Our Project

Intro

We from TIE International have been giving our apprentices, which work on real projects from our customers from their first year, the opportunity to work abroad for years. So far this has only been on European soil. Now, we want to take a leap over the great pond.

Politics

We believe that the right moment is now, because the political pressure to counter the shortage of skilled workers on both the USA and Switzerland is growing. Switzerland should and wants to help the USA in implementing the dual educational system.

Economy

For its part the TIE International  is fortunate that, in addition to existing exciting international partners, Accenture and a well-known search engine operator have also joined our customer base. Not only do both companies have a great reputation, they also have offices in New York with thousands of employees.

The Credit Suisse and the UBS have already shown an interest in this project.

Education

Various possible partnerships have emerged over our existing network. Our primary partner is the ETH Zurich. The ETH Zurich has already built a network in the world of universities on the East Coast.

State

Both the USA and in Switzerland have the necessary organisations to support this project, be it to answer any legal questions or to help finance this project (Department of Labor Washington DC, SBFI, MBAs etc.).

Apprentices

As expected, a survey in Switzerland of volunteers in their 2nd to 4th year for a trip to New York resulted in a positive picture. The interest is there.

Phases

Our idea is based on three phases. The project could be put on hold after each staged and be continued at a later date.

Our first phase consists of trying to get volunteers from TIE International to New York. If possible, we went to send at least one volunteer over for three weeks, if possible still in 2017, but at the latest at the end of Q2 / 2018. This should then be expanded with each further trip.

During the second phase we want to set up a permanent office in New York. The office should, in cooperation with other companies or, if need be, via telepresence, be occupied permanently. We plan to have the students visit the office for three months. These visits should overlap so that we can transfer know-how. For that to happen, we would need permanent customers in New York.

In the third and currently last phase we would like to set up an office in New York (preferably near Central Park) with apprentices from the USA, being supported by our network from the previous phases. At this point we would need a long term financial commitment akin to a vocational school in Switzerland.

The growth of this institution, be it TIE International, a joint venture with the ETH Zurich or something else entirely, is without limit.

Concept

This document does not describe the overall concept but is rather a rough description of the first phase.

We are sending high performing apprentices with good English skills to New York. The problem with being absent from school has already been solved. The costs for the flight etc. will be taken over – this has also been solved.

While in New York, the apprentices will live with host families. The necessary connections with an office in Switzerland already exist.

During their stay, the apprentices should participate in real projects from the ETH Zurich. Preferable, these projects would be in the area of cyber security or the blockchain. Our customers would mainly be from Switzerland, though companies from around the world are welcome, even with (IT) projects from other areas.
Our hope is, that some of the projects will result in a profit which can then be used to cover some of the costs. The apprentices would primarily be supervised by the master students. It is possible that, especially in the beginning, support would also be given by engineers from TIE International.

Some agreements have already been made with the ETH Zurich. It is our goal to quickly position the logos from the ETH Zurich and TIE International in New York and to excite the media. This would be the starting point for phase two.
Which types of media should be used in Switzerland (e.g. blog, radio interviews etc.) is not yet defined.

Vision

TIE International’s dream is to build a well-known institution in New York. This would not only give the local youth great future prospects but also give the Noser Young and Switzerland a certain reputation.

In addition to that, we would be developing new models for vocational training, which could then be used as an example for Switzerland, as some Swiss systems are not agile enough and could be improved.

We would like our partners, be internal or external, to gain an additional positive reputation in politics, with the state, and with society.

Summary

Apprentices from TIE International should take part in projects in New York. The trips should, in the beginning, last for a couple of weeks though the eventual goal is a several months.

Master students and apprentices would work together on IT projects in the area of software development, preferably working on cyber security and block-chain.

Any Swiss company that provides vocational training in application development can participate.

We appreciate any kind of help. What we need the most is customers in New York which could work on projects with apprentices (PoC, research, prototypes etc.). During the first two phases, we would also be very grateful for office space, financing, networking etc.

Project: New York is an interesting project for all participants. Here is a not conclusive list of reasons you should participate:

Apprentices

The core group in this project are the apprentices. We would like to give them the following opportunities:

  • Gather experience in an international team/li>
  • Profit from the knowledge of the students
  • Improve their social and personal competences
  • International network
  • international experiences

Companies in Switzerland

Companies in Switzerland can also profit:

  • Good reputation
    • Social
    • when recruiting young talents
  • Improving the skills of their talents
  • Exchanges with other innovative companies
  • International network

Companies in New York

  • Experience with apprentices
  • Cheep but competent and highly motivated workers
  • Flexible workers (length of employment, intensity, number of working hours etc.)

Swiss Federation / Cantons

  • Realization of first IT-projects with apprentices in the USA
  • Network to further potential companies
  • Gathering experience in such a promising project in ICT
  • The SBFI is very interested in promoting and helping the USA with the dual education system – this project would  be a prime example

Institutions

  • Exchange of knowledge
  • Promoting talents
  • Extending their portfolio of talent promotion
  • Improved reputation

The Following companies and institutions have so far shown their interest:

  • Accenture
  • Credit Suisse
  • ETH Zürich
  • ICT Berufsbildung Schweiz
  • MBA ZH
  • SBFI & EHB
  • TBZ

The first three volunteers will be travelling to New York in November / December to gather first experiences.