Fischer Connectors wins the 2023 Vaud International Business Award in Best Swiss Company category

Extremely honored and proud to win the 2023 Vaud International Business Award (PVEI) in the ‘Best Swiss Company’ category, Fischer Connectors thanks the Jury, the Vaud Department of Economy, Innovation, Employment and Heritage (DEIEP), the Vaud Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CVCI) and Innovaud, and congratulates Haleon, a leading global provider of consumer health products, for its PVEI award in the Foreign Company category, and POMOCA, which makes specialty skins for ski touring, for the PVEI Special Jury Award.

Carmelo Laganà, Chairman of the PVEI Jury and General Secretary of Canton of Vaud’s DEIEP, explains why they awarded our company in the Best Swiss Company category: “Its strong local roots, longevity and expertise make Fischer Connectors a top winner in the ‘Best Swiss Company’ category. The creation of the Wearin’ startup in Morges in 2019 and the integration into the Conextivity Group in 2022 make Fischer Connectors a high-tech company resolutely focused on the future.”

The PVEI Awards Ceremony took place on November 30, 2023, at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland, with some 300 people attending and in the presence of Isabelle Moret, Conseillère d’Etat du canton de Vaud, Aurelien G. Demaurex, Board Member of Innovaud, and Philippe Miauton, CVCI Director.

In the video broadcast during the awards ceremony, Jonathan Brossard, CEO of Conextivity Group (Fischer Connectors and Wearin’), introduces his company and pays tribute to the Swiss model of innovation, and in particular to the canton of Vaud:

“I’m Jonathan Brossard, I’m the CEO of Conextivity Group. Our Group is made up of two companies that each sell specialty products. The first is Fischer Connectors, which has already been around for nearly 70 years. It sells connectors, cable assemblies and electronic solutions. The other one is a company we just created called Wearin’. It operates in the market for the Internet of things. Wearin’ aims to supply solutions that can help workers like policemen, firefighters and ambulance personnel do their jobs with greater safety and efficiency.

For a company like ours, what’s really important, is innovation. We know that Switzerland is a global leader in innovation. That was underscored in the latest rankings. In addition, Vaud Canton, with its support structure, is one of the biggest drivers of innovation across the country. In all, innovation is very important but is requires an environment that guarantees a certain amount of stability. The environment in Switzerland, in terms of both its economy and politics, provides the stability that’s important for us. And it also offers a good quality of life, which is also appealing to people from other countries. For a business like ours, this is very attractive.

At Conextivity Group, we have two core strengths. One is technology and the other is manufacturing. In terms of technology, we can draw on an incredible array of skills in the region. I don’t think there’s any other region in the world with as many high-tech workers. In terms of manufacturing, things are a little harder today since the lake Geneva area has experienced a fair amount of industrial decline. That’s due in part to the cost of living.

Of course, the latest big challenge we faced was the whole period of uncertainty that began in late 2019 or early 2020 and that affected us all in many ways. Today some of these impacts remain. There was a lot of uncertainty. Some of these lingering impacts are economic in nature. They will continue to disrupt things a bit in the future.

We’ve got a lot of plans going forward, in some ways maybe too many. We’ve doubled the size of our company in six years, despite the pandemic. And we opened our Wearin’ business. Wearin’ is a start-up with growing potential, whose bright outlook is confirmed day after day. So we’re expanding these two businesses, which are highly synergistic and this has a certain degree of complexity and sophistication. But ultimately, that’s also what we’re looking for.

Video available on YouTube >> https://youtu.be/kOJTA8P_2jU