Press release
Date: February 12, 2010
Switzerland and Slovakia discuss role of values on the path to sustainable business success
Based on the initiative of the Swiss Embassy in Slovakia, a conference of leading Swiss and Slovak representatives sharing their experiences with principles constituting the basis of sustainable entrepreneurial success took place in Bratislava on Friday. The event was held under the auspices of the Speaker of the Slovak National Council Pavol Paska and the Swiss Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova. Foremost personalities of the private sector and academia, and representatives of non-governmental organisations of both countries accepted invitations to the conference. A first part was dedicated to ideas on how to transfer principles of sustainability into practice by creating a suitable political framework and culture. The second part featured three specialised workshops on innovations in healthcare, on education and social responsibility, as well as on sustainable waste management.
The Conference “Switzerland – Slovakia: Similar, different – together successful” took place on the initiative of the Swiss Embassy and with the support of two sponsoring companies Novartis and Holcim Slovakia and with the support of the Swiss Government. “Our objective was to create a platform to discuss values in society that are challenged even more today at the time of the global economic crisis. I particularly mean values such as honesty, reliability, quality and social responsibility,” said the Swiss Ambassador to Slovakia Josef Aregger. “We wanted to draw attention to the fact that Slovak companies dealing with Swiss partners can rely on companies that are innovative, seek sustainable solutions and pay high attention to training and education of their employees,” says the Ambassador.
Two important Swiss companies operating in Slovakia, the pharmaceutical company Novartis Slovakia and the leading supplier of construction materials and services Holcim Slovakia supported the conference. “The name of Novartis derives from latin ‘novae artes’, which means new arts, and symbolises our dedication to research and development so that we can continuously bring new medicaments to broad public. We are convinced that this event has helped joint communication among politicians, science and industry,” Novartis Slovakia director Daniel Weber points out their motivation.
“At Holcim we are convinced that an ongoing exchange of experiences is an important factor for moving forward. The event created a room for a dialogue on important topics such as innovations in healthcare, education and sustainable use of materials and energy potential of wastes with the aim to contribute to Slovakia’s prosperity,” said Holcim Slovakia Board of Directors chair Roland van Wijnen. “Waste is an excellent resource of materials and energy. Switzerland is an example of a country where nearly no waste is disposed, but all is being used for materials or energy. It could be inspiring for Slovakia to acquire additional jobs, better environment protection, and greater independence on resources import, such as natural gas for heating by greater usage of wastes,” concluded Mr. van Wijnen.
The speakers’ presentations will be published already today at www.swissness.sk. Photographs and videos featuring interviews with conference participants will be uploaded in the coming days.
The event structure and speakers
First part entitled “Basic values for sustainable business success”, featured speeches of the Parliament Speaker Pavol Paska and the Swiss Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova, Economiesuisse (Swiss companies association) president Gerold Buehrer, Federation of Employers' Associations president Tomas Malatinsky, and Professor of Applied Economics at University of Basel Silvio Borner. Pavol Paska and Corina Casanova summed up predispositions and potential for building knowledge economy in Slovakia and Switzerland, respectively. Gerold Buehrer and Silvio Borner discussed factors of the Swiss success from a perspective of private sector and economy. Tomas Malatinsky and Gerold Buehrer presented Slovak and Swiss challenges and perspectives. Talks focused not only on similarities and differences of both countries, but mainly on how they could inspire each other.
During the second part of the symposium Swiss and Slovak experts shared their experiences on how interconnection of public and private sector works, with an emphasis on the position of science and research in both countries by means of individual workshops:
- Workshop “Value of innovation and research in healthcare”, led by Adriana Liptakova of the Slovak Agency for Research and Development, featured Slovak Academy of Sciences Chair Jaromir Pastorek, Jan Turna of the Slovak Centre for Scientific and Technology Information, Advisor to Finance Minister Martin Filko, and Iris Rajman of the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research.
- Participants of the second workshop “Social responsibility and education”, moderated by Josef Aregger listened to presentations by Timo Meynhardt of the Center for Leadership and Values in Society of the University of St. Gallen, Vladimir Sirotka of the Slovak Association of Small Companies, Miroslav Beblavy of the Slovak Governance Institute and Patrik Zoltvany of Jenewein Group consultancy.
- Third workshop “Waste as a material resource – a road to sustainability”, was led by Holcim Slovakia manager for sustainable development and communication Peter Robl. Subsequent discussions featured Waste Management Department at the Slovak Environment Ministry director Marcela Pokusova as well as a Swiss consultant in the area of industrial ecology Bernhard de Quervain.
For more information, please contact:
Peter Jancarik
SEESAME Communication Experts
E-mail: jancarik@seesame.com
Phone: +421 2 43 42 29 78