SHARE Boston

We are very excited to inform you that construction of our 2nd floor
pavilion at 420 Broadway has finally started and we anticipate to move
back by November.

Groundbreaking took place last Tuesday May 6, 2008. Please stop by
from time to time to check the progress of the work.

I’m looking forward to your being back on Broadway; it’s a couple blocks down the street from where I live - Bette Davis

The swissnex San Francisco team wishes its colleagues in Boston all
the best for the construction phase and looks forward to visiting you
in your new offices asap ! - Christian Simm

great news and great to have an ETA of completion for the Swissnex
building I am sure. - Karen Feinberg

Rights of the Child

As part of the Cambridge Science Festival and within the framework of the ThinkSwiss program, swissnex Boston, the Swiss consulate, and the MIT Museum organized the second Climate Change Walking Tour.
Starting at the MIT Museum with some unique climate change demos, animations, and hands-on workshops especially for kids, the participants had a unique opportunity to learn about climate change science and solutions by walking the route through the MIT campus to various zones with interactive displays and experts. Despite of the rainy weather, lots of water proved attendees followed the competent tour guides.
In addition, each family or participant could calculate its own carbon footprint by walking the trail and replying to questions. A cool prop will allowed the participants to visually realize their footprints!
At the end, we offered to the first 200 finishers a “Green Swiss cookie” and an eco friendly gift. And of course also during the trail there was the occasion to taste various flavors of chocolate offered by Lindt.

But to know what really happened during this Walking Tour, let us listen to the podcast of one of our younger participants called Gus talking about his personal experiences during this afternoon.

The collaboration between the Universities of Applied Sciences Bern and St.Gallen, the Babson College and swissnex Boston provided the participants of the Executive MBA Program 2008 with an outstanding experience also during this year’s stay.

After their mostly theoretical 4-day-seminar on “Innovation to Market” at Babson, swissnex Boston offered two days full of different possibilities to get hands on accounts from people’s direct experiences. Besides the lively presentations from people who bridge Switzerland with the United States, the participants attended a workshop at which they had to prove their own innovation ability. On the second day, the group first visited Biogen Idec and then Patrick Dolberg (President and CEO U.S. part) welcomed the executives at the facilities of Holcim’s U.S. headquarter engaging in a lively exchange.

April 26, 2008
Sierra Leone Day at Harvard
co-sponsored by:
the Consulate of Switzerland

David Sengeh Harvard student and former guide at the Swiss Human Rights Exhibition être at Logan airport organized with his team from the Harvard College Sierra Leone Initiative a festive and meaningful day in honor of Sierra Leone’s 47th Independence Day. The events started with a moving discussion with former child soldier Ishmael Beah, author of the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. The second part included a panel discussion with Sierra Leone’s most known scholar, 93 year old Dr. Karefa-Smart, Ishmael Beah, popular artist Isaiah Washington and Eleanor Thompson, a 2005 Harvard Graduate. The day ended in a dinner in honor of the 4 panelists and the moderator of the day, Cynthia Mesh. The Consulate of Switzerland donated the books Realizing the Rights of the Child and Human Security and Business for panelists and participants. More info: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hcsli/events.html

March 19, Prof. Walter Kälin at Wellesley College

On March 19,  Prof. Walter Kälin held a well received lecture at Wellesley's Slater International Center. His presentation "A common standard of achievement?
Human Rights 60 Years after the Universal Declaration” focused on the many amazing achievements in the field of human rights over the last 60 years. Nevertheless, there are plenty of opportunities in the world to promote justice and dignity for all.

The over 60 highly interested students took full advantage of the opportunity to ask Prof. Kälin a great number of meaningful questions. A Swiss style reception concluded this successful event.

Walter Kaelin is a Professor of constitutional and international public law at the Faculty of Law of Bern, Switzerland. From 1991 to 1992 he served as a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Kuwait under Iraqi occupation. He is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and was also one of the key drafters of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Prof. Kaelin is the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

The Consulate of Switzerland-swissnex Boston

April 9, 2008, 6.30 pm, info-networking event

                                      

                                    

Fabien Kuchler, a student at the University of Applied Sciences in Sion, Switzerland (HES-SO Valais), did his diploma work in Boston. He worked
for six months at the Schepens Eye Research Institute (SERI), an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, under the supervision of Francois Delori, Senior Scientist at the SERI and Associate Professor of ophtalmology at the Harvard Medical School.The purpose of the work was to do the conception of a small reflectometer to measure the reflectance spectrum of the iris. The oral defense of the diploma work has been done by visio-conference at Swissnex, the Consulate of Switzerland in Boston.Contact HES-SO Valais : www.hevs.chContact Fabien : fabienkuchler@netplus.ch