Swiss Economic Award
Swiss Economic Award is Switzerland's premier young entrepreneur prize, operated under the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) by NZZ Connect, a division of Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG. It anchors an ecosystem of conferences, awards, and business communities serving Swiss executives, SMEs, and family entrepreneurs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersBern, Switzerland
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Swiss Economic Award does
Swiss Economic Award is Switzerland's most prominent young entrepreneur recognition program, founded in 1998 and operated within the broader Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) ecosystem under NZZ Connect, a branch (Zweigniederlassung) of Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG, the country's flagship publishing and media conglomerate. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurial achievement among Swiss companies and business leaders, and is part of a multi-vertical portfolio that includes the annual flagship SEF business conference, SEF.WomenAward, SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur community, SEF.Powerpreneur community, the KMU-Parlament SME advocacy platform (which engaged 46 entrepreneurs in 2025), and the Vision Schweiz 2035 long-horizon initiative. The organization's positioning is concentrated around the annual SEF conference, described as "Switzerland's leading business conference," which convenes federal leadership (including President Guy Parmelin), C-suite executives from Nestlé (Philipp Navratil) and Roche (Severin Schwan), and international thought leaders such as Harvard's Carmen Reinhart and Axiom Space's Peggy Whitson.
The core offering is event- and community-based rather than technology-based. The product surface consists of the flagship annual conference, three verticalized award and community programs (WomenAward, FamilyEntrepreneur, Powerpreneur), the SME policy platform KMU-Parlament, and the multi-year Vision Schweiz 2035 thought-leadership initiative, delivered across German, French, Italian, and English. The technology footprint is a multilingual corporate website (swisseconomic.ch), LinkedIn and YouTube distribution channels, and event-specific photo galleries. There is no disclosed proprietary software, AI/ML capability, app, API, or SDK. The business model is private and not publicly disclosed in unit economics, but is implicitly sponsor- and partnership-driven: 7 named Premium partners (ABB, UBS, IBM, PwC, Allianz, Swisscom, AMAG), core partners (Breitling, SRF, RTS, NZZ, KMU-HSG), and a longer tail of minor partners (Swiss Re, Google Cloud, Salesforce, SBB CFF FFS, Innosuisse, Swiss Indoors Basel). The operating geography is Switzerland-only, with no disclosed international expansion. Management is led by Corine Blesi as Managing Director of NZZ Connect, the organizing entity.
Swiss Economic Award firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Swiss Economic Award
- Legal name
- Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG
- Website
- https://swisseconomic.ch
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Swiss Economic Award is Switzerland's premier young entrepreneur prize, operated under the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) by NZZ Connect, a division of Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG. It anchors an ecosystem of conferences, awards, and business communities serving Swiss executives, SMEs, and family entrepreneurs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Swiss Economic Award industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Business Awards and Conferences
- NAICS
- Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Business (EDAMAHAK)
Keywords
Where Swiss Economic Award is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bern
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Swiss Economic Award business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Swiss Economic Award product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Swiss Economic Award is the premier entrepreneurial award in Switzerland, recognizing outstanding entrepreneurial achievement and success among Swiss companies and business leaders. It is delivered as part of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF), Switzerland's leading annual business conference, and operates alongside a portfolio of award programs (SEF.WomenAward), communities (SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur, SEF.Powerpreneur), the KMU-Parlament (SME Parliament), and the Vision Schweiz 2035 initiative.
Product overview
Swiss Economic Award is a flagship award program organized by the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF), Switzerland's leading business conference. The award is part of a broader portfolio of events and communities including the main SEF annual conference, SEF.WomenAward, SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur community, SEF.Powerpreneur community, KMU-Parlament (SME Parliament), and the VISION SCHWEIZ 2035 initiative. The Swiss Economic Award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurial achievement in Switzerland, functioning as the premier award offering within the SEF ecosystem of business conferences and networking communities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Swiss Economic Award The premier business award in Switzerland, recognizing outstanding entrepreneurial achievement and success among Swiss companies and business leaders, administered by NZZ Connect via the Swiss Economic Forum.
- Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) Annual Conference Switzerland's leading business conference bringing together executives, politicians, and thought leaders for high-level discussions on economic policy and business strategy.
- SEF.WomenAward An award program recognizing exceptional women entrepreneurs and business leaders in Switzerland.
- SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur A dedicated community for family businesses in Switzerland, providing networking, knowledge sharing, and support for entrepreneurial families.
- KMU-Parlament (SME Parliament) A platform for SME owners and entrepreneurs to engage in economic policy discussions and SME policy advocacy.
- Vision Schweiz 2035 A forward-looking initiative aimed at ensuring Switzerland remains the most successful, innovative, and livable country in the world by 2035, with discussions available in German, French, and Italian.
Companies that use Swiss Economic Award
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Swiss Economic Award technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Swiss Economic Award partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
19 partnerships are on record, tiered premium, core and minor.
- ABBpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- AllianzpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- AMAGpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference; community partner for SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur
- IBMpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- PwCpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- SwisscompremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- UBSpremiumPremium partner of SEF conference
- BreitlingcoreOfficial Timing Partner of SEF conference
- SRFcoreMedia partner providing coverage
- RTScoreMedia partner providing coverage (French-speaking Switzerland)
- NZZcoreMedia partner; parent organization NZZ Connect runs SEF
- KMU-HSGcoreAcademic Partner - University of St. Gallen SME research institute
- Swiss ReminorSEF.Partner category
- SBB CFF FFSminorNetwork partner - Swiss Federal Railways
- Swiss Indoors BaselminorEvent partner - tennis event combining sports and business
- InnosuisseminorSwiss Innovation Agency - Network partner
- NestléminorFeatured as speaker at SEF events (Philipp Navratil, CEO)
- RocheminorFeatured as speaker at SEF events (Severin Schwan, Chairman)
- Axiom SpaceminorFeatured as speaker at SEF events (Peggy Whitson, VP; Jonathan Cirtain, CEO)
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Swiss Economic Award competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Strengths4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Swiss Economic Award social profiles
Digital presenceSwiss Economic Award financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Swiss Economic Award leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Swiss Economic Award funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Swiss Economic Award M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments8 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Swiss Economic Award
What does Swiss Economic Award do?
The Swiss Economic Award is the premier entrepreneurial award in Switzerland, recognizing outstanding entrepreneurial achievement and success among Swiss companies and business leaders. It is delivered as part of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF), Switzerland's leading annual business conference, and operates alongside a portfolio of award programs (SEF.WomenAward), communities (SEF.FamilyEntrepreneur, SEF.Powerpreneur), the KMU-Parlament (SME Parliament), and the Vision Schweiz 2035 initiative.
Is Swiss Economic Award a public or private company?
Swiss Economic Award is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Swiss Economic Award founded?
Swiss Economic Award was founded in 1998.
Where is Swiss Economic Award based?
Swiss Economic Award is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
Does Swiss Economic Award have an API?
No public API is recorded for Swiss Economic Award.
What industry is Swiss Economic Award in?
Swiss Economic Award's product category is Business Awards and Conferences. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAHAK, Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Business. Its NAICS code is 813211.