SDI releases Annual Report 2020

2020 was a challenging year but also proved productive for the Swiss Digital Initiative. In addition to creating the Foundation and securing funding, there were significant activities around the first project of the initiative: the development of a Digital Trust Label. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 crisis shows even more clearly the need for an organization like the Swiss Digital Initiative as we need to ask ourselves what kind of digitalisation we want and to what end new tools and technologies should serve.

The Swiss Digital Initiative has released its Annual Report for 2020 outlining activities over the last year as well as the outlook for 2021. Following the Kick-Off at the Swiss Global Digital Summit in Geneva in 2019, 2020 was the year the Swiss Digital Initiative really started to take form. In addition to activities related to the establishment of the Foundation, work on the first project – the Digital Trust Label – was at the center of our work. We will continue this important effort and work on launching additional projects to continue advancing digital trust and practice-oriented ethics in the digital age.

The full report is available here.

A challenging but productive year

The Swiss Digital Initiative was officially launched at the Davos Day of WEF 2020. In the beginning of 2020, our work focussed on activities related to the build-up of the Foundation and fundraising. We are very happy to contribute to a vibrant international digital ecosystem in Geneva with our offices at the Campus Biotech where we can further strengthen the emerging cluster with like-minded organizations such as GESDA and the CyberPeace Institute.

Our first project – the development of a Digital Trust Label – made real progress over the last year thanks to user studies and workshops with all relevant stakeholders as well as a public consultation process and the efforts of a committed Label Expert Committee. This important foundational work gives us a good basis to further advance this bold idea.

From the beginning, the Swiss Digital Initiative followed the multi-stakeholder approach and was even identified by the UN Environment Programme as one of “the 20 top multi-stakeholder processes in 2020 to advance a digital ecosystem for the planet.” In this vein, we are happy to welcome Anja Wyden Guelpa on the Foundation Board to further strengthen the perspective of civil society.

Outlook 2021

The year 2021 will be dedicated to operationalizing and implementing a first pilot of the Digital Trust Label, the launching of additional projects and to further strengthening the structure and operational set-up of the Swiss Digital Initiative.

To this end, SDI will develop synergies and stronger partnerships for concrete cross-cutting and interdisciplinary projects. In addition, the international network will be deepened and synergies with existing initiatives in Geneva will be strengthened.

Contact for further information:

Niniane Paeffgen

Managing Director SDI

niniane@sdi-foundation.org