Newsletter April 2023
Promoting Excellent Science: Why Swiss Association to Horizon Europe Remains Crucial
As a non-associated country, Switzerland is no longer part of the international competition for the most prestigious grants in Europe, for which Swiss success rates were high in the past. In the previous framework programme, Horizon 2020, Switzerland won 748 ERC grants, with a total budget of €1.4 billion to support ambitious and ground-breaking research. Currently the only ERC call open to researchers is the ERC Synergy grant, for which 3 Swiss scientists were successful in the previous round. In Horizon 2020, about 80 excellent researchers moved to Switzerland every year with an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship to develop their careers. Since the beginning of Horizon Europe, the only option left is to apply for the ‘Global Fellowships’ in which Swiss Institutions can host researchers for the first 1-2 years of the fellowship before they leave to finish it in a European Member State or Associated Country.
As such, excellent internationally-based scientists no longer come to Switzerland via ERC or MSCA grants. As a result of our current exclusion from these internationally renowned grants, Swiss research institutions have difficulty attracting and keeping bright minds. While national funding has been provided for transitional measures to substitute these Horizon Europe grants, the lack of international competition, collaboration, and subsequent recognition and renown cannot be replaced. In the long term this will erode the Swiss landscape of excellent science.
Nevertheless, we live in the hope that our association to Horizon Europe will be negotiated and that we will once again join the international competition for excellent science grants. We at Euresearch are ready to support researchers and innovators throughout the application process as soon as we have the green light. State Secretary Hirayama recently said, “A wide international cooperation is needed to strengthen the synergies and competitiveness of the whole of Europe and to respond to global challenges”, and we stand with her.
Co-Authors: J. McClung, V. Sordet, I. Spühler, National Contact Points
Illustration: Alexandra Rosakis
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