This exploratory study investigates the early history and co-evolution of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Manno, Ticino, and of the Swiss telecommunication system for higher education and research (SWITCH) from 1985 to 1995. We wish to explain the development of national digital infrastructures capable of sharing computing power and accessing information throughout the country, and more precisely, the early history of digital federalism in Switzerland.
The study represents a research collaboration between the IMeG Institute of Media and Journalism at USI Università della Svizzera italiana and the Chair for the History of Technology at ETH Zurich. It is fundend by the Swiss National Science Foundation's (SNF) Digital Lives initiative.
Project Partners
Swiss National Supercomputing Centre
