What is your association doing to make Bernese SMEs more resilient to threats from cyberspace?

We regularly make our approximately 21,000 members aware of the dangers through the information channels available to us and try to sensitise them to them.

What role do new technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous systems play with regard to the innovative strength of local SMEs?

As our 5th Bern SME Barometer - a survey of around 800 companies - has shown, Bern's SMEs recognise the importance of artificial intelligence and also assume that it will change working life. Many SMEs are convinced that AI will change the way their employees work or that it will simplify their own work. SMEs in Bern currently use artificial intelligence most frequently in the areas of administration, marketing and sales. Bernese SMEs are currently investing the same amount in in-house IT as in employees, which is very remarkable.

You are committed to an economically sustainable future. As director of the largest business association in the canton of Berne with 21,000 members, what are your most important goals and expectations for strengthening and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region?

Our main goal is to create the best possible long-term framework conditions in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Canton of Berne. We work towards this every day in collaboration with our members, partner associations and the authorities. In particular, this involves keeping the burden of taxes, fees and charges on SMEs low, promoting vocational training, minimising bureaucracy and ensuring that transport routes function properly.

Lars Guggisberg

Swiss National Councillor & Director of the Bernese SME Trade Association