A Swiss non-profit think tank that develops evidence-based policy proposals on AI safety, biosecurity, and emerging technologies, bridging science, politics, and civil society for Switzerland and beyond.
A Swiss non-profit think tank that develops evidence-based policy proposals on AI safety, biosecurity, and emerging technologies, bridging science, politics, and civil society for Switzerland and beyond.
People
Updated 05/18/26Co-founder and Executive Lead
EU AI Policy Lead
Funding Details
Updated 05/18/26- Annual Budget
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- Current Runway
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- Funding Raised to Date
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Org Details
Updated 05/18/26Pour Demain ("For Tomorrow") is an independent, non-profit think tank founded in 2021 in Basel, Switzerland by four co-founders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization was created to build bridges between technology and policy and develop innovative solutions to neglected societal challenges. It is registered as a Swiss association (Verein) and is tax-exempt. Pour Demain focuses on three main areas: artificial intelligence safety and governance, biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, and emerging technology risks including the convergence of synthetic biology and AI. The organization develops concrete, science-based policy proposals with positive impact for Switzerland and beyond. In the AI domain, Pour Demain has established itself as an active contributor to European and international AI governance. The organization created and runs the Swiss AI Safety Prize in partnership with the Swiss Cyber Security Days and the Swiss federal government, with the first edition awarded in February 2024 offering up to CHF 15,000 in prize money. Pour Demain contributed over 230 pages of feedback across three drafting rounds to the EU Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI Models, advocating for stronger external assessment requirements, extended consultation periods, and independence requirements for assessors. The organization published a policy brief on resourcing the EU AI Office, analyzing whether the office has sufficient staffing and budget for its mandate. Pour Demain's EU AI Policy Lead serves on the OECD Expert Group on AI Incidents. In 2025, Pour Demain conducted the project "Safe Artificial Intelligence for Basel-Stadt" with support from the Christoph Merian Foundation. In April 2024, Pour Demain opened a Brussels office to focus on EU AI policy, expanding its geographic reach beyond Switzerland. The Brussels office works on policy recommendations for the responsible development and deployment of general-purpose AI at the European level. In the biosecurity domain, Pour Demain has published recommendations based on expert interviews, addressing laboratory safety in Switzerland, pandemic pathogen monitoring, and capacity building in countries with biological risks. The organization has partnered with the Centre for Future Generations, IBBIS, and RAND Europe on EU biosecurity policy priorities. The organization is led by a small core team including Patrick Stadler (Coordinator, also co-founder of GiveWell top charity New Incentives), David Marti (AI Programme Lead, with background in physics and data science from ETH Zurich), Jimmy Farrell (EU AI Policy Lead, formerly with the European Parliament's IMCO committee), and Laurent Bachler (Biosecurity Programme Lead). Pour Demain maintains an advisory board of approximately 25 members including ETH Zurich researchers, and a professional network of over 200 individuals. Pour Demain is financed through charitable donations from private individuals and foundations, including the Hasler Foundation, the Christoph Merian Foundation, and Stiftung Mercator Schweiz. The organization maintains independence by declining paid or unpaid mandates and ensures donations remain separate from corporate or political interests.
Theory of Change
Updated 05/18/26Pour Demain believes that today's most pressing technological challenges, particularly advanced AI and biosecurity risks, are neglected by existing policy institutions and require evidence-based policy interventions to ensure safe development. Their theory of change operates through several channels: (1) developing concrete, science-based policy proposals that translate technical AI safety and biosecurity research into actionable governance recommendations, (2) bridging the gap between scientists, policymakers, and civil society to ensure that safety considerations are integrated into technology regulation, (3) directly engaging in major regulatory processes such as the EU AI Act Code of Practice to shape binding standards for AI model providers, (4) raising public and policymaker awareness of AI safety risks through initiatives like the AI Safety Prize, and (5) advocating for adequate institutional resources (such as proper staffing and budget for the EU AI Office) to enforce AI safety regulations effectively. By working at the Swiss, EU, and international levels, Pour Demain aims to establish transparent audits and binding standards for major AI model providers, analogous to safety frameworks in pharmaceuticals and aviation, thereby reducing risks from advanced AI systems and emerging biotechnologies.
Grants Received
Updated 05/18/26Projects
Updated 05/18/26
In 2025 Pour Demain conducted the project “Safe Artificial Intelligence for Basel-Stadt”, supported by the Christoph Merian Foundation, to help critical infrastructure operators in Basel-Stadt deploy AI safely and securely and to feed the resulting insights into standardisation and legislative processes.
The Swiss AI Safety Prize is a competition launched by Pour Demain and the Swiss Cyber Security Days to highlight AI safety concerns by rewarding projects that demonstrate security vulnerabilities in large language models or specialised machine-learning systems, with prize money for winning submissions presented at Swiss Cyber Security Days.
Discussion
Key risk: Main concern is that a small, early-stage team is spread across AI, biosecurity, and local Swiss projects without a clear flagship win, and much of their EU engagement targets voluntary GPAI codes of practice with uncertain binding power, raising focus and counterfactual impact concerns amid better-resourced Brussels actors.
Case for funding: Pour Demain is uniquely positioned as an EA-aligned, technically literate team with an on-the-ground Brussels office and Swiss government partnerships, already shaping EU GPAI standards (230 pages of submissions), incident reporting (OECD expert group), and EU AI Office resourcing—high-leverage enforcement bottlenecks where modest funding can buy substantial additional policy capacity.