Best of Swiss Web: Honorary award for Internet pioneer

This year, Beat Schmid, former professor of information management at the University of St. Gallen HSG, will receive the honorary award. "He has shaped the Swiss Internet industry like no other. He recognized the future importance of the new infrastructure early on and placed the areas of knowledge management, electronic markets, e-business and new media at the center of his research activities," reads the jury's statement.

Beat Schmid was appointed Professor of Information Management at the HSG in 1987. For 20 years, he left his mark on the renowned University of St. Gallen, primarily as an Internet pioneer. Even as CERN's Tim Berners-Lee was laying the theoretical foundation of today's Internet through the concept of "hyperlinks," Schmid recognized the revolutionary significance of this idea and founded the Institute for Information Systems in 1989. Earlier than most, Schmid was convinced of the importance of the Internet as the supporting infrastructure of the future. He conducted intensive research in the field of knowledge representation and knowledge and communication management. Currently, the scientist is writing a book on the influence of the Internet as an information carrier: "The question is what will happen when this new type of information becomes the determining raw material in society. You can compare this with the situation when metals became the new raw material. That had an impact on the technological, cultural and many other levels of the social system," Schmid says.
Last year, Swissquote founders Marc Bürki and Paolo Buzzi were recognized with the Honorary Award. In 2010, Cern employee and Internet pioneer Robert Cailliau received this award. Another year earlier, Christian Wanner had the pleasure of receiving the honorary award. As co-founder and CEO of LeShop, he is one of the great pioneers of Swiss e-commerce.

The Best of Swiss Web Award Night 2012 will take place on March 29, 2012 at the Kongresshaus Zurich.