How Swiss ‘unicorns’ and start-ups are faring in California

More than 150 Swiss start-ups have received a boost from California entrepreneurship, and three of them are already worth $1 billion. This is a source of pride for Swissnex in San Francisco. SWI swissinfo.ch met its CEO, Emilia Pasquier. “I've always worked at the intersection of innovation, science and politics,” says Emilia Pasquier. “And for me, California is a symbol of freedom and new ideas.” Before arriving in San Francisco in September 2022, Pasquier spent four years working as an advisor to Alain Berset, then the Swiss interior minister. Before that, she ran Foraus, a participatory think tank on foreign policy. >> In this short video Emilia Pasquier explains what young Swiss entrepreneurs can learn from Silicon Valley: Swissnex, the Swiss “scientific consulate” in San Francisco, is 20 years old. It is part of a network that stretches from both coasts of the United States to Japan, via Brazil, India, China and Singapore. “We welcome scientists, academics and start-ups,...