Many Swiss scientists are involved in EU Research Framework Programmes. The EU devised these instruments with a view to establishing a "European Research Area" (ERA), which it hopes will have the same importance for European research and innovation as the single market has for Europe's economy.

Participation in the ERA is not restricted to EU member states. Switzerland sits on committees and contributes to projects that seek to identify leading research centres, as well as to coordinate quality and impact assessments at the European level.

Swiss involvement in international research organisations

Globalisation is a phenomenon that is also increasingly observed in science and research. Consequently, involvement in international research organisations is therefore becoming ever more important. Switzerland is a member of several of these organisations, including:

• the European Space Agency (ESA), Paris
• the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), Geneva
• the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), Heidelberg

The SER has a complete list on its website:
SER – Swiss involvement in international research organisations

How does Switzerland rate?

Thanks to an outstanding level of performance, Switzerland took the top spot on the “European Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011”, followed by the Nordic countries. In 2007, the tables were turned, with Sweden in first place and Switzerland a close second.

Bilateral research cooperation

Foreign scientific policy is an important part of Swiss foreign policy. As a general rule, individual Swiss universities and research institutions devise and pursue their own international strategies. The federal government plays a subsidiary role and has the following three instruments at its disposal to foster bilateral research cooperation:

• a network of Swiss science and technology counsellors
• Swissnex – Swiss houses for scientific and technological exchanges abroad
• specific programmes to promote bilateral research cooperation with selected priority countries