Digital for Planet
Horizon Europe
Swiss participation in Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe (HorizonEU) officially started the 1st January 2021. Negotiations between Switzerland and the EU to reach an agreement on the participation of Swiss organisations have now kicked off. Although the bilateral agreements between the two parties might only be signed after the launch of the first HorizonEU Calls, the State Secretariat for Research and Education and Innovation (SERI) has indicated how to proceed.
Recommendations for Swiss participation in Horizon Europe
The SERI recommends that researchers and innovators in Switzerland apply for the first calls of HorizonEU (expected by the end of Q1 2021) as Associated Country participants. This even if Switzerland could finally participate in HorizonEU as a Partially Associated or Third Country, which would happen in case of delays, incomplete or no association agreement.
As a matter of fact, the SERI announced that the funding of Swiss organisations in collaborative projects will be secured regardless of Switzerland’s association status – as it happened at the beginning of Horizon 2020 between 2014 and 2016.
“In case of a third country participation, participants from Switzerland in collaborative projects would receive their funding directly from SERI“
A delay between the start of the programme and the EU-CH agreement was already the case for Framework Programme 7 and Horizon 2020. Also back then, the EU-CH agreements entered into force retroactively and Swiss organisations were able to apply to the EC Calls even before the bilateral agreements were ratified. According to current information from the European Commission, this retroactive activation of the agreement is also to be applied for Switzerland in Horizon Europe.
Switzerland in Horizon Europe – Stay tuned!
At Martel, we are continuously following up on the evolution of the EU-CH negotiations and regularly post updates about Swiss participation in Horizon Europe via our communication channels and via our dedicated Horizon Europe Cliff notes.
Stay tuned and don’t hesitate to contact us, for any further information!
