State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation
Bern, 06/28/2022 – Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, opened the SwissCore Annual Event in Brussels on June 28, 2022. During her visit, the State Secretary also held talks with Flemish Minister Jo Brouns and representatives of the Faroe Islands.
SwissCore (Contact Office for European Research, Innovation and Education) is the Swiss liaison and information office in Brussels for cooperation in the field of education, research and innovation (ERI). This year’s SwissCore Annual Event revolved around the topic of “Sustainable Energy Production”. The contribution of BFI to sustainable development, especially in the energy sector, was therefore the focus of State Secretary Martina Hirayama’s opening speech. In doing so, she reaffirmed Switzerland’s intention to start negotiations on association with the Horizon Package and Erasmus+ as soon as possible. The Federal Council is also ready to negotiate a specific agreement that regulates the participation of third countries in EU programs. The Faroe Islands were the first country to negotiate and conclude such an agreement with the European Commission and have been associated to Horizon Europe since May 24, 2022.
Jo Brouns has been Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, Labour, Social Economy and Agriculture since May 2022 and in this capacity represents Belgium in the Council of the EU in the formation responsible for research and innovation. In conversations with him, the strong cooperation between the two countries was acknowledged and possibilities for further expanding it were discussed. In addition, the importance of large research infrastructures for local actors in the field of research and innovation, as well as business and society, was discussed.
Horizon Package 2021–2027
The EU framework program for research and innovation “Horizon Europe” runs from 2021 to 2027 and, with a budget of a good 95 billion euros, is the world’s largest research and innovation funding program. Switzerland was associated with the previous program “Horizon 2020”. The Federal Council is striving for the same status for “Horizon Europe” and related programs and initiatives (Euratom programme, ITER and Digital Europe programme). These are collectively referred to as the Horizon package.
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State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI
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