AGP Executive Report

Cleantech Investment: Swiss startup GR3N just raised €15.5M (Series B) to build MODUS, a 40,000-ton-per-year microwave-assisted PET recycling plant in Spain—aimed at tackling the ~85% of PET waste mechanical recycling can’t handle, with claims of up to 80% lower CO2 versus virgin production. Health Policy: Switzerland’s government approved a report calling for earlier diagnosis and better treatment of endometriosis, noting how long many patients wait before getting care and pointing to structural gaps in the healthcare system. Crypto & Climate: A Lucerne study estimates a Bitcoin transaction can generate about 486 kg of CO2, while Ethereum’s is far lower—highlighting how mining drives Bitcoin’s footprint. Environment Protection: Scientists say a new forest that formed on the drained Kakhovka Reservoir bed is covered by Bern Convention Resolution No. 4, raising calls for a protected nature reserve. Digital Sovereignty: Swissinfo looks at what happens when Swiss journalists try to cut ties with Big Tech—testing whether “digital sovereignty” is realistic in daily life.

Schengen Pressure on Germany: The EU Commission is urging Germany to start lifting internal border checks, arguing migration reforms and risk-based policing should reduce disruptions for commuters and trade—an issue that also touches Switzerland via shared border controls. Swiss Tech & Digital Sovereignty: SWI swissinfo.ch reports on two Swiss journalists trying to cut ties with US Big Tech in daily life, highlighting how hard “digital sovereignty” is when services, platforms, and workflows are deeply embedded. Humanoid Robotics Platform (NVIDIA/Unitree): NVIDIA is teaming with Unitree and Sharpa to offer an open reference humanoid robot stack for researchers, combining Unitree’s H2 Plus body, tactile hands, Isaac robotics software, and Jetson Thor compute. AI’s Water Cost: A UN University report estimates AI data centres could consume massive water volumes by 2030, reframing “green AI” debates beyond carbon alone. Swiss Climate Impact: Research warns Alpine rivers are overheating more often as glaciers retreat and droughts reduce natural cooling, with knock-on effects for ecosystems and hydropower. Health (Geneva): A University of Geneva study finds cannabis use in young Swiss men doesn’t lower testosterone and may increase it, alongside proposed hormonal markers for regular use. Weather Tech in the Himalayas: India’s new Jammu Regional Meteorological Centre adds X-band Doppler radar and automatic stations to improve forecasts and early warnings for flash floods and landslides. Fragrance Deal: Givaudan will acquire a majority stake in Eurofragance to accelerate international expansion while keeping Eurofragance’s brand and culture.

Swiss Climate & Water: A Nature study warns Alpine rivers are overheating as heatwaves increasingly translate from air to water, with low flows and shrinking snow/glaciers making the Aare and other catchments more vulnerable—raising risks for ecosystems, hydropower and water quality. Biotech & Medicine: Memo Therapeutics AG shared further Phase II analyses of potravitug for BK polyomavirus in kidney transplant recipients, reporting consistent viral-load reductions and matched comparisons at the European Renal Association congress. Neuroscience & Learning: Researchers propose the “criticome” framework, arguing screens and early-life experiences can shape brain development through critical periods up to about age 25, with lasting effects that may be hard to reverse. Cybersecurity: SK Telecom joined Anthropic’s Project Glasswing, gaining access to Claude Mythos Preview to proactively test and harden systems against software vulnerabilities. AI & Society: A Swiss-linked study finds octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate hidden food, adding to the debate on intelligence beyond vertebrates. Digital Infrastructure: Zurich expands data-centre construction insurance to more markets, signaling continued momentum in Switzerland’s data-centre buildout. Public Health: EU health ministers coordinated on an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, with Switzerland participating alongside ECDC and WHO guidance.

Swiss Cybersecurity: Papers AG launched “Obsidio,” a Swiss-made, smartphone-based platform for realistic DDoS resilience testing that’s built to satisfy Swiss and EU documentation needs. Geneva Multilateralism: A new UN visitor centre, the Portail des Nations, opens in Geneva on 8 June, aiming to make international cooperation feel more human. ITU HQ Upgrade: The UN’s telecom agency says its long-delayed Geneva headquarters rebuild is finally back on track, though cost caps and meeting logistics remain hurdles. CleanTech Recycling: Lugano’s GR3N closed a €15.5M Series B to scale microwave-assisted PET chemical recycling via its first industrial plant in Spain. Biopharma Manufacturing: WuXi AppTec is expanding drug development and manufacturing capacity across the US, Europe and Asia, with new sites planned through 2027. Direct Democracy Research: Swiss direct democracy appears to better match citizens’ preferences, according to new research highlighted by SWI swissinfo.ch. Health Research (Zurich): A Zurich study finds Swiss sperm quality among young men is broadly stable, pushing back against reports of long-term declines. Energy Storage: Switzerland is building a massive underground vanadium flow battery system designed to store renewable power and support the grid for large numbers of homes.

HPC for AI in Switzerland: FHNW opened an HPC Lab (May 28) to help researchers and industry build and test next-gen AI and scientific computing. Digital ID delays: Switzerland’s Swiyu eID rollout may slip again after postponements in internal testing tied to encryption and trust infrastructure work. Datacentre momentum: Zurich expanded its datacentre offering, reflecting continued Swiss demand for compute capacity. Population vote tech stakes: A June 14 referendum on a 10 million population cap puts housing, infrastructure and immigration policy under the microscope. Agentic commerce identity: Mastercard pushed “verifiable intent” ideas for AI agents in payments, aiming to tie actions back to explicit consumer authorization. Global AI governance: Spain’s ECIJA became the first law firm there to get ISO/IEC 42001 AI management certification (via SGS). Biotech deal: Lonza-backed precision oncology work continues as Stipple Bio expanded licensing. Nature & cognition: Swiss-linked research highlights octopuses using mirrors to locate hidden prey.

Swiss Science & Health: A University of Zurich study finds sperm quality in Swiss army recruits has stayed stable since 2005–2017, with 2021 still showing 41% below WHO standards. Plant Resilience: University of Geneva and Lausanne researchers report a drought-tolerance mechanism in thale cress linked to thicker suberin layers in plants from drier regions. Cyber & Identity: Zug-based WISeKey and WISeSat confidentially filed an amended draft for a proposed business combination with a plan to trade on Nasdaq as WSAT. Agri-Biotech: Syngenta and Ascribe Bioscience signed a development and supply deal for PHYTALIX, a biofungicide aimed at boosting crop resistance in Southeast Asia. Business & Climate: Burckhardt Compression posted stable revenue and record profits, plus a 32% cut in greenhouse-gas emission intensity. Policy & Economy: Switzerland’s finance chief met OECD counterparts in Paris to discuss investment and economic cooperation. Tech & Society: Tim Berners-Lee urged AI to preserve the web’s original “person-first” values and give users control over their data.

Quantum Tech in Switzerland: EPFL researchers integrated an ultrafast femtosecond laser onto a photonic chip, matching tabletop performance and pointing to smaller tools for micromachining and atomic clocks. Energy Storage Breakthrough: A Swiss-led team boosted chloride-ion conductivity in a seawater-friendly battery material by up to 10,000x, aiming to move beyond lithium for grid storage. CERN Leadership & Big Physics: CERN’s new director general discussed the “gamble” behind the next major push as the LHC heads into upgrades to probe dark matter and other open questions. AI in Life Sciences: Alnylam and Inceptive Form agreed a deal worth up to $2B to speed RNAi drug discovery by combining Inceptive’s generative AI with Alnylam’s R&D engine. Cyber & Security: ETH Zurich researchers claim they generated perfectly random, certifiable numbers using quantum physics—useful for cryptography and security keys. Tech Policy & Markets: Swiss-linked stories also touched on AI regulation and investment risk, while Wall Street slid on Middle East tensions.

Bioengineering in Switzerland: ETH Zurich researchers unveiled “NPCbots” — lab-on-a-chip-made biohybrid robots using neural progenitor cells plus magnetoelectric nanoparticles — that can be guided to spinal cord injury sites in zebrafish larvae and support near-normal movement within days. Swiss finance & fintech: Swissinfo reports record Swiss M&A in 2025, driven by pharma and tech/media/telecom outbound deals, highlighting J. Safra Sarasin’s planned Saxo Bank purchase as a sign of private-banking consolidation with fintech. Payments tech: Juspay joined Mastercard’s Engage partner network to expand “Click to Pay” across Asia, aiming for faster, more secure online checkout with passkeys and tokenisation. Quantum security investment: SEALSQ (Switzerland) joined Quobly’s €130M Series A as a lead investor, backing silicon-based quantum processors and first commercial systems. AI cybersecurity rollout: Anthropic expanded Claude Mythos via Project Glasswing to include Switzerland among ~200 participating organisations across 15 countries, targeting software vulnerability testing and cyber defence. Swiss robotics for accessibility: OST Rapperswil’s VIRAS autonomous shopping cart helps visually impaired shoppers navigate stores, from list to independent payment. Policy watch: A Swiss poll ahead of June 14 shows voters leaning against a population cap initiative (“No to ten million!”).

Quantum Tech in Switzerland: ETH Zurich researchers report a “perfect randomness” result using entangled superconducting qubits, aiming to remove tiny biases that can undermine cryptography. AI, Sports, and Swiss Industry: Swiss company Footbao is using phone-recorded football videos plus AI scoring to route young talent to clubs; it’s part of a broader shift in scouting. Public Sector Tech & Cities: Brussels launched an AI-assisted waste-collection trial using Swiss firm CortexIA to map litter types and deploy crews more efficiently. Swiss Defense Continuity: Switzerland completed upgrades to its F/A-18C/D Hornets to keep air defence coverage into the early 2030s while transitioning toward F-35A. Research Policy Pressure: The NSF suspended nearly $21M in UC Berkeley grants over alleged undisclosed foreign funding that includes Switzerland, escalating scrutiny of research money disclosures. Space Science: A SubOrbital Express-5 mission from Sweden flew microgravity experiments including a Swiss-led biological payload (CARISPACE) with UZH Space Hub involvement. Crypto/AI Speculation: MemeToro is launching an AI-native meme-market platform on Binance Smart Chain, blending AI-driven memecoin creation with trading and prediction markets.

Space & Human Factors: University of Zurich researchers report that in small, isolated teams under extreme conditions, more close contact can backfire—driving loneliness, mistrust, conflict, and lower perceived performance—findings drawn from a 10-month overwintering mission at Antarctica’s Concordia Station, with implications for long Moon/Mars crews. Quantum Security & Finance: Geneva-based SEALSQ boosts its WeCan stake to majority and adds CHF 5M to accelerate a post-quantum AI compliance co-pilot for private banks, building on WeCan’s KYC/AML document verification and SEALSQ’s quantum-resistant security stack. Neuroscience & Public Health: Geneva will host the European Academy of Neurology’s 12th Annual Congress (27–30 June 2026) and is named “European Capital of Brain Health,” with a public legacy programme including school and community initiatives. Space Industry: Monaco’s Venturi Space plans a €250M Toulouse technology centre for lunar/Mars rovers, tied to NASA Artemis rover work. AI Infrastructure: Nvidia unveils its “largest-ever” AI supercomputing system aimed at powering agentic AI. Health Tech: ETH Zurich and Basel researchers describe an approach to prevent newborn meningitis linked to E. coli K1 transmission.

AI at Work: The UN labour agency (ILO) says AI gains must reach workers fairly, via better wages, stronger protections, and skills investment. Swiss Finance & Cloud Sovereignty: Thirteen European cloud providers, including Swiss privacy software firm Proton, back an EU push to cut reliance on US hyperscalers. Humanoid Robotics (Switzerland-linked): Nvidia’s Isaac GR00T reference humanoid platform is built with Unitree hardware and targets labs including ETH Zurich. Robotics Hardware for Research: ABB is integrating SimReady 3D digital assets into NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint to speed up AI data-center power design and validation. Markets & Currencies: US stocks edged higher with tech leading; the Swiss franc strengthened. Cyber/Compliance in Switzerland: SIX Group upgrades call-center and compliance recording in Microsoft Teams using Luware Nimbus and Recording. Education Quality Watch (GTEC): Ghana’s commission flags 70 unrecognised institutions, including some with Swiss links. Health Research: IBSA Foundation reports a record 398 fellowship applications across 64 countries and opens its 2026 call.

Swiss finance under scrutiny: A new Swissinfo piece argues the country’s financial sector still funds fossil-fuel projects abroad, despite net-zero claims, as a people’s initiative pushes for tougher climate rules. Fintech momentum: A BCG/FT Partners report says global fintech revenues topped $500B in 2025 (+22%), with 74% of major public players profitable and IPOs up 50%. AI agents go mainstream: NVIDIA used GTC Taipei to outline an “AI agents” computing stack (including a new Isaac GR00T open humanoid reference design) and Workday is embedding Google Cloud AI agents into HR and finance workflows. Cloud sovereignty push: European cloud providers and lawmakers backed an EU plan to cut reliance on US tech for sensitive public tenders; Swiss privacy firm Proton is among signatories. Swiss tech in the enterprise: SIX rolled out Luware Nimbus and cloud-native recording for Teams-based contact center and compliance. Health & biotech: Idorsia reported new aprocitentan analyses in resistant hypertension; Ascensia launched CONTOUR®COMFORT pen needles; Swiss researchers reported quantum-entanglement work that makes chemical bonds measurable. Climate science: ETH Zürich-led work says Central Asia glaciers lost ~30 km³ of ice in 2025, nearly everywhere at once.

AI Security & Enterprise: Anthropic launched Claude Security in public beta for all Claude Enterprise customers, aiming to scan production codebases for vulnerabilities without extra setup, after Project Glasswing surpassed 10,000 critical flaws found. Fintech & Payments: BIS-led Project Agorá showed tokenisation can speed up wholesale cross-border payments, including successful atomic settlement across multiple currencies and jurisdictions, with the Swiss National Bank among participants. Space & STEM (Switzerland link): A Swiss-led life sciences mission launched from Esrange, pairing St. Kitts and Nevis with the University of Zurich and CSA to boost STEM education and research capacity. Climate Impact on Swiss Waters: Multiple Swiss lakes hit record May temperatures, with Lake Murten near 24.6°C and Lake Zurich around 22.4°C, raising concerns about algae and bacteria risks. Swiss Tech & Society: A report highlights foreign influence behind parts of the anti-data-centre movement in the US, while Switzerland’s own digitalisation push is flagged as a key need. Compliance & Governance: A Swiss resident Google engineer was charged in the US over alleged insider trading tied to Polymarket bets using confidential search data. Wealth Flows: Hong Kong overtook Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub, reflecting a shift in where global capital concentrates.

Climate & Regulation: Switzerland is tightening the rules on climate-related claims, with new Unfair Competition Act enforcement and FOEN guidance raising the bar for “carbon neutral” and “net zero” messaging and increasing both greenwashing risk and “greenhushing” pressure. Health & Biotech: BioNTech and Bristol Myers Squibb reported interim Phase 2/3 ROSETTA Lung-02 results for pumitamig (PD-L1xVEGF-A) plus chemotherapy in first-line non-small cell lung cancer, showing strong response rates across PD-L1 levels. Swiss Science: A Swiss team’s study on cannabis and hormones challenges the old “cannabis lowers testosterone” story by measuring 70 steroid hormones and finding a more complex pattern. Space & Earth Systems: Researchers warn Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” (Thwaites) could lose its ice shelf this year as fracturing accelerates. AI in the Real World: A German startup, MicroAGI, is offering free apartment cleaning in New York in exchange for recording the process to train AI. Swiss Tech/Industry: Molecular Partners will present trial-in-progress data on its DARPin radiotherapy MP0712 at ASCO and SNMMI. Environment & Wildlife: Artificial streetlights can trigger mass “death spirals” in isopods, adding another layer to light-pollution impacts. Mobility & Drones: Matternet raised about $33M and completed a go-public reverse merger to expand autonomous drone delivery.

Swiss Climate Resilience: Zürich is doubling down on green roofs as living infrastructure to cool a warming city, with the city’s 1991 mandate now supporting plants on about 40% of flat roofs and still leaving big greening potential. Public Health & Research: A Swiss-led study links climate change to rising antibiotic resistance in Salmonella, warning that hotter conditions and shifting rainfall are making infections harder to treat. Cancer Screening Gap: Switzerland’s nationwide data show colorectal cancer is increasingly diagnosed in people under 50, often at later stages—pushing a need for earlier symptom awareness. AI for Nature Protection: INSAIT (Sofia University) released FireScope AI, a high-resolution wildfire risk system for Europe that blends satellite imagery and climate data into actionable risk maps. AI Regulation: Connecticut’s Online Safety Act sets a broad AI and platform compliance framework, with phased deadlines starting Oct 1, 2026—relevant for anyone building or deploying AI services. Finance Tech: Coinbase’s TRUST network adds TRUSThub and brings BNY into the travel-rule compliance consortium, aiming to strengthen institutional interoperability across major markets. Swiss Tech in Global Health: Roche expands its neuroscience push in China, aligning with national dementia and Parkinson’s initiatives.

Swiss climate science: Researchers at the University of Basel and Eawag report that Lake Baldegg’s “self-cleaning” nitrogen removal mainly happens in cold months, meaning warming could weaken the process. CERN accelerator mystery: Physicists say they finally mapped a hidden “ghost” resonance in CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron, clarifying why beams behaved oddly and opening new paths for accelerator work. Quantum computing in Switzerland: EPFL and Quantinuum are partnering to bring advanced quantum computing capabilities to Swiss researchers. Medical tech from Switzerland: Zurich University Hospital’s Prof. Martin Huellner backs GE HealthCare’s MIM KineticID submission to the FDA, aiming to expand dynamic PET imaging and kinetic modeling. Biotech update: Oculis reports topline Phase 3 DIAMOND-1/2 results for OCS-01 in diabetic macular edema, with the primary endpoint not met but retinal thickness improving. Security & randomness: ETH Zurich researchers claim a “perfect” random number source using entangled superconducting chips, targeting bias issues in quantum and software randomness. Space & propulsion: Zurich’s Stellar Alpina raises €3.8m to develop detonation-based propulsion for in-space mobility.