On 2 March 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Guy Parmelin signed the agreements comprising the Switzerland–EU package in Brussels. Cooperation in research and the Swiss contribution to the EU are important elements of this package. As part of this current contribution, the Swiss National Science Foundation runs specific research funding programmes to strengthen the European Research Area.
Since 2007, Switzerland has been contributing to reducing economic and social disparities within the EU through the Swiss contribution. This engagement also contributes to strengthening Switzerland’s relations with the partner countries. From 2007 to 2024, Switzerland supported various projects in 13 countries which joined the EU since 2004 with a total of CHF 1.3 billion as part of the enlargement contribution. With the second Swiss contribution to the EU, the Swiss government dedicates again a total of CHF 1.3 billion from 2019-2029 to support the same countries. Different programmes are co-financed in topics such as vocational education and training, research and innovation, social and healthcare systems, public safety, civic engagement and transparency, environmental and climate protection and SME financing. Within this framework, Switzerland is providing CHF 106 million in co-funding for research and innovation programmes in seven partner countries, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Latvia. On top of the Swiss contribution, the partner countries provide 15% of each Programme’s budget from their own resources.
The Swiss National Science Foundation has been mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to develop and implement, together with their counterparts in the partner countries, three instruments within the research portfolio of the Swiss contribution.
Strengthening competitiveness and knowledge exchange in Europe
In 2024, the SNSF launched the Multilateral Academic Projects Programme (MAPS) which aims to promote international research cooperation between Switzerland and Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. It enhances the competitiveness of the European Research Area and promotes knowledge exchange among researchers in Europe.
With a budget of CHF 36 million, a total of 29 collaborative projects were selected and started the implementation phase. The maximum amount of funding for each team in each country is CHF 350’000. The duration of projects is between 36 and 48 months.
This collaborative approach is already delivering results. As Davide Pavanello, Associate Professor of Power Systems at the Institute of Energy and Environment at HES-SO Valais-Wallis in Switzerland explains: “The MAPS programme supports a joined effort from different research groups in Switzerland, Croatia and Poland to improve the resilience of wind turbines against lightning. The support from the second Swiss contribution allowed establishing a solid collaboration with the Polish and Croatian colleagues, where each team takes advantage from the competences of the others. For instance, as far as Switzerland is concerned, the Säntis-tower measurement station will be soon improved by adopting a technical solution which has been already validated in a wind park in Croatia. In addition, sharing of measurement data, as well as the possibility of accessing experimental facilities abroad, represent unique opportunities to provide ground-truth validation to research projects presented by the Swiss team in the future”.
Fostering research career and mobility opportunities with Bulgaria
The Promotion of Young Researchers in Central and Eastern Europe (PROMYS) programme creates promising and interesting career opportunities for outstanding researchers in Bulgaria, strengthening at the same time Bulgaria as a research location in general. Through the Swiss contribution, three PROMYS projects are supported for a duration of 5 years in total. Under the terms of the grant, they receive a maximum of CHF 625’000.
In this sense, Radoslav Aleksandrov, Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the Molecular Mechanisms of DNA Repair Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia) explains: “I was awarded a PROMYS grant at the end of 2024, which opened entirely new horizons for me as a young principal investigator. It allowed me to establish my own independent research group at the Institute of Molecular Biology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, focusing on the dynamics of DNA repair proteins in living cells. I have also had the pleasure to recruit a team of very talented young researchers -PhD students and postdocs – who are already making great progress across the interconnected research lines within the project. With the support of the five-year PROMYS grant, we are able to address challenging questions using a wide range of approaches, aiming to better understand how the immensely complex process of DNA repair is organised in both space and time, and how it can be effectively targeted across diverse patient groups.”
Moreover, to contribute to capacity building and networking opportunities, the scientific exchanges between Switzerland and Bulgaria (SCIEX) programme is aimed at PhD students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with a Bulgarian institute who wish to do a research secondment in a research institute in Switzerland. With an overall budget of CHF 2 million, the SNSF awarded 13 grants with a maximum duration of 24 months, covering the salary of the grantees as well as the research costs. The main objectives of SCIEX are to further scientific knowledge and development and to improve and deepen the grantees’ scientific skills while giving rise to research collaborations and strengthening scientific networking between Switzerland and Bulgaria.
A joint effort for a strong European Research Area
Complementary to the initiatives in which SNSF is involved, which target basic research, the Swiss contribution is also co-financing other programmes focusing on applied research and innovation, as well as initiatives related to research infrastructures. One example is a programme in Poland, jointly developed by the Polish Innovation Agency (NCBR) and Innosuisse. More than thirty collaborative projects in applied research and innovation between research institutions and enterprises in Poland and Switzerland are being financed.
Through its investments in the research and innovation area, the Swiss contribution aims to strengthen researchers’ careers, skills, and networks as well as enhance research capacities and innovation in the participating countries. Equally important is its contribution to stronger bilateral relations between Switzerland and the partner countries.
This article was first published on 27 may by SwissCore/SNSF.
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