Voyage Numérique, also known as Digital Journey, launched early 2024 as part of the Global Shapers Geneva Hub

By targeting students in Geneva's public schools, the initiative seeks to inspire young minds and stimulate their interest in IT careers.

The core strategy involves organising a discovery day, where selected pupils from public schools will interact with IT training and robotic programs. To enhance the learning experience, the project plans to collaborate with a company, ensuring access to cutting-edge technology and hands-on activities.

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"This activity aims to address the pressing shortage of IT specialists in Switzerland, particularly in the canton of Geneva."

Voyage Numérique, also known as Digital Journey, launched early 2024 as part of the Global Shapers Geneva Hub. It focuses on equipping young minds with the essential digital skills increasingly demanded by our society. This program features a series of interactive workshops—referred to as 'stops'—where students delve into robotics and information technology.

Learn more here: LinkedIn Post

Voyage Numérique — Inspiring Youth to Act on Climate & Technology

Shapers at the AI for Good Summit

What an incredible Voyage Numérique!
Our Global Shapers Geneva Hub participated in the AI for Good Summit this summer. We joined forces with partners across Switzerland to bring young innovators together around one goal: understanding how digital technologies can drive positive impact on climate, sustainability, and society.

During the event, participants explored how artificial intelligence, data, and emerging tools can be used responsibly to tackle today’s most urgent challenges. The energy, creativity, and sense of purpose from everyone involved were truly inspiring.

On our stand we worked with our partner Whalesbot to engage the youth in interactive activities. Children and teenagers could learn how to play with drones and robots, program them and play against each other. A perfect activity to learn and play.

👏 Huge thanks to all participants and supporters who made this edition a success — and to our partners for believing in youth-led innovation.

🔗 Read the full recap on LinkedIn →

Below are some of the captures of our event!

China Youth Tech & Culture Exchange — Field Notes from Beijing (Aug 1–9, 2025)

Visit at the Swiss Embassy in Beijing

Nine days. Eight countries. 120+ students. Our Geneva delegation joined an international youth program in Beijing, merging hands-on robotics, university labs, and cultural diplomacy. Below is a snapshot of what we built, learned, and brought home.

Why this matters

At Global Shapers, we believe real leadership is forged by doing. This exchange put young people in the driver’s seat—solving problems in teams, navigating new cultures, and meeting the people who shape science, policy, and industry in China. The result: sharper skills, new friendships, and a wider sense of possibility.

The delegation & dates

Our group of high school students—Milan Racovita, John Kirkman, Arno Albert, Aryaman Pothula, Aurélien Bertolotto, David Moniz Gonçalves—and Ali Jouini, Global Shaper of our hub—traveled from Switzerland to Beijing from August 1 to 9, 2025.

Program at a glance

• International Robotics Challenge (Days 2–4): From assembling drones and mini-bots to scoring points on technical tasks, the arena buzzed with 120+ participants. The challenge culminated in a closing ceremony where all teams were recognized.

• University Immersions (BUPT): Morning sessions at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) covered mechanical systems, robotics (including surgical assistance systems and quadruped “robot dogs”), and space robotics. Afternoons explored Beijing’s science museum and historic observatory.

• Public-diplomacy moment: A highlight was a meeting at the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing, hosted by Ambassador Juerg Bürri and Deputy Head for Science, Technology & Education Céline Badertscher. Students learned firsthand how Switzerland builds scientific and educational ties abroad.

• Cultural exploration: From Dashilan’s historic lanes to the Great Wall (Juyongguan), the group experienced Beijing’s layers—past, present, and future.

Day-by-day highlights (short version)

• Day 1 — Touchdown & Orientation: Teams converged at Liuxiwen International Exchange Camp and took in city views from the CCTV Tower—first steps, first bonds.

• Days 2–3 — Build, test, iterate: The robotics challenge kicked off; students collaborated across countries, troubleshooting and tuning bots under time pressure.

• Day 4 — Recognition & City Walks: Closing ceremony with certificates, then a slice of local life across Dashilan and China World Mall.

• Day 5 — From theory to practice: At BUPT’s Future Science Park, a hands-on session with engines and gear systems connected classroom concepts to real-world engineering.

• Day 6 — Robotics in health: Live demos of quadruped robots and a robotic system for neurosurgical tasks—plus a packed visit to the China Science & Technology Museum.

• Day 7 — Science & Statecraft: Radioastronomy basics at BUPT, then an eye-opening conversation over coffee at the Swiss Embassy—ending with a shared Peking duck dinner.

• Day 8 — Space robotics & the Great Wall: Final lecture on space-grade robotics and a memorable (steep!) climb at Juyongguan under a light, welcome rain.

• Day 9 — Farewell: Staggered departures and many promises to reconnect—both in Switzerland and online.

What we learned

• Engineering under constraints: Real-time troubleshooting sharpened problem-solving, teamwork, and resilience—the same muscles leaders need in fast-changing environments.

• Frontier tech, close-up: From surgical robotics to space manipulators, students saw how research moves from lab demo to societal impact.

• Diplomacy is human-scale: The embassy visit demystified international cooperation—showing how science, education, and culture translate into practical partnerships.

Gratitude

Thank you to our partner Whalesbot for inviting us, our hosts and educators at China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange & BUPT, to the organizers of the youth robotics program, and to the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing for opening their doors—and our minds.

What’s next

Back in Geneva, participants are sharing learnings with peers, exploring follow-up projects in robotics and applied AI, and strengthening ties with international partners met during the program. If you’d like to collaborate—or invite our delegation to speak—reach out to the Global Shapers Geneva Hub.

Below are some of the capture of our Trip!

Manifesto for more equitable and secured access to food

As an impact driven hub, we are thrilled to share a moment commemorating and signaling a massive step towards more equitable and secured access to food for the people of Geneva. This is particularly following COVID-19, where thousands of people in Geneva found themselves in a situation of food insecurity.

Following months of preparation, the first "Forum Demopratique 2023 on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty" was finally launched on the 19th of April 2023 in Refettorio Geneva. The three days forum was organized by Chef Walter el Nagar, founder of MATER Fondazione, and in collaboration with FIAN International the Global Shapers Community of Geneva, la fondazione pistoletto, and the Social Gastronomy Movement.

The forum followed the method of Demopraxis" by Fondazione Pistoletto, founded by the influential artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. It strived to engage experts and various stakeholders from the public/private sector, academia, and direct beneficiaries to demo-practically and constructively create a political proposal and launch a campaign to support the inclusion of the right to food and food sovereignty in the canton's constitution. That is in light of the recent parliamentary initiative to include the Right to food adopted by the grand council (cantonal parliament). The population of Geneva will be asked to vote on this inclusion in June 2023.

It is with honor that we share that the head of the coordination and facilitation of the forum was our newly joined shaper, Masa Awad.

““Being part of impactful moments stays with you forever.””

— Geneva Hub

Here she signs the manifesto outcome of the forum, which will be introduced into the Geneva constitution if the people of Geneva vote in favor of this inclusion.

MEET THE SHAPER

Masa AWAD

Shapers at summer Davos 2018

From the 18th to the 20th of September, the city of Tianjin hosted the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, the foremost global summit on innovation, science and technology, promoting entrepreneurship in the global public interest. It brought together more than 2,000 leaders from government, business, science and civil society from all over the world. With a group of fellow shapers from all over the world, our shapers Giulia Zanzi and Giovanni Porcellana were invited by the World Economic Forum to represent the Global Shapers Community! They joined three-day intense discussions and panels gathering forward-looking minds to explore the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolutions and take value-driven actions.One of the main themes of Summer Davos was Artificial Intelligence and how it will change our life.Giulia summarized the takeaways of this in three main points:

1. AI is enhancing our understanding of the world.Hardware enhancement is allowing machines to compute big data and to learn: this is at the foundation of deep learning, and is unquestionably behind the explosion of AI from a developer’s laboratory to its massive exploitation with real-time applications.

2. AI is changing the power structure. Artificial intelligence is a unique opportunity to bring equality and overcome infrastructure limitations. We need to make sure that AI is not increasing the gap between high-skilled and low-skilled workers but is actually empowering the broader population.

3. The importance of human skills in an AI world. Skills needed are changing rapidly and the best skill to learn is actually the “skill of learning”.

Giulia and Giovanni, together with other Global Shapers who attended the event, were invited to participate in an exclusive session with Jack Ma, founder of the global giant Alibaba. Jack Ma shared the idea that “heart, values, and intellectual thinking are what can’t be replaced by technology”.

This was probably the biggest lesson from the Summit: the Fourth industrial Revolution needs to be human centric. All technologies need to be used in a beneficial way and artificial intelligence needs to be at the service of humans.

Are you willing to read more about the Annual Meeting of the New Champions?

Have a look at the articles below!

• 10 highlights from AMNC18

• How AI will change your life: 3 lessons from Summer Davos

• Globalization is unstoppable and we must fix its flaws. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s speech in Tianjin.

• Goodbye drugs, hello electroceuticals. The top 10 emerging technologies

Youth Voices at Davos

On January 23-26, under the theme “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) took place in Davos.

The meeting brought together leaders from business, government, international organizations and civil society in order to promote stronger multi-stakeholder collaboration and address the political, economic and societal challenges of our times.

50 Shapers - the #Davos50, the best young minds in the world - had the chance to bring their voices and ideas to Davos, as representatives of the Global Shapers Community. The Geneva Hub took part to some of the most amazing moments and initiatives of the Annual Meeting.

To start with, on January 19-21, the Hub went to Zurich to be part of the Pre-Davos Summit 2018. This event was hosted by the Zurich Hub with the goal of gathering together the #Davos50 and many Shapers from the Swiss Hubs. Shapers had the opportunity to actively engage in discussions on “How to use technology to create positive impact in our communities”.

For instance, they worked together in workshop sessions with the aim of creating and scaling local and global projects focused on Integration & Tolerance, Nutrition & Food Waste, Healthcare, Climate/Finance, Future Mobility, and the Future of Work.

After the Pre-Davos Summit, the actual WEF Annual Meeting started on January 23rd. This year Zineb El Ouazzani, Vice-President of the Geneva Hub, was selected as one of the #Davos50 to officially represent the voice of youth in Davos!

As a forward-looking female leader and entrepreneur, she has always put her passions and skills to good use by supporting organizations and projects focused on healthcare, education, e-waste and entrepreneurship at the local and global level. Various experiences brought her to be one of the 30 young talents for the Middle East and Africa’s MACH program (Microsoft Academy for College Hires). Recently, she moved to Geneva where she has undertaken a new amazing professional adventure. Indeed, Zineb has decided to apply her relentless can-do attitude to her start-up Rising Stars – a company whose purpose is to help millennials to thrive as they enter the workforce.

At Davos, she had the opportunity to share projects achieved by the Geneva Hub and bring forward her expertise in different topics related to the 4th industrial revolution and its impact on employability and on the transformation of workplaces. She met with Ellyn Shook (Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer of Accenture), to talk about what being a Shaper means as well as about how to tackle challenges in local communities. If you lost it, you can re-watch the video of the discussion at the following link!

Furthermore, together with other fellow Global Shapers, Zineb had a great discussion with Jean-Philippe Courtois (Executive VP and President, Microsoft Global Sales) and Mary Snapp (Corporate VP and Lead for Microsoft Philanthropies) on how to leverage Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain to drive the digital conversation and shape the world for future generations.

Last but not least, she had the opportunity to meet and be inspired by Jack Ma (Alibaba Group) during the “Meet the Leader” session in Davos.

In this occasion, the Global Shapers had the chance to ask him questions about the impact and risks of Artificial Intelligence and new technologies and on the matter of gender equality. Jack Ma explained the possible risks deriving by the recent scientific and technological discoveries and underlined his optimism in thinking that it will be possible to fight and win against hunger, diseases, global warming and discrimination.

To know more about our initiatives, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Multicultural entrepreneurship and immigration

Brain drain or new mobility of Italian migrants? Defining the new generation of people who travel and work abroad is often a matter of personal interpretation. Nowadays, many Italians still look for a job in Switzerland as their grandpas did a few decades ago. The difference lays in their training and education, both top level and highly specialized.

On January 3 the RSI, the Swiss Italian television, aired a reportage on the Italians who take their chance in Suisse Romande, a Swiss area which features a multicultural environment conducive to the success of entrepreneurial projects and initiatives. Among them, Luigi Matrone.

Interviewed at a recent gathering of entrepreneurs organized by the Camera di Commercio Italiana in Geneva, Luigi expresses his appreciation for the networking opportunities that Geneva offers, as they foster the connection among entrepreneurs for new business projects in Geneva and, more broadly, in Suisse Romande. His Italian origins have not prevented him from being a leading entrepreneur in the digital sector in this area of Switzerland as well as a broad-minded individual who constantly seeks to have a positive impact on the Geneva’s local community.

Networking, connection among cultures, and the importance of giving back to the local community where he lives are the drivers of his actions. Luigi’s Swiss story starts in 2009 when he decided to leave Italy and move to Geneva: the reason behind this decision lay in his passion for the digital and technology industry and e-business-related solutions. In 2012, after spending a few years with P&G, a multinational consumer goods corporation, Luigi transformed his passion into his own business. He founded a consultancy firm exclusively focused on allowing multinational companies to stay ahead of time and on structuring, scaling and standardizing their digital transformation. Indeed, “ideas beyond the basics” and “inspiration beyond the obvious” are among the driving commandments of his firm.

Furthermore, Luigi has been part of the amazing group that founded the Geneva Hub and recently has served as its curator.

With him, the Hub went through disruptive transformation, became a model for other hubs, and strengthened the engagement of its shapers coming from more than fifteen countries towards the Geneva local community. Under his lead, the Hub was among the five hubs that won the “Shape a Better Future” Challenge by the Coca Cola Company (2015) with Reading for Change, a project aimed at improving integration and at giving more people access to information and education. As a prize, the Geneva Hub received $ 10,000 in acceleration funding and scaled up the project globally by partnering with other hubs in the Global Shapers Community.

At the end of the RSI’s interview, Luigi’s personal note casts light upon one of the aspects that ignites purpose-oriented networking and triggers the interest of forward-looking entrepreneurs like him in this city: in his words, “the multicultural environment that characterizes Geneva is the first and foremost stimulating factor” leading him and many others to choose this city as a professional and personal home.

rE-Use it!

Geneva Shapers –rE-Use Gare Cornavin train station

Creating impact is about finding a space where change can happen. For many Global Shaper Hubs around the world this space is found where there is an urgent need for change: climate change, migration, education, security, and public health, etc. For us, Global Shapers in Geneva, this space for positive impact was found in a trashcan – literally! – and decided to tackle the problem of electronic waste (also known as e-waste).

Switzerland is the 2nd highest e-waste generator per capita (26.3 kg/inh.) according to the United Nations Global e-waste monitor. Although in Switzerland - as in most European countries - there is detailed regulation regarding collection and e-waste processing, Swiss citizens are generally unaware of the impact of their “e-trash”.

This habit is at the hearth of the problem and here is why we created project rE-Use.

rE-Use project originally started with the idea to embed educational contents in second-hand devices. But later, it evolved as we realized the impact of re-utilizing and recycling devices at the national level. Through rE-Use, we aim to create community awareness around the e-waste issue. Every year, thousands of electronic devices are tossed by corporations and individuals, just to be replaced by new ones. At the same time, there is a huge demand of devices to be used by non-profit organizations for educational and operational purposes. So, before any old but functioning device is thrown into a trash can, we decided to interrupt the vicious cycle and give a second life to those devices.

Thanks to the 2015 Shaping a Better Future challenge grant, sponsored by Coca Cola, the Geneva Global Shapers prepared an awareness raising campaign to invite individuals and organizations to donate their devices. Over the last year, we reached out to our employers, friends and other people in our network. And they did respond to our call: Uber has actively supported our online campaign, while P&G and Salesforce have donated some of their corporate desktops. Many individuals have also donated their laptops after seeing our Facebook and Twitter posts.

On 21st January, we extended our call for donations at Geneva’s main train station, Gare Cornavin: during a 6-hour in-person outreach campaign, we directly reached out to more than 700 people about the important issue of e-waste, and explained how they can help their community by giving their devices a second life. Any computer, cellphone, monitor, tablet, iPod that is “useless” to many, for the Geneva Shapers represents a unique resource to improve the life of those most in need. It could be an opportunity for amigrant to learn the local language, or for an unemployed person to learn new skills that will enable her to find a new job. rE-Use is about empowering people by giving your tech device a second chance.

In our digital communications campaign, we reached out a total of 177,000 people counting together website visitors, social media visitors, live-stream viewers and partners’ online channels reach. Many of our donors mentioned they saw our ad and wanted to contribute to the project.

Do you want to help local Swiss organizations by donating your old functioning device or replicate the project in your Hub?Join us on our project page and get in touch! Let’s shape our community together!

See all photos and live-streamed video of the event STOP E-WASTE! on our Facebook page

EdCamp Ukraine 2016

During the Annual Curators Meeting 2015, my dear friend Olexandr, Curator of the Kharkiv Hub, invited me to be a speaker at his EdCamp Ukraine event in April 2016. I have to admit that I accepted without really knowing all the details of the event. The only thing I knew was that it was dedicated to empowering and inspiring teachers, and that alone was enough for me to say “Yes!”

I am so happy today that I was able to experience and report not only the extraordinary success of this initiative but also the warmth, love and hospitality of the Kharkiv Shapers and people. Staying in Ukraine was like rediscovering a part of my family that I had not seen for a long time: pure pleasure and joy!

The EdCamp (un)conference was organized in two days, and several Shapers took active part in the discussions as speakers and moderators: Katya and Daria from Kharkiv, Liliya from Lviv, Yauheni from Minsk, Yori from Amsterdam and myself. We brought new ideas, inspiration and energy to 500 teachers - passionate individuals who strive to raise, prepare and inspire their students to become great citizens - from all over Ukraine.

Among the other contributors, Yori and I gave insights on technology and innovation, new trends and possibilities (from 3D printing to particle accelerators in medicine; from robotics and genomics to the use of fundamental research in society), to highlight what the future will look like so that the teachers, in turn, can convey it to their students. Finally, the Shapers organized a special celebration for the 5th anniversary of our beautiful Community, involving teachers and young students and making us realize, once again, how powerful this incredible Community can be.

On the day after the conference, the wonderful Jane and Katya brought Yori and myself to visit the Bogodukhiv Orphanage for mentally and physically disabled children outside Kharkiv. There Yori shared his moving and inspiring story to show them how, even in the most adverse conditions, you should keep fighting for your dreams and what you think you deserve from life, and never give up.

"You have to change what you cannot accept, you have to accept what you cannot change, but is only you that has to decide what to accept in your life"

Even now, while writing, I get goose bumps and feel the strong emotions evoked by his powerful story.

Then we returned to Kharkiv, where we met young people with different types of disabilities, members of the Charitable Foundation called “Hesed Shaare-Tikvah” and some of them participants of the Kharkiv city public organization “Creavita”. The conversation that started after Yori's presentation was very touching and just the expressions on the faces of the audience - of excitement, hope and joy - were enough to make the whole day unforgettable.

Finally we also had a brainstorming meeting with the Livelihood Development Programme team and we ended the day with the lovely company of Katya’s family.

I left Ukraine with an intense feeling of gratitude for these beautiful people, with big hearts and shining eyes, fully committed towards their community, who made me feel part of their family and always at home. Dyakuyu!

This article is a personal reflection of the author, Giovanni Porcellana, Global Shaper at Geneva Hub

Geneva hub wins the "Shaping a Better Future" challenge

We are proud to announce that our hub flagship project, Reading for Change, is among the 5 projects that won the Shaping a Better Future challenge by The Coca Cola Company. The Geneva Hub will receive US $ 10,000 in acceleration funding for this project. We started Reading for Change in Geneva with the aim to improve integration and give more people access to information and education. We do this by collecting second-hand tech devices such as eBook readers, laptops, MP3-players etc., and uploading them with educational content. We then distribute these pre-loaded devices to selected associations, so that they can use them for specific free skills trainings and language courses.This way, we ensure that a virtuous recycling of technologies is matched with actual needs. Some of our partners include companies (such as Procter & Gamble) who have donated old/unused devices, and community-based associations (such as Espace Solidaire Paquis) who receive these devices in support of their social activities.Some of the key project milestones include:

• Delivered 35 devices that enabled Espace Solidaire Paquis to conduct free multimedia language courses and IT skills trainings

• Established a trusted relation with P&G on the suppliers-end

• Created and shared a blueprint to help other fellow hubs establish their own local chapter of R4C

• Connected with hubs in Canada, France and Morocco for future expansion

After the initial local success, we are now working to scale up the project globally and are partnering with other hubs in the Global Shapers Community. So far, we have produced a comprehensive, easy to read blueprint to help other hubs reapply this project in their communities. We are certain that this combination of rapid local execution and seamless global re-application can help improve the lives of thousands of communities around the world.This award is a testament to the hard work of our team and will allow us to maximize impact in our community and beyond.  With this Coca-Cola grant, we now plan to scale up Reading for Change by:

• getting higher quality content;

• exploring options to promote e-waste reduction;

• offering strong support to other Hubs for the project implementation.

We thank all the Global Shapers for votes and great support over the last few months. We also congratulate the Kathmandu Hub on winning the 2015 Grand Prize Winner of the Shaping a Better Future challenge for their Nepal Earthquake Relief Project, as well as the other finalists: Cartagena Hub, Columbia, with the Water for Life project, Chandigarh Hub, India, with the I Break My Silence project, Gaza Hub, Palestine, with the Solar Power Lighting Disabled Lives.To learn more about Reading For Change and donate any digital devices visithttp://www.readingforchange.ch/ Follow the Geneva Shapers on Facebook and Twitter Author: Beatrice Montesi, Giulia Zanzi