Search Icon

Enlargement contribution for Croatia

© gettyimages

Promoting Swiss-Croatian research initiatives

Switzerland is contributing to the EU enlargement by supporting efforts to reduce economic and social disparities. The supported countries include Croatia, one of the most recent EU members. One area of cooperation is scientific research.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) mandated the SNSF and its Croatian counterpart, the Croatian Science Foundation (CSF), to launch a call for Joint Research Projects (JRPs) as part of the Croatian-Swiss Research Programme (CSRP). The CSRP was aimed at Swiss and Croatian research groups that wished to conduct a joint project. The programme had only one call, which ran from 9 October 2017 to 19 January 2018.

A total of 106 project proposals were submitted for the CSRP, of which 11 were approved and awarded a budget of 4.2 million francs (87% Swiss contribution, 13% Croatian contribution).

Joint research initiatives

The CSRP responds to the Croatian scientific community’s demand for better international integration and cooperation with colleagues from Western Europe in particular. It does so by mobilising research capacities in Switzerland and Croatia. In addition, the programme supports scientific cooperation by funding JRPs between Switzerland and Croatia. JRPs enable scientists from Croatia to form consortia with scientists from Switzerland and to explore shared research questions in all scientific disciplines. Research is to be carried out at the research facilities involved; reciprocal visits and short stays of several weeks are envisaged within the context of a JRP.

The joint research initiatives pursue the following aims:

  • furthering the integration of Croatian researchers into international networks;
  • facilitating knowledge and know-how exchanges among researchers.
  • developing specific competencies at the CSF by running an exchange programme with the SNSF.

Building on past experience

The cooperation in the field of scientific research between Switzerland and Croatia builds on previous experience gathered in two similar programmes with Bulgaria and Romania. Between 2012 and 2016, the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation Programme and the Romanian-Swiss Research Programme successfully funded a total of 39 JRPs.