On 24 November 2011, SAAN and the Swiss Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) co-organised a business cocktail on the topic of "future cities" and current developments at the ETH Zurich. The SAAN/SACCI Business cocktail was the first collaboration between the two organizations and was co-financed by Presence Switzerland. The main idea behind this collaboration was the importance of bringing together academia and business representatives in a relaxed and informal atmosphere in order to stimulate more cross-collaboration. Introduced to the public by Swiss Consul-General Markus Meli and by Nicolas Perren, CEO of TEKTUM, Prof Gerhard Schmitt kindly agreed to hold a keynote speech, again focusing on future challenges to cities and current examples, mostly in Switzerland. Prof Schmitt’s presentation iterated the advanced position of Switzerland in questions of sustainability and urban planning and proved to be excellent advertisement for a progressive and sustainable Switzerland. The business cocktail took place in an excellent atmosphere. With a total attendance of 50 people and an ideal mix of business people from law firms, consulting, architecture bureaus, large international companies such as ThyssenKrupp, SGS and DHL, academics from the major Melbourne universities and SAAN contacts, this event was a great success.

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