ZOOM OUT

Switzerland

Where tradition still counts for a lot, but where innovation sparks global attention time and again. To state the obvious: stunning Alpine landscapes and snowfields, watches and clocks par excellence, finest chocolate, superb cheeses, health-giving Birchermüesli, a penchant for politeness and punctuality, and serene, laze-about Sundays. In tandem, CERN and the Large Hadron Collider, and ground-breaking medical and environmental technologies. The birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mario Botta, Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber-Arp, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Heidi author Joanna Spyri, Roger Federer... and Helvetica.