Cold Snap Causes Train Delays; Swiss Tech Park Aims For Silicon Valley; Basel Police Tech-Up; Special Chocolate From Basel

News For 19 January 2016

The cold weather has finally arrived in the region and with it delays on the Swiss rail system.  According to MeteoNews, the Swiss weather reporting service, the weather station in Glottalp in the canton of Graubunden recorded a temperature of -36C yesterday morning - the coldest in Switzerland so far this season.  Jean-Philippe Schmidt, spokesman for the SBB, told the ATS news agency, that with temperatures dipping well into the minus column in the German speaking parts of Switzerland, riders can expect delays of 4 to 10 minutes on regional lines and at least a half hour on major routes.  European routes served by the SBB, connecting Basel with Milan and Hamburg, for example, were also affected with delays and in some cases cancellations.  As temperatures are expected to hover well below zero in the coming weeks, one is well served to check ahead with the Rail Service before heading to the station.  

Swiss President and Minister of the Economy Johann Schneider-Ammann released a statement on Monday heralding the commencement of activities for Swiss Innovation.  The privately funded foundation, which also receives federal and cantonal grants along with support from local Universities aims to develop research institutes providing young companies with support in Zurich, Basel, Aargau, Bern and Lausanne.  Raymond Cron, director of the anticipated network of research parks said, "In the future we must develop ideas and lead research here in Switzerland, to be able to offer quality products and remain competitive in the global marketplace."  Ideally, the tech parks will spark innovation on a global scale, not unlike Silicon Valley in California by providing incubation space as well as access to a highly trained labor force and nearby Universities.  In addition to the 350 million francs the federal government has committed to the project over the next 8 years, several local firms including Novartis and Roche have also added to the support the foundation will receive.

Basel Police continue their efforts in 2016 to modernize their information systems.  In an effort to reduce paperwork, and increase the accuracy of records, the department has requested 10 millions Swiss Francs from the Basel Grand Council.  The funds would be used to technically upgrade existing systems, and enhance their integration across the various activities the police department is engaged in.  The result of all the IT resource pooling the Police are targeting would be the reduction of paperwork by at least 50%.  In addition, the police forces would be able to communicate and respond more quickly to challenges they face.  The existing web pages administered by the police department would also be enhanced to better disseminate information to the public as well as provide portals for reporting vandalism and thefts with the hope of reducing such criminal activity.

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A unique opportunity to procure an exotic, tropical gift - made right here in Basel - will be available this Friday at the upcoming Museum Night.  In case you needed yet another reason to participate in the event, The Basel Based chocolatier Rehmann will be selling their chocolate made from Cacao Trees grown at the Basel Botanical Garden's greenhouses.  Roughly two kilos only of the pure milk chocolate were made from the 600 grams of raw cacao processed from the fermented, roasted, crushed, peeled and conched fruits of the trees.  The chocolate was then turned into coin sized candies ready to be sold at Friday night's event.  The proceeds from the sales will support a charitable endeavor the Botanical Garden is pursuing with the University of Basel to preserve a forest in Ecuador.