Google celebrates 20 years in Switzerland

The American tech giant opened its first development office in Europe in Zurich in 2004. Representatives from business and research fields, as well as Google representatives gathered to celebrate the company's 20th Swiss anniversary at the company's headquarters in Zurich on Monday. Google's Swiss footprint began in April 2004 with two employees. Google Maps and YouTube did not exist and smartphones and cloud computing were still largely unknown, the company reminisced in a statement today. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Today the company's focus is on research in artificial intelligence (AI), which offers new opportunities for society and the economy. The conveners also discussed potential, collaborations, and innovations within the local Swiss ecosystem: to date, 115 companies have been founded by former Google Switzerland employees, providing a total of more than 1,700 jobs. The presence of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) was ...