December 17, 2025 | Boston

In early December, 2000, an article in the New York Times introduced Americans to the new Swiss mission which had recently opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Describing the Swiss House for Advanced Research and Education (SHARE), as Swissnex was initially known, the paper remarked that it was “less Old World consulate and more 21st-century conduit to the Boston area’s hotbed of technological and academic innovation, the outpost aims to encourage a new generation of Swiss businesspeople to think more like their American counterparts.”

The article ran under the title “Coming to America to Learn a Secret: Boldness”—yet the creation of Swissnex already marked a bold departure from traditional diplomacy. As the world’s first consulate dedicated exclusively to people-to-people exchange in science and innovation, it marked a fundamental rethinking of how nations could connect, and quickly inspired similar initiatives by other countries. Built on a public–private funding model, supported in part by a generous founding contribution from the Swiss bank Lombard Odier, Swissnex’s entrepreneurial mindset also distinguished it from existing diplomatic institutions. In the years that followed, Swissnex grew into a global network with offices in San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, Bangalore, and Osaka, and representatives embedded in more than 20 Swiss embassies worldwide.

On December 5, 2025, Swissnex marked its 25th anniversary with a celebration at the Boston office that started it all. The evening brought together partners, friends, and alumni, alongside a delegation of Swiss university leaders led by Martina Hirayama, Switzerland’s State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation. In her remarks, Hirayama reflected on the original intention behind Swissnex’s founding—to strengthen cross-border networks, inspire action, identify trends, and spot opportunities for collaboration— and how Boston, with its unique density of top universities, was the natural place to do so.

The evening wove together past, present, and future, with highlights including video greetings from previous CEOs of Swissnex in Boston and New York and an edible food installation created by Swiss chef Regine Bigler Jacob in collaboration with Massachusetts floral designer Jeffrey Pratt. As part of the celebration, Philipe Roesle, the current CEO, officially launched the Planetary Embassy in Boston, a six-month initiative exploring the possibility of a more-than-human diplomacy. “Swissnex operates in step with the contemporary zeitgeist,” said Roesle. “This adaptability and responsiveness remain important as we face new defining moments, such as the climate crisis and the future habitability of our planet.”

Looking ahead, Hirayama emphasized that the future depends on our ability to inspire collaboration across conventional boundaries, and expressed confidence that Swissnex will continue to serve as a vital conduit for innovation and problem-solving between Switzerland, Boston, and the world.