The audience received updates on Swiss-EU R&I relations, developments in Horizon Europe, the new European Research Area, and the French Presidency’s priorities.
For the second time in a row, the R&I Seminar had to take place virtually, given the pandemic situation in early 2022. The seminar programme (27-28 January 2022) started with an overview on political developments in research and innovation (R&I) policy at the EU level and in Switzerland – as well as on the corresponding Swiss–EU relations. The EU Commission (EC) is currently still linking Switzerland’s association to Horizon Europe to the Swiss-EU relations as a whole, i.e. to the developments in the case of market access agreements, while the Swiss government views this link as counterproductive (see SwissCore article). Switzerland remains committed to a full association to Horizon Europe and related programmes and initiatives as soon as possible. Until there is progress, transitional measures will be offered to researchers who were planning to apply for a European Research Council (ERC) grant to pursue their research at Swiss host institutions (see Swiss National Science Foundation website). Swiss entities can still participate in most collaborative projects under Horizon Europe, see www.horizon-europe.ch for more information.
The framework-programme-oriented part of the R&I Seminar then focused not only on new developments of the various Horizon Europe instruments, but also on the possibilities for Swiss entities to participate in them. This part of the seminar included a stock taking and outlook in the case of the ERC, showing the importance of Switzerland’s participation in this key instrument under the Horizon 2020 programme and presenting upcoming developments under Horizon Europe. Other sessions covered new developments in the area of European Partnerships and Missions, as well as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Two sessions covered the European Innovation Council (EIC), one of them featured the still fairly new role of the ‘programme managers’. The Horizon-focused part of the seminar complemented the operational issues related to Horizon Europe that were covered during the Pre-Seminar on the day before. The R&I Seminar also covered the upcoming developments in the new Digital Europe Programme (DEP).
Participants then received overviews on the preparatory work towards a new European Research Area (ERA), approved by research ministers in November 2021, and including the objectives defined in the Pact for R&I in Europe, the new ERA’s governance, and the policy agenda for 2022-2024 (see SwissCore article). An overview of the process toward the renewed ERA focused on the upcoming work of the ERA Forum that will discuss the 20 ERA Actions of the Policy Agenda. One of the latter actions aims to create attractive and sustainable research careers and the audience was able to learn from the EC about the plans that are in the pipeline to further analyse and prevent brain drain in Europe. Cross-cutting topics were also discussed during the Seminar: They included the increased importance of synergies between different EU policies and initiatives – and the ‘Fit for 55 package’ to reach a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 (compared to 1990) and how this goal is influencing the related R&I efforts.
Furthermore, the audience received an update on the United Kingdom’s participation in Horizon Europe and the country’s still pending association to Horizon Europe (see SwissCore article). Moreover, the French Presidency’s priorities for the first half of 2022 were discussed, with a focus on the EU university strategy, Open Science, innovation, and international cooperation in higher education and R&I (see SwissCore article).