Funding agency demands more cash for science

Switzerland is one of the world's leading nations in basic scientific research. www.snf.ch

Switzerland's science funding agency has called for a budget increase of more than 80 per cent between now and 2007.

The National Science Foundation said it needed an extra SFr1.25 billion for the four-year period, 2004-2007, if basic research in Switzerland was to remain among the best in the world.

The appeal to government and parliament comes as the foundation prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary on August 1.

In the past ten years, demands for funding rose by 42 per cent while the available budget only increased by 17 per cent.

“Right now the National Science Foundation can put just SFr100,000 in a project per year,” secretary general, Hans Peter Hertig told swissinfo.

“If you compare that with important sister organisations like the US national science foundation, they put two or three times more money in a project so you can see we are just not competitive any longer at this level.

“We are at the top right now but we are exploiting the results of our investments 20-30 years ago and we will see the negative effects of under-spending only in 10-15 years time.”

Career prospects

The foundation currently pays for about 500 young Swiss scientists to work abroad every year.

Hertig said the goal was to send more people overseas and to be able to lure them back with an attractive career structure.

He said it was also important to raise the salary of doctoral students which were no longer competitive with jobs outside university. “Basic research is one of the remaining areas where Switzerland can claim to be among the world leaders,” he told swissinfo.

“It’s very important that we should try to keep that. If we have a strong, basic research base, then of course we are able to attract the best from around the world.”

Research base

In addition, he said that if Switzerland loses its research base, Swiss industry is going to continue relocating abroad. He added that the pharmaceutical firm, Novartis, had already decided to run its research from Massachusetts.

In 2002, the National Science Foundation is funding some 3,000 research projects from its budget of SFr400 million.

About 75 per cent of the funding goes to young scientists between the ages of 20 and 35.

The Foundation wants its budget increased from SFr411 million in 2003 to SFr761 million in 2007.

Among the measures it proposes in its action plan for 2004 to 2007 is an increase in the number of national centres of competence in research from 14 to 20.

by Vincent Landon