Non-association of Switzerland to Horizon Europe: transitional measures envisaged
Transitional measures for researchers are envisaged following Switzerland’s non-association to Horizon Europe.
The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is currently drafting a mandate for the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to implement a suitable transition solution for the 2021 calls for ERC Advanced Grants (AdGs) and MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. These funding schemes will be aligned as closely as possible with the ERC AdG and MSCA calls, but with independent submission deadlines. The measure developed will be submitted to the Federal Council and Parliament as part of the credit and budget process. SERI will provide further information in due course.
If researchers and innovators have obtained Horizon Europe project funding from an institu-tion in an EU member state or an associated third country and transfer to an institution in Switzerland, as long as Switzerland is a non-associated third country, SERI will directly fund these researchers and innovators (so-called transfer grants). This applies to researchers and innovators in individual projects (namely ERC Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants) as well as to collaborative projects.
Switzerland's association to Horizon Europe and related programmes and initiatives as soon as possible remains the declared goal of the Federal Council. SERI will provide information on the 2022 calls for proposals in due course.