Google celebrates 20 years in Switzerland

Google celebrates 20 years in Switzerland Keystone-SDA

The American tech giant opened its first development office in Europe in Zurich in 2004.

Representatives from business and research fields, as well as Google representatives gathered to celebrate the company’s 20th Swiss anniversary at the company’s headquarters in Zurich on Monday. Google’s Swiss footprint began in April 2004 with two employees. Google Maps and YouTube did not exist and smartphones and cloud computing were still largely unknown, the company reminisced in a statement today.

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Today the company’s focus is on research in artificial intelligence (AI), which offers new opportunities for society and the economy. The conveners also discussed potential, collaborations, and innovations within the local Swiss ecosystem: to date, 115 companies have been founded by former Google Switzerland employees, providing a total of more than 1,700 jobs.

The presence of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) was one of the main reasons why the company chose Switzerland as its development location two decades ago. Since then, the company has maintained a close exchange with the Swiss research institution, as well as its counterpart in Lausanne (EPFL)

“Google has woven strong ties with Switzerland,” said country director Christine Antlanger-Winter, quoted in the statement. “The local innovative fabric has always inspired Google. Close cooperation and interaction with our partners in science, education and industry are crucial for us,” she added.

Today Google Switzerland employs about 5,000 people. In the past year, however, the company has also cut its workforce in Zurich, as in the rest of the world. Google has never provided detailed figures but the media have reported hundreds of redundancies.

Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac

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