Research and innovation communities across Europe are supporting the initiative that calls for a swift association of Switzerland and the UK to Horizon Europe.
On 8 February 2022, during the Science Business conference ‘Horizon Europe: The first assessment’, research and innovation (R&I) institutions from Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK), together with other European R&I leaders, launched the pan-European ‘Stick to Science’ initiative, calling “for an open and barrier-free R&I collaboration among Europe’s research and innovation actors, via the association of the UK and Switzerland to Horizon Europe”. The new campaign was set in motion by six institutions – Universities UK, Wellcome, and the Royal Society in the UK and the ETH Board, ETH Zurich, and EPFL in Switzerland. It is an active response to the delayed association of Switzerland and the UK to Horizon Europe, “which are being held up by political barriers that have nothing to do with science”, as the initiative highlights. On the day of the launch, the online signature campaign had already assembled more than 70 European umbrella associations and national organisations in the field of R&I, as well as the general economy. More than 280 prominent scientists and leaders of R&I institutions, including 12 Nobel Prize laureates, are among the first signatories. Additional supporters from all over Europe are welcome to sign the initiative via the ‘Stick to Science’ website.
“The whole research and innovation sector is currently alarmed for the future of science in Europe as one year after the start of Horizon Europe, the full association of both the UK and Switzerland are still blocked because of political disagreements,” said Michael Hengartner, president of the board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH). “This situation is extremely unfortunate as advancements in research and innovation are best achieved when all actors can work together across geographical regions.” The signatories argue that it has never been more important than now to work together, as the world faces serious global challenges like mitigating a pandemic, climate change, and addressing food security. The signatories urge the EU, the UK and Switzerland to rapidly reach association agreements so that the two countries can contribute scientifically and financially to the strength of Horizon Europe and to a truly open, inclusive and excellence-driven European Research Area (ERA). Signatories of the campaign are convinced that “allowing political differences to prevent scientific collaboration is contrary to the interests of society at large” – and detrimental to Europe’s competitiveness.
Several prominent first signatories were present during the panel discussion of the launch event. Antoine Petit, chair and chief executive of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), said the EU is not punishing the UK and Switzerland by denying them access to Horizon Europe. Instead, the EU is hurting itself: “It’s a punishment for all of us, it’s a punishment for Europe”, said Petit. He highlighted that Switzerland and the UK are key partners for France. While it might be possible to develop stronger bilateral R&I relations, this could not replace the necessary scientific competition at European level that “stimulates our researchers with competition in the European Research Council (ERC)”, a situation that changed when the researchers from two of the strongest European countries are no longer allowed to participate. Helga Nowotny, former president of the ERC, said “We are between two dominant political actors, China and the US, and unless Europe is able to prove to the world and to its citizens that it can act as a continent – and research is the driving force behind it – [we] will fail”. She thinks that, in a time when it is of “utmost importance” to have an ERA that includes the freedom of movement of researchers, leaving out Switzerland and the UK with their attractive institutions effectively marks them as “no-go zones” for (young) European researchers.
Robert-Jan Smits, President of Eindhoven University of Technology and former director-general of DG Research and Innovation (DG RTD) highlighted the example of the Chips Act proposal, launched by the Commission on the same day, which aims to strengthen Europe’s technological leadership. To achieve its aims, “we need to mobilise the best brains of the continent or we will not reach our objectives”, Smits said. He also wants to see Switzerland and the UK as part of the ERA “to build and strengthen it”. In his view, “It’s time to break down borders and to let scientists work together”. Asked about lessons learned from his time at the helm of DG RTD back in 2014 when a Swiss referendum threatened to derail Switzerland’s association to Horizon 2020, he replied that he went to the European Commission (EC) President José Manuel Barroso – and argued not to politicise science. “I said, if we stop collaborating everywhere, we don’t have a bridge for dialogue – let’s keep a bridge open.”
At present, the association of the UK and Switzerland to Horizon Europe has been delayed and there is no clear vision of the eventual outcome (see ‘Stick to Science’ Factsheet). For the UK, association to Horizon Europe is part of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement of December 2020. Association only needs to be formalised by the EC and the UK government to become applicable, a step which the UK is still waiting for the EC to take. In the case of Switzerland, the EC currently considers the process towards association as “suspended” (see SwissCore article). During a press conference following the visit of Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis in November 2021, EC Vice President Maroš Šefčovič underlined that the EU’s stance on Switzerland’s association to Horizon Europe remains dependent on progress in broader political discussions, i.e. on institutional solutions related to a separate set of five market access agreements. “On Horizon Europe, we will take into account the development of the Swiss-EU relationship as a whole”, EC Vice President Šefčovič said. Swiss Federal Councillor Cassis stressed that, from Switzerland’s perspective, it is counterproductive to link unrelated market access and cooperation agreements for political reasons (see SwissCore article). Switzerland remains committed to its goal of a full association to Horizon Europe and other related programmes and initiatives for the period 2021-2027 as soon as possible. The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is regularly updating relevant information on their website: www.horizon-europe.ch.
On 25 February, the Swiss government presented a new approach to Swiss-EU relations. The previous “horizontal approach set out in last year’s failed institutional agreement is no longer being considered”. The Swiss Federal Council foresees instead to initiate exploratory talks with the EU on a package of measures based on “a vertical approach” aimed at anchoring (institutional) aspects in each individual single market agreement. This package may also include “new single market agreements for electricity and food safety as well as association agreements for research, health and education”. The press release also mentions to consider continuing the Swiss (financial) contribution as part of this package.
While the association of Switzerland and the UK is currently not progressing, the EU announced exploratory talks with New Zealand on 10 February on association to Horizon Europe. On 14 February, South Korea also expressed its interest to associate to the EU framework programme for R&I. The ongoing exploratory talks with Canada are continuing, after the country had expressed its interest already in June 2021. Of the association agreements already negotiated, the ones with Kosovo and with Armenia came into force this February 2022 (cf. status overview).