Exclusion from the Horizon Europe research programme means Switzerland has less of a say in shaping the European science agenda, says a high-level group.
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Grupo científico suíço quer uma solução “pragmática” para a pesquisa da UE
The Round Table on Swiss Representation in International Organisations and Research Infrastructures (RoTIORI) said on Wednesday that non-association to Horizon has also cost Switzerland its seat on the agenda-setting European Strategy on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).
RoTIORI chairman Hans Rudolf Ott said this amounted to the loss of “an important means of contributing to the shaping of the European research landscape […] particularly in the field of major infrastructures”.
ESFRI was created to support a strategic approach to the managing of big research infrastructures in Europe. It publishes an influential roadmap for research funding every four years, RoTIORI writes.
But due to Swiss exclusion from Horizon Europe – following the failure of Bern and Brussels to patch up relations – Switzerland has been excluded from ESFRI since the end of September 2022.
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Swiss research chief sounds alarm over Horizon Europe exclusion
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The Swiss research chief has warned of the negative impact of Switzerland’s continued exclusion from the EU’s Horizon programme.
Ott and RoTIORI thus called for a “pragmatic solution […] that enables the further involvement of Switzerland as an important stakeholder in ESFRI procedures”.
As home to various internationally connected research centres, Switzerland is heavily integrated in the European research landscape, the group writes. The exclusion from the strategic forum is “unreasonable”.
In 2021, Switzerland unilaterally broke off negotiations with the EU on a framework deal to replace the more than 120 bilateral accords which have regulated relations for the past decades. That led to a souring of relations between Bern and Brussels. Subsequent efforts to break the diplomatic deadlock have not succeeded.
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Swiss research chief sounds alarm over Horizon Europe exclusion
This content was published on
The Swiss research chief has warned of the negative impact of Switzerland's continued exclusion from the EU's Horizon programme.
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