Greetings - Bonjour - Guten Tag!
In recent months, the team of Pour Demain has held dozens of discussions with experts from parliament, administration, academia, business and civil society to develop policy proposals for a secure future.
Our work focused on two issues.
Pandemic preparedness
National programme for early detection and monitoring of pathogens: Pour Demain is committed to ensuring that the surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in hospitals and wastewater, introduced during the Covid pandemic, continues and is extended to other possible pandemic pathogens. This would provide an effective early warning system for the next pandemic.
Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC): While biological weapons have again become a public issue in the context of the Ukraine war, they generally represent a neglected problem. The Implementation Support Unit (ISU) of the BWC is severely underfunded with an annual budget of approximately CHF 1.5 million. Pour Demain is advocating for additional posts as well as a biosafety programme in countries of the global South.
Switzerland must look further than Covid
An op-ed piece by Pour Demain in Heidi News calls for strengthening pandemic prevention.
How do we prevent the next pandemic? Public event with experts from Pour Demain on pandemic preparedness, organized with Reatch at the University of Zurich.
Artificial Intelligence
AI monitoring on opportunities and risks: Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are being used in increasingly more areas of life and will have a massive impact on society in the coming decades. The Confederation can better understand the opportunities and risks of AI if it directly follows the development of the AI sector through a monitoring programme.
Explainability of AI: Research on explainability and comprehensibility are unsolved challenges in modern AI systems. This is where Switzerland can realize its potential to become a leading location for AI research and application. It should advance research on trustworthiness and explainability of AI systems with a significant SNSF research programme worth 30 million Swiss francs. Pour Demain has developed a corresponding project proposal and submitted it as part of the National Research Program (NRP) submission.
Whitepaper on AI Monitoring
Pour Demain and the Franxini project of Reatch are working together on a proposal for monitoring artificial intelligence in Switzerland. A white paper was developed during the summer session 2022 in an open exchange between members of the Swiss National Council and representatives from science, administration and economy.
Many Thanks
We are always happy to receive suggestions or intros to experts in pandemic preparedness and artificial intelligence as well as our other topics. As a non-profit organisation, we would also like to thank you for any donations or information about potential financial supporters. The team of Pour Demain is happy to talk to potential donors. www.pourdemain.ch
Thank you very much for your support.