New guidelines for digital Switzerland

According to the Federal Council's press release, the "Digital Switzerland" Strategy 2018 sets out the goals and guidelines to be pursued in connection with digitization in all relevant areas of life. The updated strategy sets various new priorities for the next two years:

• The Federal Council shall set up a working group on artificial intelligence within the Federal Administration under the leadership of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to enable the exchange of knowledge and opinions and the coordination of Switzerland's positions in international bodies. By fall 2019, it will submit to the Federal Council an overview of existing measures, an assessment of new fields of action, and considerations on the transparent and responsible use of artificial intelligence.

• The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) is developing a concept and a plan of measures to support cities, municipalities and cantons in the development of smart cities, smart villages and smart regions by mid-2019.

• Digitization is increasing the complexity of the tasks facing the federal administration. The Federal Council therefore wants to promote the use of novel, interdisciplinary working methods and forms of collaboration. To this end, the federal departments and the FC will examine by mid-2019 the specific topics for which an experimental approach detached from existing structures and day-to-day business is appropriate and how they can realize this.

• The Federal Council is expanding the dialog with the cantons on overarching digitization issues by the end of 2018.

Concrete implementation, also for the area of cyber risks

The federal administration's implementation activities for the strategy are published in an action plan. This action plan is updated annually and specifies the strategy's thrust, according to the report. It covers a wide range of areas of life and fields of action, such as digitization in the transport or energy sectors, education and research, the economy, youth protection, e-government or cyber risks. For the latter, in the spring of 2018, Federal Berne created a new Strategy with seven goals defined for the years 2018 to 2022.

Digital Switzerland is a joint effort by authorities at all levels of government, business, science, civil society and politics, according to the Federal Council. Newly, nationally significant projects by actors outside the federal government (e.g. for research initiatives, technology and digitization projects) can be mapped in the action plan, it further states.

The federal government's interdepartmental Digital Switzerland coordination group, chaired by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), ensures the coordinated, targeted implementation of the strategy. As before, it is supported in terms of content and administration by the "Digital Switzerland" office of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). The General Secretaries' Conference (GSK) is now to be more closely involved in the implementation of the strategy.

Joint further development of the strategy

The federal administration cannot shape digital Switzerland on its own, the media release also states. Business, science, politics and civil society are also called upon. The strategy is therefore designed as a multi-stakeholder strategy. The Federal Council is therefore inviting the various stakeholder groups to make their contribution to a digital Switzerland in line with the aforementioned guidelines and to exchange views on the ongoing further development of the strategy and its implementation activities ("digital dialogue").

More on the "Digital Switzerland" strategy and the "Digital Switzerland" action plan here.