Swiss science explores closer EU cooperation

Nanotechnology applications are just one type of EU-funded project Keystone

Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin put his official signature on Monday to a new agreement renewing scientific and technical cooperation with the European Union.

Swiss biologist Marianne Geiser, who helps assess EU research applications, talks to swissinfo about the extremely fruitful research cooperation with the EU.

Since 2004 Swiss research cooperation with Brussels has been strengthened by a bilateral accord between Switzerland and the EU.

Under the EU’s seventh research framework programme, which runs from 2007 to 2013, Switzerland will contribute around SFr2.5 billion ($2 billion), or approximately three per cent of the programme’s €55 billion (SFr91 billion) budget.

The seventh framework programme is entitled: “Building the European research area of knowledge for growth”.

Brussels says that research is a part of a knowledge triangle – the others being education and innovation -that should boost growth and employment in the EU in the context of a global economy.

swissinfo: Switzerland rubberstamped its participation in the EU’s seventh framework research programme in Luxembourg today. You must be delighted?

Marianne Geiser: Of course. Swiss scientists have been waiting for this for a long time. We want to be part of this new EU research programme. It’s important for us to cooperate, as a small country like Switzerland is limited in the kinds of research partners that it can work with.

swissinfo: Swiss participation in this programme – SFr2.5 billion over seven years – will cost a lot more than the previous programme. Is this a reasonable price to pay?

M.G.: The [50 per cent] increase must be seen from a wider perspective. The EU wants to invest more in research, so financial contributions from affiliated countries like Switzerland must also rise. The fact is that research is more expensive nowadays as basic scientific questions are more complex and the technical side is also more demanding.

swissinfo: But there are some Swiss scientists who claim the money would be better spent in Switzerland than on research cooperation with the EU. What’s your view on this?

M.G.: Of course part of the research budget must continue to be managed in Switzerland so that we can set our own scientific priorities. But cooperation within the EU programme also gives us the chance to tackle complex questions in a much wider framework.

Today you can no longer carry out research alone in your tiny research laboratory. It’s not possible financially, for example, to acquire all the necessary equipment.

swissinfo: As a scientific expert, you are involved in choosing projects which are supported by the EU. How are they selected?

M.G.: We work in groups of eight to ten experts. The applications are initially allocated by Brussels so we can’t choose which ones we want to evaluate. The obstacles are considerable. In our field of work only about ten per cent of all applications are granted.

swissinfo: Great ideas, like the theory of relativity, were often initially rejected by experts. Would Albert Einstein have stood a chance of receiving any EU research money if he’d been alive today?

M.G.: Einstein was so ahead of his time that initially no one was able to appreciate his ideas. And EU research bodies are obviously not immune to making errors of judgement.

But a request is always considered by scientists from various fields of expertise so as to get a wide viewpoint. Perhaps Einstein’s chances of being selected in Brussels today might not have been so bad after all.

swissinfo: The EU also supports your own personal research projects. Don’t you find you get into conflicts of interest when you start evaluating other projects?

M.G.: The EU functions in a very transparent manner – you have to clearly state your own interests. You are never an expert in the same group in which your own application is being assessed.

swissinfo: New technologies present risks as well as opportunities. How seriously are these risks taken when considering research funding?

M.G.: Very seriously. I see that in nanotechnology projects in my own field of research, where tiny microscopic particles are produced. The question of health risks constantly arises.

swissinfo: What are the risks of nanotechnology?

M.G.: Tiny nanoparticles have completely different properties than the same material in a larger form. They also react differently in the human body.

Our research has found that they can penetrate lung tissue and even enter the bloodstream if inhaled. This can be useful in very selective medical treatment but it can also be harmful.

swissinfo: By carrying out research into the health risks of this interesting new technology that has great business potential, don’t you see yourself as a kind of kill-joy?

M.G.: No, not at all. It’s definitely in the interests of industry to explore the potential health implications of the nanoparticles they want to produce. In this respect, we are in direct contact with industry. In the past technology came first and risk analysis came later.

Today they are done in parallel as the tremendous damage to people health from asbestos and other materials have made people revise their thinking.

swissinfo-interview: Simon Thönen

Key facts

Marianne Geiser Kamber is a biologist and professor of histology from Bern University who carries out research into the effects of nanoparticles on human health.
She works as an expert assessing EU research applications and is involved in a project looking at the impact of air pollution on human health, which has received €800,000 financial support from the EU.

In brief

The framework research programmes are the EU’s main tools for a common policy on science and technology. Swiss researchers have been taking part since the 1980s.

Swiss cooperation was at first limited. Since 2004 it has been strengthened by the bilateral accord between Switzerland and the EU on the sixth framework programme (2003-2007).

Switzerland is taking part in and coordinating various projects. Its researchers are on an equal footing with those in the EU and can therefore help determine the orientation of the programme. The Swiss contribution for 2006 was SFr230 million.

On Monday Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin and EU Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik signed the agreement on Swiss participation in the sixth framework programme, which runs from 2007 to 2013.

As the EU has increased its research budget, Switzerland must also raise its contribution to around SFr2.4 billion over seven years – up 50%.