BSwiss 2023 goes Sustainability, FHNW School of Business

As in previous years, the participants of the BSwiss summer school came from all over the world. Along with seven students from the FHNW School of Business, the summer school welcomed four students from Canada, two students from Mexico, two students from Chile, one student from Colombia, three students from Thailand as well as one student from Turkey. International participants usually come from partner schools of the FHNW School of Business.

With its new head, Ms. Anja Siegenthaler, the BSwiss summer school for the first time prominently included the topic of sustainability. To ensure that all of the students share a common understanding of the topic sustainability, our expert Ananda Wyss held a class at the FHNW Campus Muttenz, where students learned about the SDGs (Sustainability Development Goals), heard how Switzerland implements those and they participated in different group works where they actively discussed different challenges and solutions.

Another major highlight of the BSwiss was a guided tour in collaboration with the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW. On 28 July, Angela Grosso Ciponte offered the participants a hands-on experience of what it means and looks like when certain sustainability topics are implemented into practice. Starting the day with a walk to the beautiful Merian Gardens, the students for example learned about Pro Specie Rara, an initiative to preserve the biodiversity of crops and animals in Switzerland. After this excursion in nature, the group continued the day by visiting the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW at Basel Dreispitz. Here, the students engaged with different ideas of industrial design and discussed ideas on how the usage of more sustainable materials will be essential in the future. To get some energy for the afternoon there was a vegan lunch provided at the Jobfactory – which again represents a model for social sustainability, as Jobfactory offers apprenticeships and internships for young people looking for an entry into the job market.

The lunchbreak was followed by a tram journey to Lysbüchel & Westfield, where everyone could see and experience sustainable ways of living and sharing. In the workshop Freiwerk Basel the students witnessed some of the endless possibilities of how people come together and are given room and inspiration for creative works and events. The day ended with a joint Apéro at the Klybeck harbour area, where the participants got to know the up-and-coming party area in Basel.

The company visits included a visit to the famous Roche Towers where the students were given an introduction to the Roche InnoLab, an excursion to a local brewery in Basel called Unser Bier, as well as a visit to the Swiss Institute for Intellectual Property in Berne.

At the end of their first day students visited Unser Bier. They received a guided tour where they were shown how to brew beer and heard about the history of the Basel-based company. The Apéro at Unser Bier was a great opportunity to get to know each other and socialise.

During the visit of the InnoLab at Roche students received insights into the approach of Design Thinking and were given the chance to try it out themselves right away. Despite tiredness and long days the students presented really interesting and creative business ideas and the lively pitches made everyone come out of their shells.

At the Swiss institute for Intellectual Property in Berne, the group had the chance to learn more about the Swiss economic and political system as well as about intellectual property rights in Switzerland.

Moreover, another cultural highlight of the summer school consisted of a guided tour at the Ballenberg – the only openair museum in Switzerland, where students could for example see the different style of Swiss houses in the early days. This experience was then followed by the visit of the parade of Swiss customs and traditions from Interlaken to Unterseen.