EOS Forum 25

The combination of innovation and AI was the topic at the EOS Forum on Thursday, August 29, 2025 in Zurich. The distinguished speakers gave the guests of EOS Schweiz interesting learnings and food for thought. Conversations were correspondingly lively at the networking reception that followed, accompanied by delicious bites from the METROPOL kitchen. 

After a welcome by Andreas Hasler, CEO of EOS Schweiz AG, the well-known journalist and presenter Annette Fetscherin guided the audience through the evening with skill and charm.

Saskia Dupré, GenAI Program Manager at OTTO, spoke vividly about everyday life with AI. She made clear that AI does not run by itself, but takes a lot of time and work to get through the curve from hype via disillusionment to genuine value creation – for employees just as much as for the company. Above all, it is crucial to bring employees along on the AI journey. OTTO does this with a wide range of activities – the internal AI ambassador program in particular has done a lot to free the use of AI from its IT stigma and to motivate employees to try out the tools provided. Playful activities for “quick wins” that need little, simple effort help as well. 

Alongside this employee enablement, OTTO is currently investing a lot of “human intelligence” in identifying concrete use cases in which AI brings real added value. It is important not only to think about efficiency and cost gains in existing processes, but also to open one’s eyes to things that only become possible thanks to AI. As an example she cited checking the product images that the more than 3,600 business partners upload to the OTTO platform against OTTO’s ethical requirements. Only the use of AI makes it possible to review this huge mass of images without gaps and to verify compliance with the standards. 

Andreas Hasler of EOS Schweiz presented first figures and facts from the brand-new 2025 edition of the EOS study “European Payment Practices”. Cultural differences between the countries are visible in the payment terms granted, but interestingly not in the delay with which due payments are made on average. Differences also show in the degree of digitalization of the payment options offered – the countries of Eastern Europe are ahead of us here, and Germany lags behind. Hasler stressed the need to invest in good time in digital payment portals and “self-service payment options” with a view to the growing consumer group of digital natives.

Entrepreneurial responsibility also underlay the thoughts of keynote speaker Daniel Cronin. Those who take their responsibility seriously also encourage thinking and working on what seems impossible – only that leads to radical innovation that keeps a company competitive in 5, 10 or 20 years. Think of the moon landing or the invention of the smartphone – neither was an incremental innovation based on existing data (aka improvement), but something radically new. Cronin advocates voicing ideas early and formulating the goal even if it seems impossible, too big and too difficult. This quickly shows whether other people can be found who believe in the idea. Courage for honest feedback is important. As is accepting that opinions and assessments can change over time or as the idea develops further. AI, by the way, produces only incremental innovation (today) – the human brain, with all its creativity, imagination and power of visualization, is capable of conceiving radical innovation. And so: the big ideas should be spoken out loud. Listen, look, test what they are worth.

Cronin closed his talk with 7 tips for turning big ideas into real, radical innovation.