Swiss ILO: A bridge between Swiss industry and international research organisations

The Swiss Industry Liaison Office (Swiss ILO) plays a key role as a national coordination centre, helping Swiss companies to network with international research organisations in which Switzerland is a member. Swiss ILO assists companies submitting bids for contracts from international research organisations.

As a member of several international research organisations, Switzerland can benefit from very innovative industrial projects. Organisations that conduct cutting-edge research often offer lucrative opportunities in a wide range of high-tech fields. Ideally, such contracts help to drive innovation, research and development within the participating companies. The Swiss ILO was created in 2015 as a joint initiative of SERI, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) with the aim of optimising this potential for Swiss research and industry. Since then, the University of Geneva and SwissMEM have also joined the initiative.

The main tasks of the Swiss ILO include:

• Information: Provide Swiss companies with information about business opportunities offered by international research organisations.
• Qualification: Position Swiss companies as competent bidders for international research organisations and prepare them for calls for tenders.
• Promote: Actively showcase Swiss technologies and expertise to international research organisations.
• Support: Help Swiss companies to navigate through complex international procurement procedures.
• Network: Facilitate exchanges between Swiss and international companies to boost cooperation on tenders.
• Monitoring: Keep track of the amounts invested by international research organisations in Switzerland and monitor developments.

The Swiss ILO provides Swiss companies with simplified and guided access to high-quality research and development projects, enabling them to drive their technological progress forward.