At the close of the Summit on Friday, Marilyne Andersen, GESDA Director General, Nathalie Fontanet, State Councillor of the Canton of Geneva, and Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the GESDA Board of Directors, thanked participants for the high quality of their reflections and engagement.
“Technology creates news forms of solidarity,” Fontanet said at the closing of the Summit, emphasizing GESDA’s importance to Geneva’s international community. “Anticipation is an act of collective responsibility.”
One of the highlights of the summit was a discussion on the rapid development of neurotechnologies generally, and the brain computer interface (BCI) technologies in particular.
Recognizing the world is at a pivotal moment in shaping these technologies, GESDA decided to start gathering a core group of philanthropic foundations, banks, medical institutions and interested companies, as well international organizations, to help ensure that BCI technologies will be beneficial to all.
Patrick Aebischer, Vice Chairman of GESDA, told the Summit that GESDA has closely followed the development of Brain-Computer Interface technology and will begin taking a more formal approach toward creating an ethical framework for its development.
The process of incubating a forum for future-oriented discussions and global governance structures before these technologies become mainstream will involve putting together “a coalition of the willing” geared towards accelerating applications of BCI technologies with a positive impact for humanity.
“We have been looking at this subject for some time and it’s mature enough that we are ready to engage,” Aebischer told the Summit. “We’ve seen this acceleration that justifies that something more should be done.”
Among the partners with whom GESDA has been holding discussions to build the coalition are Defitech, WHO Foundation, Wyss Center, Qatar Foundation, OECD, EPFL, and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG).
GESDA also has extended its international reach with the announcement of a partnership with the STS Forum of Japan, a platform to form collaborative networks among global leaders in academia, industry and government. Brabeck-Letmathe will serve on the board of STS.
The Summit was marked by the announcement of 20 semi-finalists for the XPRIZE Quantum Applications competition, launched in partnership with GESDA, Google Quantum AI and XPRIZE.
The competition showcases groundbreaking efforts to bring quantum solutions to real-world challenges.
The Summit’s fifth edition, attended by more than 1,000 people from the worlds of science, diplomacy, academia and economics, included 40 public sessions with 15 workshops and community gatherings.
Brabeck-Letmathe warmly thanked the 90 speakers for their contributions to an intellectually stimulating gathering that will help propel more action. He also announced that the next Summit will be held at the Palexpo convention center in Geneva from October 14-16, 2026.
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Media Contact
Jean-Marc Crevoisier, Director Communication and Media, +41 79 763 84 10 | jeanmarc.crevoisier@gesda.global
