State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation
Bern, 04.02.2022 – On February 4, 2022, the 26th meeting of the Joint Committee in the fields of research and innovation took place between Switzerland on the one hand and the European Union (EU) and Euratom on the other. The focus of the meeting was looking back at Switzerland’s association with “Horizon 2020”, the Euratom program and its participation in the construction of the international fusion reactor ITER. The significant contribution made by Switzerland to the success of these programs and projects and their positive effects were highlighted.
As in 2020, this meeting was held via video conference due to the corona pandemic. The association of Switzerland to Horizon Europe and the associated programs and initiatives did not form part of the official agenda of this joint committee. Nevertheless, Switzerland began by emphasizing its willingness to immediately start negotiations for Switzerland’s association with the Horizon Package 2021-2027.
The Swiss delegation provided information on the quantitative participation of Switzerland in the EU framework program “Horizon 2020” (2014-2020), which has increased continuously since full association at the beginning of 2017. At the beginning of the program, in the years 2014 to 2016, participation in the program was lower due to Switzerland’s partial association. Viewed over the entire duration of the program, Switzerland was the most active associated country in terms of the number of project participations and project coordinations.
Switzerland is an important research and innovation partner in Europe
Looking back at the past program generation, both sides highlighted the importance of Switzerland for driving research and innovation in Europe. Due to the high participation in “Horizon 2020”, Switzerland maintained tens of thousands of collaborative connections with researchers and innovators from the EU member states. This shows that the EU framework programs for research and innovation are of great importance as an international cooperation instrument for Swiss R&I actors.
The successful cooperation to date has been demonstrated using concrete examples in areas such as research into and fight against Covid-19, the development of the latest high-performance computers and the technologies developed as part of the Quantum Flagship. Other topics of the meeting were the call for proposals for the “Green Deal” within “Horizon 2020” and the program participation in the Euratom program.
Regular exchange in the field of research and innovation
The Joint Research and Innovation Committee meets once a year to monitor the implementation of the existing 1986 agreement between Switzerland and the EU in this area. The committee is made up of representatives from Switzerland and the EU Commission. The meeting was co-chaired by Philipp Langer, Head of EU Framework Programs (Deputy Director-General level) at the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), and Signe Ratso, Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. On the Swiss side, in addition to SERI, representatives of the State Secretariat of the FDFA, the Federal Finance Administration and the Swiss Mission in Brussels also took part.
The framework programs of the EU
The EU Framework Programs for Research and Innovation are the European Union’s main instrument for promoting research and innovation and for implementing Europe-wide strategies such as the European Research Area. Switzerland has been associated to the EU framework programs for research and innovation since 2004 through the research agreement within the framework of Bilaterals I and three subsequent agreements. This enabled researchers and innovators from Swiss universities, companies and other organizations to participate in the project calls together with scientists from the EU. Switzerland is currently participating as a non-associated third country in “Horizon Europe” (2021-2027) and the associated programs and initiatives (Horizon Package). The Federal Council’s declared goal is to associate Switzerland with the Horizon Package as quickly as possible. Switzerland has made all the necessary preparations to start association negotiations with the EU. The Federal Council is of the opinion that Swiss association is in the interests of both Switzerland and Europe as a whole.
Address for queries
communication
State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI
[email protected], +41 58 485 67 74
editor
State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation
http://www.sbfi.admin.ch
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/de/home.html
–
