The Universiade events have been held every two years since 1959 in winter and summer and are assigned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) to the national university sports federation of the host country and the responsible organising committee. The event was scheduled for January 2021 and was postponed due to Corona. The multisport event will be now held in Switzerland from 11 to 21 December 2021. Using the 3-G rule, 50,000 guests are expected. The University of Lucerne is the headquarters for the OC office.

All about the event.

This sporting showdown takes place with the ten sports of curling, ice hockey, figure skating, biathlon, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, ski orienteering, snowboarding, freestyle and freeskiing as well as short track speed skating. The Swiss host cities Lucerne, Sursee, Zug, Stoos, Engelberg, Andermatt, Realp, Lenzerheide and St. Moritz are preparing for this outstanding sports event. In addition to the actual sports facilities, overnight accommodations must also be arranged for the ca. 1,600 students from 540 universities from more than 50 countries. 130 athletes from Switzerland will participate.

The planning.

At the moment, Adrian and Peter are working with many retailers to plan the equipment and cabling needed for each location. This is not just about network installations for the outdoor events and at ice rinks. Our work also entails meeting the needs of the rooms for the local organisation committees and foreign delegations. In detail, this includes Wi-Fi connections, printer installations, communication equipment and much more.

In addition to materials, cablex and Swisscom are also responsible for planning personnel for the installation work. Every man-hour has to be planned in detail for every location so that assembly and disassembly activities as well as on-site support work perfectly. 

The next steps.

From 7-10 September 2021, the heads of the delegations from the participating nations visited the sports facilities in Central Switzerland and Grisons. We will carry out site visits in October with the assigned technicians to discuss the installation work at the locations.

Furthermore, we are already operating a facility near the university in Lucerne. This area will be used to prepare notebooks, printers, routers and much more for use in December. From the end of November, the intense phase will begin, and the construction and assembly work will start. From 1 December 2021, the University of Lucerne will turn into a hectic field of activity for the OC office and the foreign delegations.

In this assignment for the Winter Universiade around the Christmas holidays, our team with members from cablex and SEM will once again prove that we wholeheartedly embody our values with commitment, trustworthiness and curiosity. The partners of the assigned technicians will probably have to be the ones to choose the right Christmas tree this year!

We at COM are already keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well and will be back with a detailed report after the big Swiss event.