Exclusion from Horizon Europe ‘a serious disadvantage’, says Swiss Nobel laureate

Exclusion from the Horizon Europe programme is a “disaster” for Swiss researchers, said Wüthrich. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The biochemist Kurt Wüthrich says that, even if research money is available through another route, in the long term, participation in the European Union’s flagship research grant programme will be “indispensable” for Swiss scientists.

Grants obtained from Horizon Europe “are regarded in the scientific world as awards – not just as research support,” Wüthrich said in an interviewExternal link with the SonntagsZeitung. “Anyone who receives such a grant is promoted to a new league.”

Kurt Wüthrich won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2002. Keystone / Yonhap

For this reason, exclusion from the programme is a “disaster” for Swiss researchers, said Wüthrich, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2002 for developing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

+ Why is Horizon Europe important for Switzerland?

Horizon Europe is one of the world’s largest research and innovation grant programmes, with a budget of €95 billion (CHF92 billion) for 2021-2027. Switzerland was downgraded to non-associated third-country status in Horizon following Bern’s decision to abandon talks on a framework agreement governing relations with Brussels. 

Although Swiss scientists can still collaborate in around two-thirds of the EU’s research programme, they cannot receive EU funds.

The federal government is making up for the shortfall: this year it set aside CHF625 million ($694 million) in grants for Swiss scientists participating in Horizon Europe projects.

To maintain a high level of research domestically, Wüthrich said all countries faced the same challenge.

“Above all, money is needed,” he said. “The distribution struggle is likely to grow in the coming years, as funds are becoming scarcer everywhere.”