All Hocoma solutions are developed, manufactured and continuously improved in close cooperation with researchers, clinical partners and patient feedback.

With a hub in Singapore, a strong partnership with DIH International in Hong Kong and various local sales partners, Hocoma ensures a strong and successful presence in Asia-Pacific markets.

“With demographic changes happening, the demand for efficient therapies is growing. Our technologies enable healthcare providers to offer higher intensity therapy and thus improve therapy outcomes,” states Gery Colombo, founder and CEO of Hocoma. “We will improve millions of lives by providing functional and efficient solutions that set the standards for human movement therapy.”

In Asia VP Bank Group’s business model is based on two strategic pillars: private banking and the intermediaries business.

“Our individual target markets are primarily in Southeast Asia, namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand”, says Mauchle.

Together with its partners across the world, VP Bank Group recommends either the best traditional investment instruments to its clients or develops in-house proprietary, innovative solutions.

“The global presence of VP Bank Group enables us to draw on a vast pool of expertise to ensure country-specific circumstances that are taken into account when necessary,” explains Mauchle. “Thanks to this ‘open-architecture’ and quality management, clients can rest assured that they have the most suitable investment instruments in their portfolio.”

With the recent hiring of Bruno Morel as CEO for Singapore and VP Bank Group’s tenth anniversary in the city-state next year, the bank is committed to substantial growth and expansion in Asia.

“For VP Bank Group, our strategic goal in Asia is to achieve growth both organically and through mergers and acquisitions”, says Mauchle. “We intend to win new clients and expand our existing client base while driving the qualitative growth of our client’s assets under management”.

“Chinese investors need good representation to guide them through the legal system and taxation structures in Canada,” says Sun. “By hiring a professionally-run firm and working with a competent legal team who understands cultural differences, Chinese companies can succeed in Canada.”

“I am very positive about the long-term relationship between China and Canada,” Sun concludes. “Canada has always been ‘pro-China’ since Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau started discussion with China in 1968. Canada will continue to play an important role in bridging China and the Western world.”

“In addition to this historical milestone, the transformational acquisitions of two of our most important competitors – Nuance in 2014 and World Duty Free in 2015 marked the start of a new era for Dufry,” recalls Diaz.

Dufry’s acquisition of World Duty Free was the largest acquisition in travel retail history and transformed the company into the biggest traveler retailer in Europe. Moreover, Dufry’s acquisition of Nuance increased the company’s footprint in the Mediterranean, North America, Central and Northern Europe and gave access to additional concessions in key Asian markets.

“While Asia currently represents ten per cent of our business, we are aiming to double this in the next five years through acquisitions and organic growth while benefitting from passenger growth numbers in Asia”, says Diaz. “We are currently present in seventeen locations across the Middle East and Asia already making us the most international player in the region.”

“And also in Singapore, our company has been active for almost two decades. Singapore is key to our growth strategy for the region,” says Diaz. “The country is an important base as we expand across the region due to its strong commercial trends and solid financial systems. We are firmly committed to growing our business in Singapore and look forward to strengthening our positions in Bali, Hong Kong, Macao, China, Indonesia and Cambodia.”

In addition to being a leading University in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Dr. Lino Guzzella, President of ETH Zurich see’s the university playing a much broader role in the development of students.

“A good university doesn’t just teach knowledge but the ability to think,” says Guzzella.

Dr. Guzzella’s philosophy has a far-reaching impact as ETH Zurich’s student population is 38% foreign nationals. The university global focus is seen by the development of the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) which was established in 2010 by ETH Zurich and Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) with a goal of developing sustainable solutions to global challenges.

Through its programs, the center serves as an intellectual hub for research, scholarship, entrepreneurship, postgraduate and postdoctoral training, bringing together principal investigators and researchers from diverse disciplines and backgrounds.

To promote the exchange of ideas and expertise, researchers at the center actively collaborate with universities and research institutes. Engagement with industry and government agencies also helps researchers translate knowledge to action by providing practical solutions to real-world problems.

In 2017, the Singapore-ETH Centre led the inter-institutional Cooling Singapore research project in developing a roadmap to improve thermal comfort in tropical Singapore, in collaboration with CREATE centers established by MIT, TUM and with NUS.

“We look forward to further collaboration with the Singapore-ETH Centre to respond to the future challenges of global environmental sustainability. We hope to see more faculty and students from Singapore coming to our campus in Switzerland and vice versa,” concludes Dr. Lino Guzzella.