ, shows one thing: The topic of digital ethics has arrived in the consciousness of employees and managers and is considered to be relevant to the reputation of their own company.

Experience with ethically controversial projects

According to the survey, which was conducted from mid-November to the end of December 2021 and in which 225 people participated, a large majority of companies have experience with ethically controversial projects. This relates primarily to the handling of collected data, which enables data analyses and evaluations involving customer data (77%). Other experiences with controversial projects include datafication in the workplace (33%) and dealing with new technologies (32%).

Increasing awareness of digital ethics

Companies are not only sensitized to the responsible handling of data. The survey further shows that ethical issues have already been integrated into internal policies and processes in several companies: Every second person states that the data management (51%) as well as the data strategy (46%) contain corresponding specifications. An ethics policy often exists (38%) or is at least planned. In general, according to Cornelia Diethelm, head of the study: "Large companies have guidelines for data management and data strategy, and they have an ethics policy. Regardless of size, however, many companies are working on ethical guidelines, which our new survey has once again confirmed. "

Digital ethics is a matter for the boss

Fortunately, the survey shows that digital ethics is present at the executive level: management is one of the most important internal advocates. "Digital ethics is digital responsibility in action. For companies, it is a far-sighted investment in good customer relations," says Ralph Hutter, Head of Product Development and Research at HWZ IDB.

However, the central drivers of digital ethics in companies are people from data protection. Differences make it clear that within a company, goals are also pursued that contradict each other. "Consciously addressing digital ethics can help to systemically address internal conflicting goals. Business practices must be brought into line with ethical guidelines that reflect the company's values and are also perceived accordingly from the outside," emphasizes Cornelia Diethelm.

Customers want data security

The survey makes it clear that companies take the expectations of their customers seriously. Companies can position themselves as attractive employers if they take the issue of digital ethics seriously. Those who handle data responsibly are not only investing in good customer relationships. The company can also gain a competitive advantage by positioning itself as a trustworthy company, especially in the face of foreign competitors.

Source: HWZ