LEP: a small step for SWITCH and a big one for the university community
SWITCH set up the LEP project in 2008 in order to be able to provide the Swiss universities with precisely the services they require in many years' time too. Together with experts, an analysis was conducted of the technological challenges that lay ahead.
Initial phase: trend research
The long-term development prospects (in German: LEP) centred on the question as to what role information and communication technology would play for Swiss universities in future. This was the prerequisite for defining the universities' future needs. Independent experts examined potential medium to long-term trends for this in 2008, in nine reports. At the conference entitled "SWITCH the future on" in January 2009, 120 SWITCH stakeholders came up with specific future scenarios. The committee and the governing board of the Foundation then worked out strategic spheres of action from these.
Concluding phase: Strategy 2020
2010 was the year in which the SWITCH administrative office had to take decisions: from the spheres of action that had been put forward, long-term strategic aims and – working on from these – the Foundation's Strategy 2020 were developed. At the end of this process we now have SWITCH's current vision and mission; a portfolio of services for the universities which will still be technologically pioneering and tailored to their needs well into the future.