From Heidi to High-Tech: Swiss Pavilion Highlights at Expo 2025

Twenty years after Expo 2005 Aichi, the Swiss Pavilion returned to Japan with a clear mission: to take visitors on an immersive and interactive journey through collaborative innovation. Under the title From Heidi to High-Tech, the programme reflected Switzerland’s evolution from its Alpine heritage to a global hub of technology and research. Beloved in Japan, Heidi served as the Pavilion’s mascot and a symbolic bridge between the two nations, with Expo 2025 providing an opportunity to further strengthen already strong bilateral relations.

Through its three exhibition themes — Augmented Human, Life and Planet — the Pavilion highlighted how collaboration between researchers, citizens and nature can unlock new ways of living together. During six months of operation, it welcomed over 1 million visitors, hosted more than 75 events and delegations, organised over 550 guided tours, received 7,901 VIP guests and worked with committed partners from academia, industry and diplomacy. Switzerland was featured in over 2,700 media stories, achieved significant social media impact, and won awards including Bronze Architecture and Landscape by The Bureau International des Expositions (Type A, 1,500m2-), Best Small Pavilion by EXHIBITOR Magazine and Bronze Best Sustainable Pavilion by The Experimental Design Authority.

A multilingual team of 47 staff, speaking 11 languages, acted daily as cultural interpreters — explaining coral reefs to schoolchildren, guiding delegations, and even welcoming members of the Japanese Imperial Family. Visitors engaged with 20 groundbreaking projects and, together with GESDA, imagined 523,000 fictional futures. At the Heidi Café, 22,673 raclettes were served, while the viral ‘Su’ chairs became a popular photo spot.

Since the Pavilion in Aichi in 2005, our Commissioner General’s first tenure, Switzerland has participated in every World Expo — including Saragozza, Shanghai, Yeosu, Milan, Astana and Dubai. Each edition brought unique challenges, but also reaffirmed a constant truth: no digital solution can replace physical encounters. A child laughing at soap bubbles, delegations designing future societies in the Pavilion’s installation, or Japanese visitors discovering that Heidi’s story began in Johanna Spyri’s book long before the anime: Those were some of many meaningful moments during the Expo. Moreover, Swiss–Japan relations in academia and business were deepened through events ranging from robot tasting to reimagining traditional crafts with cutting-edge technology. Those ties go a long way back: They are rooted in a 1863 Swiss trade mission to Japan leading to the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in February 1864 and were renewed in 2009 with the Free Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement — Japan’s first with a European country.

​As the Pavilion closes its doors, the Swiss Pavilion team is grateful not only for the unforgettable memories, but also for having contributed to stronger global connections. Like the Grand Ring at Expo 2025, the team’s experience was one of a world connected as a whole, with valuable learnings that will shape Switzerland’s future participation in Expos.