2022 was the year to recognise the power of the collective through the lens of tremendous challenges that came in waves like a tsunami. But we surfed through and elegantly landed in the new year with a renewed sense of belonging. New circles formed to hold processes and structures that we partially had to create anew, and that occasionally forced each of us to step into shoes too new for comfort - but we found our path and moved forward.

Since 2017, we have been working every day to bring people together to build the culture, capacity, and resources to co-create the Switzerland we want to live in. On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of collaboratio helvetica, we look back not only on another year of intensive work for more ecological responsibility, humanity and the common good in Switzerland, but also across the years.

In 2020 life around the globe has dramatically changed. Will we go back to the way things were or are we as a society on our way to a new normal? There has always been uncertainty. We just thought we were in control. But today, with the omnipresent consequences of the Corona crisis, we know better.

2019 was an important year for collaboratio helvetica. We brought together our collective experience, the knowledge we have built up over time and, in particular, the commitment of a first cohort in our biggest project to date: Switzerland’s first Future Lab, the Catalyst Lab.

What a year! In our second year of existence, we have gone from exploring our environment as a young pioneer initiative to a more and more mature organisation running very exciting projects, solidifying our work culture and focus. We are so thankful to the ecosystem we are part of for the collaborations, support, experiments and nudges of all kinds. We have stayed true to our commitment to be a learning organisation, and indeed we have learned a lot. In this report we follow suit on the commitment to share about what we learn.

collaboratio helvetica has reached the end of its first year – an inspiring, exciting and intense journey of exploration for the organisation. The year started with the appointment of the two project leaders, our ‘co-catalysts’, and the development of a small team of people around them, who started to implement the vision and mission of collaboratio helvetica…