Student Traineeship at SwissCore

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​Traineeship from 1 February to 31 July 2019​​

At the time of her entry​, Justine Koffi was finishing her Master studies in Public Administration and Policy with a minor in Political science at the Swiss Graduate Institute of Public Administration, in Lausanne and Bern. 

During her traineeship, she worked in European education policy and followed the developments regarding the forthcoming Erasmus+ (2021-2027) programme, within the European Parliament (EP) and the Council. In the context of her work in education policy, Justine attended several stakeholder events in Brussels, on the topics of inclusion, mobility of apprenticeships and digitalisation of Erasmus. 

During her traineeship, she also completed a final report​ on the first ever Digital Europe programme ​​(2021-2027), specifically on the advanced digital skills pillar of the programme, focusing on High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity (CS) skills policy. Building on this report, she will conclude and defend her Master’s thesis in 2019, on the topic of advanced digital skills policy diffusion between the EU and Switzerland. For that purpose, she concluded several interviews with Swiss stakeholders, such as the Swiss State Secreteriat for Research, Education and Innovation (SERI) and Swissuniversities.  

​Traineeship from 1 February to 31 July 2019​​

At the time of her entry, Maxime held a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics with a specialisation in Economic and Political European Integration from the University of Zurich. ​

During her time at SwissCore, Maxime worked on a project analysing the contribution of research and innovation (R&I) policy to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She did that by monitoring the European Union (EU) policy towards the SDGs, analysing the legal text of the next generation EU R&I programme, Horizon Europe, and by conducting several interviews with EU officials and relevant stakeholder organisations. Maxime got the chance to present her findings at an IGLO Open in Brussels and to Swiss stakeholders in Bern. You can find the slides of the presentation here​ and the full report here​. 

During the rest of her time, Maxime monitored ​research policy on a European ​​level, attended several stakeholder events and reported to Swiss stakeholders. She further worked on topics related to European innovation policy, mostly on the role of innovation policy within the next EU industrial strategy. 

​Traineeship from 1 September 2018 to 31 May 2019​​​​

At the time of his entry, Jonathan held a Master of Science in Chemistry and Business Studies from the University of Zurich, including a minor in Development and Global Challenges from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 

He joined SwissCore in September 2018 as Trainee for European Research Policy. At SwissCore, he followed the developments concerning the European Union’s (EU) next research and Innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe, in detail, including the internal processes at the European Parliament and the Council of the EU and the subsequent inter-institutional negotiations. Furthermore, he investigated potential links between Horizon Europe to other Union programmes, such as the Digital Europe programme and InvestEU, and followed the EU’s initiatives on innovation and deployment in the digital field. 

Following the end of his traineeship in February, Jonathan stayed at SwissCore as Junior Policy Adviser for three months, during which he analysed the current provisional agreement on Horizon Europe and followed the kick-off of the strategic planning.

​Traineeship from 1 September 2018 to 28 February 2019

At the time of her entry, Céline Bleiker finished her Master studies in International Affairs and Governance at the University of St.Gallen (HSG).

During her traineeship, she worked in the field of education and monitored the decision-making process within the European Parliament (EP) and the Council for the successor of Erasmus+ 2014-2020. Furthermore, she reported to different Swiss stakeholders on the establishment of the European Solidarity Corps. She also produced fact sheets on new instruments piloted in the current Erasmus+ programme and analysed funding possibilities for education and training outside Erasmus+.​

​Traineeship from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2018

When Ramón started his traineeship at SwissCore, he had just graduated from St. Gallen University of Applied Sciences with a Bachelor’s degree in International Management.

His traineeship was organised in cooperation with swissuniversities for their chairmanship in UAS4EUROPE, the Brussels-based networking platform for Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS). Ramón supported the UAS4EUROPE Representative, Luciana Vaccaro (Rector HES-SO), with organising meetings and events and promoting UAS4EUROPE towards European institutions and relevant stakeholders. Next to that, he tracked the developments of the Horizon 2020 successor programme (Horizon Europe) and worked with the European Advisor for Innovation on topics related to European innovation policy. In particular, he focused on the emergence of the European Innovation Council (EIC), which will be part of Horizon Europe and on digital topics, such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and High-Performance Computing).

​Traineeship from 1 February to 31 July 2018

At the time of her entry in Febru​​ary 2018, Alexandra Griffiths had a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Political Science from the University of Lausanne and was completing a Master in Public Management and Policy at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne.

During her traineeship, she tracked the developments of the Horizon 2020 successor programme (Horizon Europe) by analysing stakeholders’ views and expectations as well as following related policy developments. She also provided support to the coordination team and research work of InRoad, which is a Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action (CSA) on ‘Better Synchronisation of Priority Settings and Evaluation Mechanisms for Research Infrastructures’ coordinated by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In parallel, she also started writing her Master thesis on the subject of research infrastructure policy (i.e. roadmaps), to find out how those processes are designed at European and national level and how they interact. 

​Traineeship from 1 September 2017 to 28 February 2018

At the time of her entry in September 2017, Alizée Francey had a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in International Relations from the University of Geneva and was completing a Master in Public Management and Policy at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne.

During her traineeship, she tracked the developments on the Horizon 2020 successor programme (FP9) by analyzing stakeholders views and expectations for FP9. In parallel, she also provided support to the coordination team of InRoad​, which is a Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action (CSA) on ‘Better Synchronisation of Priority Settings and Evaluation Mechanisms for Research Infrastructures’ coordinated by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

​Traineeship from 1 February to 31 July 2017

At the time of entry, Franca Schaad had completed a Bachelor of Arts in History and English at the University of Basel. 

During her traineeship, she worked in the field of research, reporting on the performance of Swiss researchers under Horizon 2020, on recent policy developments and on the preparations for the next Framework Programme for research and innovation (FP9). 

She also provided operational support for Swiss Core’s work within Science Europe​. 

In the second part of her traineeship, she focused on analysing the ‘Future of Europe’ debate set off by the European Commission with the publication of the White paper of the Future of Europe​ in March 2017, and the implications of the ‘five scenarios’ for Swiss research, innovation and education.  

​Traineeship from 1 February to 31 July 2017

At the time of entry, Debora Sadun had a bachelor in Political Science and was completing a Master in Public Management and Policy at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) University of Lausanne.

Her traineeship was organised in collaboration with swissuniversities within the frame of the project ‘Internationalisation of Universities of Applied Science’ (UAS).

During her traineeship she dedicated half of her time working in the field of innovation, applied research and education; she supported the work of UAS4Europe and reported on European innovation and education policies. She used the other 50% to draft a research paper, for her master thesis, on research and innovation in Swiss UAS of Arts and Design in Horizon2020: ‘Bringing Swiss UAS of Arts and Design research and innovation to Brussels’. 

Bringing Swiss UAS of Arts and Design research and innovation to Brussels​

The report aims at getting a better understanding of where Swiss UAS of Arts and Design actually stand and to what extent they are ready to act on the European level. First, the report examines the participation opportunities for arts and design research and innovation in Horizon2020. Secondly, it reports on the obstacles, shortcomings and needs expressed by the six Swiss UAS of arts and design. Finally, it proposes some recommendations to improve the collaboration with and participation of Swiss arts and design research in the European programmes. 

The report concludes that the European Commission could increase the number of opportunities directed to artistic research. Meanwhile, representative organisations could improve their visibility in the European research and innovation landscape. The support and recognition at the European and Swiss level are important, but Swiss UAS of Arts and Design need to develop their own will to participate, i.e. their own Europeanisation strategy.​

Traineeship from 01 September 2016 to 28 February 2017

At the time of his entry, Max de Boer was a graduate student from FHNW School of Business in the Master of Science International Management programme.

During his traineeship, he executed a case study research project on the design of the 9th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP9) – called ‘Beyond Horizon 2020’. This research project will serve as the basis for his Master’s Thesis.

Looking Beyond Horizon 2020

After three years of operation, Horizon 2020 is currently going through its interim evaluation phase. As written in the Horizon 2020 regulation, the European Commission (EC) must complete this interim evaluation by 2017. The EC is well on its way on fulfilling this obligation. On 20 October 2016, the EC launched the public stakeholders’ consultation for the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020. Science and Innovation (S&I) stakeholders were invited to give their feedback on the different aspects of the Horizon 2020 implementation until 15 January 2017. This feedback is not only essential for adjustments in for the remaining years of Horizon 2020 but already provides first tendencies for the design of the next Framework Programme (FP9). The end of Horizon 2020 seems far away. However, with the interim evaluation the preparations for FP9 have fully started. 

With the FP9 public consultation expected to be opened in June 2017, even before the results of the interim evaluation are available, the timeline towards FP9 is very tight. In order to prepare the Swiss S&I stakeholder community appropriately for their input for the FP9 consultation, the purpose of this research is to analyse the S&I stakeholder contributions for the Horizon 2020 interim evaluation with the aim to support preparing the upcoming consultations of the Swiss S&I stakeholders for FP9. In total, 41 position papers from 39 S&I stakeholders, covering a broad geographical and cross-sectorial range were analysed. Additionally, a total of 17 semi-structured interviews with eleven Swiss and six Brussels S&I stakeholders were conducted and analysed to extend the views and enrich the findings from the position papers. 

As a result, the findings of this research will be used to contribute to the design of FP9 in the most adequate way so that it best serves the interests of the Swiss S&I stakeholder community. 

Keywords: European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation, European research and innovation, Horizon 2020, FP9, research and innovation policy development.

see management summary

Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2016

At the time of entry, Nadine Kleger had a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences and arts of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). She had a broad experience from the financial industry and looked back to more than ten years in banking.

She was the first trainee in cooperation with swissuniversites in the field of innovation at SwissCore from February to July 2016. She was involved in the area of applied research and Universities of Applied Science (UAS). Her report ‘Positioning Swiss UAS in the European research and innovation landscape: What opportunities does Horizon 2020 offer to realise the institutional strategy of Swiss UAS?’ gives an overview of existing opportunities for UAS in Horizon 2020. It shows gaps on national and institutional level as well as in the European framework programme itself. The project paper concludes with a series of recommendations to put the Swiss UAS in a stronger position and securing a successful engagement within Horizon 2020.

see Executive summary and recommendations​

see complete report

Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2016

At the start of her traineeship, Corinne Köpfli was a Bachelor student in Business Administration (International Management) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW).

During 6 months, she served as our Student Trainee for research and worked particularly on the issue of European International Cooperation (INCO) in research. On the basis of desk research and interviews, she wrote a paper showing how Swiss institutions have been cooperating with third countries under Horizon 2020 and trying to predict how the European INCO research strategy will evolve in the coming year and what it means for Swiss institutions in terms of opportunities. She also supported the team in its operational tasks. ​

Her report ‘Horizon 2020 as a gateway for international cooperation?’ examines how Swiss institutions can make best use of the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 to engage in scientific cooperation with third countries (countries that are neither member states of the European Union nor associated to Horizon 2020). The paper analyses how the European strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation will evolve in the future as well as the measures taken by the European Commission to increase third country participation, shows the opportunities given by Horizon 2020 (and related programmes and initiatives) to engage with international scientific partners and looks at to what extent Swiss institutions have cooperated with third country institutions using these opportunities. The project paper concludes with a series of recommendations for Swiss stakeholders on how to best grasp the opportunities offered by Horizon 2020 to reach out to third countries.       

see Executive summary

see complete report

Traineeship ​from 01 September 2015 to 28 February 2016

At the start of his traineeship, Marco Cavallaro was finishing his master studies in Public Policy and Management at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP).

He worked during 6 months in the field of research and spent half of his traineeship time to writing a report on the preparations of interim evaluation of Horizon 2020. This confidential report presents the results and the analysis of a survey carried out by IGLO and formulates recommendations that were sent to the European Commission in a view to improve the implementation of Horizon 2020. Marco also supported the work of the Science Europe Working Group on Horizon 2020 by assisting in the development of a comprehensive questionnaire targeted to Science Europe member organisations. The other half of his time he dedicated on operational support.​​

Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2015

At the time of his entry, Idris Abdelkhalek had just completed his Master of Law at the University of Berne.

During his traineeship, he focused on a project related to the implementation of the European Research Area. Additionally, he supported the team in its operational tasks. The executive summary of his project can be found hereunder.​

Maintain position of Swiss science in European Research Area

The European Research Area (ERA) is not a new idea. It roots back to the seventies when discussions towards a truly European research policy where taking place and led to the creation, among others, of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), the Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST) and the European Science Foundation (ESF). Since the beginning, Switzerland was an integral part of these initiatives due to the excellence and the European commitment of its science base.

The political importance of ERA got new impetus with the 2000 Lisbon European Council, which aimed at making the European Community the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. This resulted in the inclusion of ERA in the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 providing for the first time a legal definition basis for the ERA with essential consequences for Europe and Switzerland. For the first time in European history, the European Commission (EC) got the power to put forward binding legislation on ERA. However, due to strong resistance of several Member States (MS) and in accordance with the shared legal competence in research, the EC opted in 2012 for a partnership approach with the main European research stakeholder organisations (SHO) and the MS. Countries associated to the European research and innovation Framework Programmes (FP) such as Switzerland, were also invited to contribute to the partnership as the FP are defined as the main vehicle for implementing ERA.

Idris’ report provides an analysis of ERA from legal and political point of view with a focus on the governance of ERA and proposes several policy options which would help Swiss science in maintaining its position in ERA. The report identifies challenges and actions that ought to be taken by Swiss science stakeholders at the level of the EU, the member states and European SHO.

see complete report

Traineeship ​from 01 September 2014 to 28 February 2015

At the time of entry, Adam Ouzeri had a Bachelor degree in Life Sciences from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

During his traineeship at SwissCore, he worked in the field of research from September 2014 to February 2015 and was involved in analysing the participation of Swiss institutions in the first calls of Horizon 2020. His traineeship took an interesting turn with the particular position of Switzerland in Horizon 2020. His work involved the analysis of statistics, the drafting of notes and the organisation of workshops. During his traineeship he also held presentations at different working group meetings and provided essential information to SwissCore’s funders and partners.

Traineeship ​from 01 April to 30 September 2014

At the start of her traineeship, Sarah Ott had a Master of Arts in Political Science, Comparative and Swiss Politics of the University of Bern. She worked as well as Scientific Assistant at the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau.

During her traineeship, she worked in the field of innovation. Her traineeship was divided between the Research Council of Norway and SwissCore to ensure a smooth transition of the EUREKA​ Chairmanship from Norway to Switzerland. Her main responsibilities included supporting the EUREKA Working Groups, drafting factsheet on innovation funding instruments and providing an overview of the role of EUREKA in the European Research Area. She also spent a significant amount of time in providing operational support in the field​ of innovation.

Traineeship ​from 01 January to 30 June 2014

At the start of her traineeship, Isabel Bolliger had a master in Slavonic Studies, Public Law and Political Sciences of the University of Zurich (UZH).

During her traineeship, she worked in the field of research and dedicated half of her time to operational support. The other half she spent on a report on National research councils and (large) research infrastructures, which compares the funding of research infrastructures in different European countries and at the European level. In connection with this report she had the possibility to participate in the International Conference of Research Infrastructures (ICRI​) 2014 in Athens.​

Traineeship ​from 01 September 2013 to 28 February 2014

At the moment of entry, Philip Menzi was completing a bachelor in Business Administration at the University of Bern.

Half of his traineeship he dedicated to operational support in the field of education and the other half he spent on the drafting of a research paper on the European instruments in the field of education. The executive summary can be found hereunder.

​​​How can Eras​​mus+ best support Swiss education institutions’ ​international endeavours? 

The Swiss education institutions have manifold internationalisation strategies and corresponding objectives. How to pursue and realise those objectives varies from one education sector to another as well as from institution to institution. However, what all institutions have in common is the access to a specific range of funding opportunities (instruments) offered by the new European Union’s programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport ‘Erasmus+’, which started on 1 January 2014 and will last until 2020. Each institution should therefore make sure it optimises the use of these funding opportunities to support its international objectives. This report gives answers on how to do so, by providing recommendations for three distinct sectors examined in the report: higher education, vocational education and training, and secondary school education.

An institution can choose to engage internationally at different scales of intensity. There are of course nuances between the three education sectors examined in this report, but the following generic observations on the strategic use of Erasmus+ were extracted from the conclusions and recommendations in this report.

A first option is to use Erasmus+ on an ad-hoc basis and not as a coordinated approach. This entails the possible engaging in mobility and cooperation projects. Already existing cooperation is continued and, if not yet funded with European money, could be turned into an Erasmus+ project. This rather bottom-up approach is often chosen if the institution does not have a centralised internationalisation strategy and objectives. Looking at our internationalisation model, it means that an institution has no clear answer on objectives pursued in any of the four dimensions, i.e. core missions, recruitment, mobility, cooperation. Nevertheless, it can very well be that an institution is active in one or the other dimension, but without having any underlying overall vision of internationalisation.

A second option is to institutionalise internationalisation at the institution expressed in the form of a clear set of international objectives. The use of Erasmus+ then feeds directly into achieving those objectives. As the report shows, one instrument of Erasmus+ can serve several objectives. For example, Erasmus+ is used to enhance the international reputation of an institution or offering an attractive and international learning and working environment. In terms of our internationalisation model, an institution is able to give clear answers on objectives pursued in the four dimensions. The answers still vary from sector to sector, i.e. mobility is explicit in higher education, but not necessarily in vocational education and training. International cooperation is anyhow a priority in one or the other way. For that purpose, Strategic Partnerships, which are a very flexible cooperation instrument of Erasmus+, can be used to work with partners sharing similar interest and goals or bringing a complementary approach to a common issue. In all sectors, Erasmus+ is used to support the international objectives pursued by the institution in a coordinated manner, i.e. with a top-down support from the level of direction.

A third option builds up on the second approach, but in addition makes internationalisation an integrated aspect in an institution’s overall strategy. Internationalisation then is not a goal in itself, but directly contributes to the realisation of the goals and objectives of the overall institutional strategy: the participation in Erasmus+ is a strategic mean to reach objectives also in other areas. In the light of our internationalisation model, an institution has clear answers as to what its objectives in the four dimensions are and which dimension are used to serve which objectives. Any instrument in Erasmus+ is thus used strategically. One crucial aspect of this approach is to select a number of partner institutions abroad to cooperate with on a stronger, strategic level and in more than just one area of an institution. The question of with whom and why an institution engages with partners abroad and the ideas of complementarity and clear coordination move into the spotlight in this approach. For example, in higher education, Joint Master degrees can offer an institution the possibility to exploit complementarities with other institutions abroad: uniting resources in areas of studies where the number of students is limited allows to create a pool of talented students, thus feeding into the long-term goal of attracting and retaining talents for doctoral education and early-stage research. The Knowledge Alliances, aimed at cooperation amongst higher education institutions and businesses, are used to support the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship, and developing the skills that are relevant for the institution and its students. The same can be said for the Sector Skills Alliances in Vocational Education and Training. These three types of instruments in Erasmus+ have a strategic aspect, where the goal is to reach long-term sustainable international engagement. For this last option even more than for the second one, the involvement and activeness of an institution’s direction is highly important in order to promote internationalisation in such an integrated way.​

see complete report​

see executive summary and recommendations​

Traineeship ​from 01 September 2013 to 28 February 2014

At the start of his traineeship, Léonard Mouny had a bachelor in International Affairs and was completing a Masters in International Affairs and Governance at the University of St. Gallen.

During his time at SwissCore, he dedicated half of his time to operational support and used the other 50% to draft a research paper on thematic decision trees for applicants in Horizon 2020. You can find the executive summary hereunder.

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Decision mo​​del for Horizon 2020​​

Horizon 2020, the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation from 2014 to 2020, strongly differs from previous framework programmes. The interdisciplinary challenge-based approach, the number of funding instruments and the inclusion of actions covering both fundamental research and close-to-market activities make it difficult to identify the right set of funding opportunities for potential participants, from academia or industry. This report provides a decision model assisting research support organisations to identify the best opportunity in Horizon 2020. 

The model developed in this work relies on a decision tree that routs the user to a call for proposals in Horizon 2020 through maximally four questions. The decision tree considers the needs and background of the applicant, the position of its research and innovation project between fundamental research and close-to-market activities, its administrative interests and personal objectives. The decision model asks a series of question at each node, which will determine a subset of relevant opportunities. A strength of model is that it moves away to a certain extent from the structure and jargon of Horizon 2020 and links calls for proposals to very specific research areas. The links and the decision models have ultimately been built on ‘thematic matrices’ which list of calls for proposals for 2014 and 2015 in Horizon 2020 for broad thematic fields. In this work we developed matrices for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and health. The thematic matrices can be expanded to other fields at a later stage. 

A key element of the decision model are Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), and how they are linked to funding opportunities in Horizon 2020. We defined three categories linked to TRL, namely ‘concept development’, ‘proof of principle’ and ‘proof of performance’, which were detrimental. Nevertheless, the fact that the calls for proposals are distributed across the three categories makes it possible to use the model only in conjunction with the other parameters we introduced. We finally provide a set of recommendations describing how the model could be improved and what complementarities and synergies exist with other tools such as the opportunity finder.​ 

see complete report​​

Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2013

At the time of entry, Daniel Fuhrer was enrolled at the Institut des Etudes Européennes of the University of Geneva doing a Master of European Studies.

He dedicated 50% of his time to determine consequences and opportunities of Horizon 2020 and the European Research Area (ERA) for the Swiss research funding instruments. The executive summary can be found hereunder.

 Regards croisés on​​ Horizon 2020 and SNSF 

​Innovating its way out of the current economic and financial crisis, the European Union (EU) will enter in a new generation of Framework Programme (FP) for Research and Innovation (R&I) entitled `Horizon 2020′, the main financial tool for implementing Europe’s future economic growth and jobs in the field of R&I, which will run from 2014 to 2020. As an Associated Country (AC) to the European FP since 2004 , Switzerland has an interest in getting a better picture of the final outcome of Horizon 2020. Indeed, Horizon 2020 will provide an even increased source of funding through a combination of already existing and new Research Funding Instruments (RFI) in the case of a Swiss association to the programme, to be negotiated with the EU after Horizon 2020’s formal adoption at European level expected in autumn 2013. 

see complete report

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Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2013

At the time of entry, Carmen Kneubühler had a Master in Public Management and Policy at the Swiss Graduate School for Public Administration (IDHEAP) in Lausanne. 

During her traineeship she worked in the field of innovation funding instruments and wrote a master thesis on ‘Opportunities for Swiss industry and SME’, which was a comparison of Swiss and European innovation support instruments in order to identify future opportunities for collaboration for Switzerland in innovation at European level.

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Traineeship ​from 01 September 2012 to 28 Februar 2013

At the time of entry, Ueli Staeger just completed ​a Bachelor in political Sciences at the University of Geneva.

He dedicated half of his time to the research portfolio and the other half to carry out a comparative study on European and Swiss International Cooperation ​​in Science and Technology​​​​. The executive summary can be found hereunder.​

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European and Swiss International Cooperation ​​in Science and Technology​​​

Facing increased global competition, Europe underlines the need to engage in multilateral science and technology cooperation. Following on the communication on International Cooperation in Science and Technology (INCO S&T) by the European Commission (EC) from September 2012, SwissCore explored the opportunities that this new strategy presents to the Swiss INCO S&T. Our Student Trainee Ueli Staeger in his report provided a comparison between the European and Swiss INCO S&T, identified different policy options for Switzerland and offered recommendations to the key actors shaping the Swiss INCO S&T.

The report analyses the European and Swiss approaches to INCO S&T with regard to policy contexts, strategies, S&T agreements and funding instruments. The underlying Swiss challenge is to realise the highest ambitions of its science scene. Switzerland attracts scientists from all over the world and seeks to collaborate with the best, but despite generous public funding and a private sector that invests intensely in Research and Technological Development (RTD), there are only limited resources at the hands of the Swiss research community to engage in INCO S&T. 

The EU seeks to cooperate with emerging science nations around the world and does so through S&T agreements with 24 countries. A major contribution to international collaboration with European researchers is the general opening of participation in Horizon 2020 to all countries. At the same time, the EU restricted automatic funding to third countries above a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) threshold of $1 trillion – thereby excluding China, India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico. The Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC) plays a vital role in trying to coordinate activities between member states and the EC.SFIC published its new Work Programme for 2013 to 2014 this month. In addition, the EU has stepped up its science diplomacy and therefore uses research strategically to enhance its foreign policy goals while nonetheless striving for excellent science. 

Switzerland, on the other side, builds on its strong role in the European research landscape. As an associated country to the European Framework Programmes (FP), it actively contributes to the shaping of an European knowledge society and has the most international science workforce worldwide. The participation in the FP and other European schemes is at the forefront of Swiss INCO S&T, as Switzerland’s principal international partners are its European neighbours.

The Swiss and European INCO S&T strategies share an ‘excellent science core’ that encourages bottom-up collaborations by researchers with the best partners around the world.

Instead of aligning with European INCO S&T or seeking autonomy from it, the report reveals a preferred third option:

•  to seize opportunities at European level for cooperation with third countries;
•  to shape conditions for Swiss involvement by communicating Swiss best practice;
•  to contribute making Europe an attractive place for science.

This also involves the use of resources and the creation of synergies to drive the collaboration with priority countries to new levels of intensity – to reach out to tomorrow’s science stars! 

see complete report

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Traineeship ​from 01 February to 31 July 2012

At the time of Douglas Armendone’s entry, he was completing a Master in Public Management at the University of Geneva.

He served as our Trainee from February to July 2012.  Douglas worked in the field of research and had a look at the Rules of Participations in Horizon 2020. The executive summary can be found hereunder. ​

​Safeg​​​​uarding Swiss interests in Rules for Participation & Dissemination of Horizon 2020 ​

To start with, the subject of the research has an interesting horizontal nature. It covers multi-disciplinary topics, ranging from pure policy matters to scientific, legal and financial ones. It takes into consideration Swiss managerial, administrative and research interests in Horizon 2020 and not only provides an analysis of the proposal from the European Commission (EC) concerning the RfP proposed for Horizon 2020, but also sheds light on the influence of a nonmember state like Switzerland with regards to European Union (EU) legislation. The research shows that the current RfP are of key importance (in comparison with former RfP) due to the proposed broader scope and foreseen simplification. As the RfP cover, for instance, funding rates and cost reimbursement, reporting and auditing, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and dissemination rules which will apply to the results of research and innovation activities performed with Horizon 2020 funds, they should not be overlooked by research stakeholders and governments. 

With the Swiss case taken into consideration, the conclusions in this study are coupled with a few recommendations that could be useful not only to the Swiss science and research community, but also to other stakeholders. For instance, in order to preserve excellence as the only criterion in Horizon 2020, beneficiaries could consider underlining the need to make a distinction between participation in every programme (e.g. Structural Funds), while fostering the development of a ‘stairway of excellence’, which leads less developed regions to fully participate in Horizon 2020, through capacity-building measures. Although Value Added Tax (VAT) is included as eligible cost and that it is seen as positive by beneficiaries, they could still emphasise that the EC should provide clarity, consistency and unambiguity with regard to VAT recoverability. The RfP should be clarified especially in cases of contradictory rules at the national and European levels. 

The main objective of Horizon 2020 is to couple research and innovation. However, if public research organisations have to provide even more co-financing in close-to-market activities, they might not be willing to participate. This discussion on whether the proposals for direct and indirect reimbursement rates will lead to an increase or loss of participation, should not be overlooked by the European institutions and the participants themselves. Following the critics on the proposed flat rate of 20% for indirect costs, in the current context, the point is whether a higher rate of the reintroduction of real indirect costs would correspond better to researchers interests (but, noting that the higher the rate, the lower the number of projects which will be funded in Horizon 2020). In order to improve reporting and auditing procedures, participants could emphasise that a coherent interpretation of rules between EC officers and auditors and the traceability of officers decisions is necessary and should be ensured. 

Finally, the conclusion in the research is that the presence of multiple access points at EU level poses a challenge for Swiss stakeholders, for the European institutions are different in both their composition and informational needs. Having described the EU legislative procedure, it is concluded that there are windows for Swiss stakeholders to bring input to the discussions in Brussels. Thus, the hypothesis of the thesis, that Switzerland as a non-member of the EU cannot influence decisions at EU level, could be refuted. For Switzerland, both EC and European Parliament are relevant places to safeguard its interests and the case of RfP of Horizon 2020 studied suggests Switzerland succeeded in achieving this. 

The RfP are of strategic importance for the concrete participation of Swiss researchers and institutions in Horizon 2020 and will influence the implementation of the programme. This study might add to the inspiration of Swiss and European stakeholders and operators alike. 

see complete report

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