The UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has compiled a ranking of the most connected countries in the world. This took into account 16 different metrics that were regarded as significant in this respect, including ICT and mobility infrastructure.

Switzerland has been placed second in the Connectivity Index, with only the USA performing better. Switzerland also scored highly for the high quality of its rail infrastructure. In the corresponding category, it was the only country to be awarded the maximum of ten points. It was also the only one in the rankings to score ten points for road quality.

The position at the top of the rankings is moreover due to Switzerland’s commitments in the areas of ICT, again alone in scoring ten points for 5G network deployment. South Korea was second in this category with 7.8 points. Most countries in the ranking failed to score even one point for this metric. The USA was awarded 1.6 points.

What’s more, Switzerland stood out for per capita gross domestic product (10 points) and the power of the Swiss passport (9.8 points).

Overall, the Connectivity Index examined 34 countries. The USA and Switzerland were followed by the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and China, while Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Cambodia brought up the rear of the rankings.

Digital currency exchange platform Coinbase has released the second edition of its Leaders in Crypto Education report, which includes a ranking of the 50 best universities in the world offering courses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) ranks 5th worldwide and 1st in Europe. Only two other European universities are in the top 10 : ETH Zurich (8th) and the University of Copenhagen (9th). The list is dominated by American Universities, with Cornell University at the number one position. According to Coinbase, the top 10 schools on the list share “a deep commitment to crypto and blockchain at both the student and faculty level.”

To assess the current landscape of cryptocurrency in higher education, Coinbase reviewed the course catalogs of the top 50 global universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. It tallied the number of crypto and blockchain classes taught at each to undergraduate and graduate-level students in 2019 and combined that statistic with other weighted criteria, including research citations leveraging data from Google Scholar. The report also provides interesting findings on the number of courses focused on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, or bitcoin that are being taught across a range of disciplines, as well as on student sentiments about crypto. 56% of the world’s top 50 universities now offer at least one course on crypto or blockchain, up from 42% in 2018. Nearly 70% of crypto and blockchain classes are in departments outside of computer science, including law, the humanities, and economics. 34% of students surveyed expressed interest in taking a course on crypto or blockchain, compared to just 28% last year. And twice as many (18%) reported having taken a crypto or blockchain course than they did in 2018.

Facebook is planning major expansion in Zurich. The number of employees will be more than doubled from its current level of 80, said Tino Krause, Facebook’s head of operations for Austria, Germany and Switzerland, in an interview with Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper.

Facebook first opened an office in Zurich in 2016, when the internet giant acquired Zurich Eye – a Zurich university project that focuses on visual navigation for machines, enabling them “to see”. This expertise in Zurich is now flowing into the development of the virtual reality headset Oculus Go.“

The Zurich office is a major driver of the company’s capacity to innovate, not least due to its developmental focus on virtual and augment reality. It will continue to gain in significance for us in the future,” Tino Krause said to persoenlich.com. “We want to get even closer to people and are therefore intensifying our commitment in Switzerland.”

According to Tino Krause, the German-speaking area as a whole is becoming ever more important for Facebook. It is “quite decidedly a driver” when it comes to matters of data protection, in particular.

The canton of Schaffhausen and the Economic Promotion of the Canton of Schaffhausen are joining forces with the Schaffhausen Gliding Group (SGS) and the Municipality of Neunkirch. Their aim is to establish Schmerlat Airfield as a test center for drone technologies. Switzerland is already a leader in the droning industry. However, until now there has been a lack of places where this new technology can be used under real conditions, it was reported in a press release. This gap is now to be closed.

In 2018, successful tests were carried out with a self-driving bus in the Canton of Schaffhausen. “Companies should be able to use their developments with us, not only on the road as with the self-driving bus, but also in the air,” said state councilor Martin Kessler at the press conference at Schmerlat Airfield in Neunkirch.

The Zurich startup Daedalean and the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR) have already trialed the test site at Schmerlat Airfield. Daedalean demonstrated a drone equipped with an autopilot that, thanks to artificial intelligence, can independently avoid a moving car and land safely. The HSR presented a logistics application with a transport drone.“

We are delighted with the flexibility and the support of the authorities here. We would be delighted if we could test and develop our drones here in the canton of Schaffhausen. We are already talking about this,” said Boris Videnov, System Engineer at Daedalean. The canton is reportedly also in talks with other companies wishing to start their tests in Neunkirch this year.