The 4th WORLDWEBFORUM took place in Zurich today. 650 guests attended the sold-out conference, which was devoted to the topic of digital leadership. The international technology elite agreed on one thing: Switzerland has enormous potential for innovation, but is only using a fraction of it.

In his opening speech, Fabian Hediger clearly outlined what the WORLDWEBFORUM seeks to achieve: “We have to think out of the box and beyond our national borders. This is something Switzerland has always drawn strength from”, says the Founder and CEO of the increasingly important conference. This view was shared by 650 international decision makers, who attended the event. Swiss parliamentarian Ruedi Noser supported this approach, saying that Switzerland has to develop a different strategy: “We’re good at getting small things going – but sometimes we fall short when it comes to really growing the business.”

Highlight with former CEO of Apple and Pepsi

This is precisely where the WORLDWEBFORUM comes in. International innovation leaders from various business sectors showed how to actively tackle the challenges posed by digital transformation. In his speech, Google’s Creative Evangelist, Jeremy Abbett, said that “in the search for innovation, we have to play more and think like children.” He is convinced that new business is driven by value, while outdated approaches continue to focus on price. “If you wait too long, you end up in a price war, rather than setting yourself apart with a market advantage from the outset”, said Abbett. The majority of speakers gave the same piece of advice: Believe in your ideas, and you will go far. This is also where the difference in mindsets between individuals from the United States and Switzerland, or Europe in general, came to the surface.

Global CEO of Young & Rubicam, David Sable, summed it up – “Do it big, or stay in bed!”. In his presentation about Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Founder & CEO Dirk Ahlborn announced the development of a test track for Elon Musk’s visionary high-speed train, which has the capacity to travel at a speed of 540 km/h. John Sculley’s session was the highlight of the day. The former CEO of Apple and Pepsi spoke about his history with Steve Jobs, and elaborated on his take on where business opportunities arise today – namely where a specific consumer problem can be solved. “This even makes traditional marketing obsolete, because the customers are so closely networked with each other.”

Startup Award goes to Sobu

Innovation is the driving force behind the WORLDWEBFORUM. Therefore, the “Coolest Startup Award” was presented for the first time this year, giving recognition to young entrepreneurs with unique ideas. Six startups were nominated – Ava, Parquery, Selfnation, Home.Global, Boldomatic, and Sobu – with the latter being selected as the winner. Sobu is Switzerland’s largest recommendation platform, with 200 online shops already involved in the project. The service focuses on social media advertising, and allows buyers and their online networks to profit equally when purchases are made.

Heute fand das 4. WORLDWEBFORUM in Zürich statt. Die mit 650 Gästen ausverkaufte Konferenz widmete sich dem Thema “Digital Leadership”. In einem war sich die internationale Technologie-Elite einig: Die Schweiz hat ein enormes Potenzial für Innovation, genutzt wird jedoch erst ein Bruchteil davon.

Fabian Hediger macht den Anspruch an sein WORLDWEBFORUM gleich bei der Begrüssungsrede klar: “Wir müssen Normen sprengen und über die Grenzen hinausdenken. Das hat die Schweiz schon immer stark gemacht”, so der Gründer und CEO der Veranstaltung. Rund 650 Entscheidungsträger im Publikum pflichteten bei. Ständerat Ruedi Noser unterstützte diesen Ansatz mit der Aussage, die Schweiz müsse mehr Ideen aus dem Ausland adaptieren: „Wir sind gut darin, kleine Dinge zum Laufen zu bringen – aber es mangelt daran, das Business wirklich gross zu machen.”

Höhepunkt mit ehemaligem CEO von Apple und Pepsi

Hier setzt das WORLDWEBFORUM an. Internationale Innovationsführer aus verschiedenen Branchen zeigten heute, wie man der digitalen Transformation aktiv begegnet. „Auf der Suche nach Innovation müssen wir mehr spielen und denken wie Kinder”, sagt Jeremy Abbett. Der Creative Evangelist von Google ist davon überzeugt, dass neues Business von Wert getrieben ist, während altes preisfokussiert ist: “Wartet man zu lange, endet man im Preiskrieg statt sich von Anfang an mit einem Marktvorteil hervorzuheben.” Vertraue auf deine Ideen, und du wirst Erfolg haben. Das ist es, was der Grossteil der Referenten immer wieder propagiert. Hier lässt sich auch oft der Unterschied zwischen dem Mindset der Amerikaner und Schweizer erkennen. Globaler CEO von Young & Rubicam, David Sable, brachte es auf den Punkt – “Do it big, or stay in bed!”.

Gründer und CEO von Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Dirk Ahlborn, kündigte die Entwicklung einer Teststrecke für Elon Musk’s visionären Hochgeschwindigkeitszug “Hyperloop” an, der Menschen in naher Zukunft mit einer Geschwindigkeit von 540 km/h transportieren soll. Der Höhepunkt des Tages war der Auftritt von John Sculley. Der ehemalige CEO von Apple und Pepsi sprach über seine bewegende Vergangenheit mit Steve Jobs, und seine Meinung darüber, wo heute erfolgreiches Business entsteht – nämlich dort, wo ein konkretes Konsumentenproblem gelöst wird. “Das macht sogar das klassische Marketing obsolet, weil die Kunden untereinander so stark vernetzt sind.”

Startup Award geht an Sobu

Innovation ist die treibende Kraft hinter dem WORLDWEBFORUM. Deshalb wurde dieses Jahr zum ersten Mal der “Coolest Startup Award” verliehen. Nominiert waren sechs Startups: Ava, Sobu, Parquery, Selfnation, Home Global, und Boldomatic. Gewonnen hat Sobu, die grösste Schweizer Empfehlungsplattform, bei der bereits 200 Onlineshops engagiert sind. Das Erfolgsrezept: Werbung über Social Media, durch die sowohl der Käufer, als auch sein Online-Netzwerk, gleichermassen profitieren können.

On the 28th of January, the 4th edition of the WORLDWEBFORUM is taking place in Zurich. The well-established conference at Komplex 457 will be focusing on digital transformation. Over 20 speakers will be on stage, including international experts such as John Sculley, fmr. CEO of Apple and Pepsi, and other high-ranking representatives from companies including Google, Uber, HTC, NASA, Y Combinator, Rocketspace, Hyperloop T.T., and more.

The WORLDWEBFORUM’s target audience are business leaders in the Swiss economy. It presents solutions for the successful implementation of digital strategies. Founder & CEO Fabian Hediger wants to make C-level executives think out-of-the-box: “We bring international innovation experts from different sectors to Zurich in order to learn from their success and visions.” The WORLDWEBFORUM becomes more widely recognized each year: Swisscom and Swiss Post have committed to long-term partnerships. New main partners include Ringier, Leonteq, Swiss Life, and the Aduno Group.

Top-class speakers
The WORLDWEBFORUM has received much attention from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Representatives of the most successful incubators, including Kirsty Nathoo, Partner & CFO at Y Combinator, Duncan Logan, Founder & CEO of RocketSpace, and Bruce Gibney, fmr. Partner at Founders Fund, have secured their position on this year’s Panel “Startup”. Among countless other companies, they have launched Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Hootsuite, Reddit, and Spotify.

The highlight of the conference is a fireside chat between John Sculley, fmr. CEO of Apple and Pepsi, and Thomas Schulz, Silicon Valley Correspondent for Business & Technology at Der Spiegel. Other renowned experts speaking on January 28th include Matt Atkin, Head of Strategy at Uber, David Sable, Global CEO of Young & Rubicam, Claude Zellweger, Vice President of Design at HTC, Ambarish Mitra, Co-founder & CEO of augmented reality app Blippar, and Dirk Ahlborn, Founder & CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

New: Startup Award and 9 Satellite Events

The WORLDWEBFORUM is all about innovation. Therefore, the “Coolest Startup Award” will be introduced at the 2016 conference, in order to empower young entrepreneurs with unique ideas. The jury consists of Prof. Markus Püschel, Head of the Computer Science Department at ETH, Dominique von Matt, President of the Board at Jung von Matt / Limmat, Thomas Dübendorfer, President of the Swiss ICT Investor Club, and Fabian Hediger, Founder & CEO of WORLDWEBFORUM.

Satellite events are becoming an increasingly relevant format at WORLDWEBFORUM. Apart from those organized by main partners, the conference is organizing two of its own satellite events. WORLDWEBFORUM/FinTech is an event dedicated to financial technology and the sector’s risks and opportunities. Another official satellite event is the WORLDWEBFORUM/NextGeneration which is taking place at ETH Zurich and has an audience of students and young entrepreneurs.

Following on from Steve Wozniak last March, WORLDWEBFORUM will be honored to welcome a further Apple veteran to Zurich in John Sculley. As Apple CEO, Sculley made the Mac the best-­selling computer in the world. He had a tremendous influence on the development and use of modern technology, and remains a major innovator and motivator in the high tech industry to this day.

John Sculley (76) rose to international fame as the CEO of Apple from 1983 to 1993, and is regarded as a marketing genius. His impressive career has already been portrayed in several films, such as “Pirates of Silicon Valley” and “Jobs”, and the new film “Steve Jobs” by Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle coming to cinemas in the fall.

John Sculley started with Pepsi-­Cola as a trainee in 1967. By the age of 30 he had become the company’s youngest marketing vice president, and in 1977 became its youngest-­ever president and CEO. Steve Jobs attracted him to Apple in 1983, seeking to bring his visionary marketing approach for multinational groups to Silicon Valley. Success soon followed with the first Macintosh computer: during his time as Apple CEO, the Mac became the best-­selling computer in the world. John Sculley ultimately ousted Steve Jobs and quadrupled the company’s revenues, but had to leave Apple in 1993. Since then he has been active as an independent entrepreneur and investor. He has supported a whole range of start-­ups, has been active in Big Data analytics, and has helped establish leading biotech and healthcare firms, some of which he remains involved with to this day.

Latest project: cheap smartphones
John Sculley has always been driven by delivering exceptional customer experience – this was already the case at Apple, long before the smartphone era. Now he is lining up against his former employer with the start-­up Obi Worldphone. Its eponymous smartphones are to be cheap and technically sophisticated, with the focus being on the custom user interface Lifespeed and the design. The latter have been developed by Robert Brunner, whose company designed the Beats headphones until Beats was bought by Apple. Obi Worldphones will be on sale online from October, and available in retail stores in certain countries.

• Swisscom and Swiss Post bolstering commitment as Main Partners
• Leonteq, Swiss Life and Ringier new Main Partners
• Strategic Board with Pierin Vincenz, Marc Walder, Ivo Furrer, and Susanne Ruoff
• Speakers to include former nuclear submarine commander David Marquet on high-­stress situations

The WORLDWEBFORUM increases in importance every year, enjoying impressive growth. Swiss Post and Swisscom have expanded their long-­term commitment to the event as Main Partners, and new Main Partners have also come on board: Leonteq, Ringier, and Swiss Life. They are all also founding members of the newly launched initiative DigitalZurich2025, which aims to position the Greater Zurich Area as an attractive location for digital start-­ups, companies and talents, and to assist firms throughout Switzerland in mastering digital challenges. “The annual digital conference WORLDWEBFORUM is an ideal partner for DigitalZurich2025 since it is already successfully established and has a global reach,” said Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier and one of the founders of DigitalZurich2025. Ivo Furrer, CEO of Swiss Life Switzerland: “I am delighted with this partnership with WORLDWEBFORUM. Digital transformation is having an effect on Switzerland’s economy as a whole and is being felt in all sectors – and we want to help in addressing this change actively with an approach driven by innovation.”

Strategic support from leading figures in Swiss business
Together with CEO Fabian Hediger, those responsible for the event have set up a new Strategic Board. With its wealth of expertise, this high-­caliber body is to take the WORLDWEBFORUM to the next level. The board comprises leading figures from Swiss business, such as Marc Walder (CEO of Ringier), Susanne Ruoff (CEO of Swiss Post), Ivo Furrer (CEO of Swiss Life Switzerland), Roger Wüthrich-­Hasenböhler (Head of SME division at Swisscom), and Pierin Vincenz (CEO of Raiffeisen Switzerland and President-­designate of the Board of Directors at Helvetia Insurance). Dr. Vincenz added: “I was very impressed by the quality of speakers at the WORLDWEBFORUM 2015. This is a platform where Swiss CEOs can get fresh inspiration, showing them how they as leaders should be dealing with the digital transformation. It also offers a superlative networking opportunity. I am proud to be able to play my part in the successful development of the conference going forward.”

Exciting speakers in store as in 2015
At the 3rd WORLDWEBFORUM in March 2015, Steve Wozniak enthralled the audience as the keynote speaker. On January 28, 2016, a range of nationally and internationally renowned speakers will once again present their visionary insights into leadership. For example, one confirmed attendee is David Marquet: the former commander of the nuclear submarine USS Santa Fe and bestselling author will talk about his leadership strategy, centered on delivering the best results even in high-­pressure environments where there is no margin for error. His key message to the CEOs is that leadership means relinquishing control and making it possible for leaders to emerge at all levels.
Another eagerly awaited speaker is Richard Ayers, former Head of Digital for the top English football club Manchester City. With his company Seven League, he advises clients such as UEFA, Wimbledon, UFC, Premier League, Juventus, etc. on their digital strategy, and has received many awards in this field. Other confirmed speakers include the former Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, and Jeremy Abbett, creative evangelist at Google. SPIEGEL’s US correspondent Thomas Schulz, whose Silicon Valley Blog presents regular reports from the technology epicenter around San Francisco and who wrote the book “What Google Really Wants”, will also be addressing the conference. A multi-­award-­winning journalist, he experienced the rise and fall of the new economy at first hand at with an Internet start-­up.