Geneva Loading.... Preparing for the AI Summit 2027

Geneva Loading....

From November 16–20, 2026, Swissnex in San Francisco opens its doors to twelve Swiss thought leaders for a week inside the ecosystem where frontier AI is built, funded and contested.

The program brings together journalists, researchers, civil society leaders and founders from Switzerland who will carry what they find here to the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva as independent voices.

About the Program

The AI Summit 2027 in Geneva will bring together a cohort of global leaders, researchers, and civil society actors to shape the trajectory of AI governance worldwide. Substantial participation in these conversations demands firsthand fluency with the environments where foundational models are being researched, built, deployed.

Geneva Loading… is designed to close this gap. By immersing selected participants from Switzerland in the heart of Silicon Valley’s AI ecosystem, the program exposes the group to a deliberately diverse range of actors, from frontier AI labs, to civil society organizations, independent researchers, and critical voices within the field.

Through site visits, roundtables, and direct interpersonal exchanges, participants will engage with the ecosystem across perspectives, from those accelerating AI design and development to those scrutinizing its risks, harms, and societal impact. The group will encounter the tensions, trade-offs, and lived realities. This exposure will equip the cohort to engage as informed, independent, and trusted voices at the AI Summit and beyond.

The program is a collaboration between Swissnex in San Francisco and Mercator Foundation Switzerland.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

1. Preparatory Day (Zurich, Sept. 30, 2026)

A closed afternoon session followed by a public event during the Zurich AI Festival.

2. Silicon Valley Immersion (San Francisco, Nov. 16–20, 2026)

A structured week with site visits, roundtables, and workshops, bringing participants into direct conversation with researchers, investors, civil society, and critical voices within the field.

3. AI Summit (Geneva, June 21–22, 2027)

Participants will help shape the conversation at a side event at the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva and produce at least one public-facing output connected to the AI Summit or the challenges of global AI governance.

Events

Geneva Loading… Bringing a Silicon Valley Perspective to the AI Summit 2027
September 30, 2026
6–8:30pm · Zurich
Registration

When Every Minute Counts: AI in Crisis situations
November 18, 2026
San Francisco
Registration opening soon

Geneva Loading… Public Evening [working title]
November 19, 2026
San Francisco
Registration opening soon

Contact

Please contact Maulde Cuérel, AI & Tech Foresight Program Manager, for any questions.

Program Cohort

Nadine Bienefeld

Senior Researcher & Lecturer, ETH Zurich, University of Lucerne

Nadine Bienefeld (PD Dr. ETH) is a cognitive psychologist and human factors expertstudying human–AI collaboration in high-risk industries. With roots in aviation (SWISS, NASA Ames) and a decade of research on AI-in-healthcare, she leads LLM implementation across four Swiss university hospitals and advises companies and governments on effective, human-centered AI adoption.

Arnout Devos

Lecturer, ETH AI Center (ETH Zurich)

Arnout Devos is a Lecturer at the ETH AI Center (ETH Zurich), working on large-scale AI for science and innovation. They previously worked at Amazon, Spotify, and Stanford. Arnout holds a PhD in AI from EPFL as a Marie Curie Fellow, a master’s in CS from USC as a BAEF Fellow, and undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering & Management from KU Leuven.

Ruth Fulterer

Tech Journalist, NZZ

Ruth Fulterer is a technology journalist at NZZ. For more than five years, she has been covering AI, Big Tech and other topics at the intersection of society and technology. Originally from Italy, she studied philosophy and economics in Vienna.

Armin Galliker

Senior Software Architect, Siemens

Armin Galliker is a Senior Software Architect at Siemens Smart Infrastructure headquarters in Zug, where he leads Data-Driven and AI initiatives. As a Fulbright alumnus with more than three decades of industry experience, he combines an international academic background with deep practical expertise to apply data, analytics, and artificial intelligence to innovative digital solutions for smart buildings and infrastructure.

Alexandre Meldem

Head International Promotion, Deep Tech Nation Switzerland

Alexandre Meldem leads international promotion at Deep Tech Nation Switzerland, driving global investor attraction, flagship reports on Swiss innovation, and ecosystem coordination. Previously he built and led Flyability's Americas team from zero to $10M+, brought in Cargill as a Series C investor, and co-authored the ASME standard for industrial drone inspection. A dual Swiss-American with degrees from the University of Fribourg and the Clinton School of Public Service, he is a 2023 American Swiss Foundation Young Leader.

Angela Mueller

Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch CH

Angela is Executive Director of AlgorithmWatch CH. Her work focuses on the intersection of AI with fundamental rights, society, and democracy – and on their governance. She has served as an expert for various academic and political bodies; and in 2024, she was recognized as one of the “100 Women in AI Ethics” worldwide. She is also a member of the Federal Media Commission (EMEK) and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich. Angela studied political philosophy and ethics (MA) and holds a PhD in Law (Dr.iur.) from the University of Zurich, where her research focused on international human rights law.

Balz Oertli

Journalist and Co-founder, WAV Recherchekollektiv

Balz Oertli is an investigative journalist and co-founder of WAV Recherchekollektiv. Using freedom of information law, data analysis and corporate records, he reports on the intersection of technology and public power, including Palantir's campaign to sell AI systems to the Swiss government. He has also investigated political financing, lobbying and the ownership of urban housing. He trained at SRF and studied social anthropology and political science.

Niniane Paeffgen

Lead Citizens Engagement & Public Affairs, GESDA

Niniane Paeffgen leads citizen engagement and Swiss public affairs at GESDA, the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator, including the Geneva Public Portal to Anticipation and GESDA’s Citizens’ Forum, and coordinates GESDA’s engagement on AI governance. She is also a Board Member and Science & Tech Policy Fellow at the foreign policy think tank foraus and a member of the Executive Committee at Lucerne Dialogue. Previously, she served as Managing Director of the Swiss Digital Initiative, where her work focused on AI governance and digital ethics.

Blaise Robert

Global AI advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Blaise Robert is the global AI adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He manages the governance, strategy, R&D partnerships and the implementation of AI tools to support humanitarian operations in conflict zones. Blaise hold a PhD in medical science from Harvard University and a MSc. from EPFL.

Kevin Schawinski

CEO & Co-founder, Modulos

Kevin Schawinski is an astrophysicist who studied and worked at Oxford, Yale, NASA and ETH Zurich and worked on using generative AI in research. He is the co-founder and CEO of Modulos, an AI Governance Platform company headquartered in Switzerland. He advises the Swiss government on AI risk and strategy and contributes to AI standards as member of NIST AISIC (USA), CEN/CENELEC (EU) and UK42 (Switzerland).

Yash Raj Shrestha

Associate Professor, University of Lausanne

Yash Shrestha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems at HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne, where he heads the Applied AI Lab. His research aims to develop actionable frameworks for responsible and scalable AI adoption in organizations.

Patrick Stadler

Executive Lead and Co-founder, Pour Demain

Patrick Stadler is Executive Lead and Co-founder of Pour Demain, an independent European think tank on AI governance and a key Swiss civil society voice on AI safety. Pour Demain helped shape the EU Code of Practice for general-purpose AI models on incident reporting, evaluator access and enforcement. It has also analysed ways to strengthen the resourcing of the EU AI Office, pioneered work on glass-box evaluations, and brought AI safety into the Swiss parliamentary debate. It is now making the case for a substantive safety track at the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva.