The association
The Business Informatics Technology Centre (TEWI) was founded in 1993. The TEWI is an independent association that promotes the appropriate use of information and communication technologies in business and administration in the Canton of Valais. The canton of Valais and the municipality of Brig-Glis support the TEWI’s projects, which focus on current trends in business information technology and analyse their impact as opportunities and threats for the Valais region. In cooperation with the Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) and the Institute of Information Systems (IWI) of the University of Bern, assistants, scientific staff and students are active in the areas of research, education and services.
Research
In addition to basic research, TEWI primarily conducts research projects in areas that are important for Valais, such as IT, tourism and digital sustainability.
Since 2018, the technology centre has placed a research focus on virtual team collaboration. To this end, the project “Digitisation of a practice-oriented course” (DPL) was carried out in collaboration with the Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) and the Institute of Information Systems (IWI) at the University of Bern. In this project, it was originally assumed that in the context of the training, the implementation of a virtual management consultancy project could make sense for reasons of geographical distance. Due to the home office obligation, this became a compelling necessity.
Through this research, risks and problems related to virtual team collaboration were revealed. Accordingly, recommendations for action were empirically developed to enable happy collaboration. The project increases the attractiveness of Valais as a business location, as more knowledge can be retained in the canton of Valais through distributed collaboration. For example, through new job profiles that can be created or better educated students who are available to the labour market in Valais.
Education
As part of their training, junior assistants and research assistants are to be given the chance to apply their university knowledge in a practical way in consultancy projects, thus gaining valuable experience for their future careers. The TEWI regularly presents its research results at conferences and events to which other speakers from science and practice are also invited. The TEWI workshop deserves special mention. At regular intervals, the TEWI invites speakers to a workshop in the field of business informatics, such as Smart Region Wallis, Smart Cities, Digital Society, Open Source, Open Data and Open Government. For more information, see activities.
Services
The numerous members of the TEWI, more precisely SMEs distributed throughout the canton of Valais, private individuals and municipalities, constitute a large network. Thanks to these extensive resources, the TEWI can make various publications and works available to the public within the framework of practical projects. The research projects are primarily intended to show what potentials arise in peripheral regions through new technologies and their applications. Contacts with the economy and the authorities of the Upper Valais within the TEWI network are the basis for practice-oriented research and support entrepreneurial innovations in the field of business informatics.
Private companies and public institutions that have consulting needs in information technology and organisational areas should benefit from cooperation with the TEWI. For this reason, the TEWI offers companies the opportunity to have a practice-related problem of the company worked on by students of the University of Bern, within the framework of a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis. You can find more information under practice-oriented work.
Statutes
The last amendments to the TEWI statutes were made on March 28, 2002, and can be found in the following PDF document: Statutes of the TEWI (pdf. 133 KB). Would you like to become a member of the Business Informatics Technology Centre network? You can find more information under become a member.