Swiss research needs Europe

Swiss research is in an internationally leading position. Why is it so important for Switzerland to participate in Horizon Europe?

Horizon Europe will promote multinational cooperation between different research groups in globally challenging areas such as health or climate change. It will also contribute to developing and linking research infrastructures. Another aspect of Horizon Europe is the focus on innovation, which will open up opportunities especially for SMEs and start-ups. Fellowships will enable researchers to work abroad for some time. And: the programme will offer Swiss-based researchers the chance to continue competing with the best in Europe. This competition plays an important role in maintaining and enhancing scientific quality.

Would Swiss participation in Horizon Europe be at risk if Switzerland and the EU did not sign an institutional framework agreement?

The framework agreement is not directly linked to Horizon Europe. All the same, we would be expecting serious consequences should there be no agreement, similar to those triggered by the acceptance of the mass immigration initiative in 2014.

What happened back then?

The EU did not let Switzerland participate in the research framework programme Horizon 2020, which started in 2014. In the course of 2014, Switzerland was able to obtain partial association. A return to full association followed in 2017. But the partial exclusion had a harmful effect on research in Switzerland.

In what way?

Compared to the previous programme, Swiss participation in Horizon 2020 projects went down from 3.2% to 2.4% in the period up to March 2018. Grants went down from 4.3% to 3.5%, and fewer Swiss researchers were invited to collaborate in research networks.

But the government took replacement measures?

Yes, it covered the costs of Swiss researchers participating in European projects. But the legal insecurity meant that many European researchers chose not to collaborate with Switzerland. Should Switzerland be excluded again, this is likely to repeat itself.

Couldnʼt the SNSF expand its funding if this happened?

That’s what we did in 2014. But such measures are only a short-term fix. We cannot replace European collaboration and competition with national schemes. Swiss research needs both SNSF funding and European funding: in the absence of national funding, Swiss research would be less competitive. In the absence of European funding, Swiss research would lack international integration and the necessary quality standards.

Swiss research needs Europe. Does Europe need Swiss research?

In order to compete with North America and Asia, Europe needs all countries to collaborate closely. If the EU excludes Swiss research, it will weaken European research.