Government says Switzerland will be a ‘third country participant’

The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) has issued a statement listing the implications of Switzerland’s new status as a ‘third country’ in the Horizon 2020 calls currently open for submission.

The statement also includes recommendations on how to proceed, particularly with regard to proposals that are currently being prepared.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCAs) are open to researchers of any nationality. Therefore, it will still be possible for individual Swiss researchers to receive fellowships. Regarding Swiss entities, they will not be automatically eligible for funding in MSCAs host-driven actions like Innovative Training Networks (ITN) or Research and Innovation Staff Exchanges (RISE), even though they can participate as additional partners without EU funding.

Swiss researchers have been instructed, however, that only institutions in EU member states or associated countries may take part in calls for project proposals for ERC grants. Therefore, researchers from Swiss institutions may not now apply for ERC grants. SERI has recommended that applicants submit their proposals immediately.

The Swiss State Secretariat has also recommended project partners belonging to international consortia take part in calls for project proposals since excellence is the only evaluation criterion under Horizon 2020. This means that “Swiss project partners will in no way be discriminated against”.

The European Commission says ‘third country’ participants are not always automatically entitled to funding. It is understood that Switzerland is not automatically eligible for funding (though they may still be funded in exceptional cases).