Geneva Loading x Palo Alto Connect Lunch

Are you a researcher, student, or professor in the Bay Area with a connection to AI and Governance? Join us for a special Connect Lunch in Palo Alto.

Swissnex in San Francisco regularly hosts Connect Lunches to strengthen connections and collaboration between Swissnex in San Francisco and the Bay Area academia ecosystem. The Swissnex Connect Lunches are a great opportunity to network and build relationships, and to learn more about the Bay Area academia ecosystem and Swissnex's activities in San Francisco.

This Connect Lunch is part of Geneva Loading…, a program by Swissnex in San Francisco and Mercator Foundation Switzerland that prepares eleven Swiss-based AI experts from academia, civil society, media, policy and industry to contribute to the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva (June 21–22, 2027).

From November 16–20, 2026, the cohort spends a week in the Bay Area, inside the ecosystem where frontier AI is built, funded and contested. They meet frontier labs, researchers, investors, civil society organizations and critical voices, then carry those perspectives to Geneva as independent voices.

Come meet the cohort over lunch and share your view on the questions that will shape global AI governance: safety and accountability, sovereignty and open source, AI's impact on democracy, and what a summit in Geneva can realistically achieve.

Meet the Geneva Loading… Cohort 2026

Nadine Bienefeld, Senior Researcher & Lecturer, ETH Zurich & University of Lucerne

Arnout Devos, Lecturer, ETH AI Center

Ruth Fulterer, Tech Journalist, NZZ

Armin Galliker, Senior Software Architect, Siemens

Angela Müller, Executive Director, AlgorithmWatch CH

Balz Oertli, Journalist & Co-founder, WAV Recherchekollektiv

Niniane Paeffgen, Lead Citizens Engagement & Public Affairs, GESDA

Blaise Robert, Global AI Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Kevin Schawinski, CEO & Co-founder, Modulos

Patrick Stadler, Executive Lead & Co-founder, Pour Demain

About Geneva Loading...

Geneva Loading... is a multi chapter program preparing eleven Swiss-based thought leaders from academia, civil society, media and policy to contribute to the AI Summit 2027 in Geneva. The program is a collaboration between Swissnex in San Francisco and Mercator Foundation Switzerland, supported by Gesda, AlgorithmWatch, and TA Swiss.

About Swissnex in San Francisco

Swissnex in San Francisco is part of a global network for international collaboration located at Pier 17. We connect Switzerland, North America, and the world in science, education, innovation, and the arts and foster exchange between the regions.

Our mission is to connect people and ideas from Switzerland and the San Francisco Bay Area to foster exchange in research, education, innovation, and the arts. To do so, Swissnex collaborates with a broad spectrum of partners related to international research and innovation.