According to the 2020 Federal Decree on the Horizon Package, SERI can directly fund researchers and innovators in Switzerland who have not received funding from the European Commission because Switzerland is not associated to the respective programmes (see Transitional Measures). This applies to collaborative and mono-beneficiary projects.
Mono-beneficiary projects 2021
The proposals for the ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants as well as the EIC Accelerator of the 2021 calls were evaluated by the European Commission on an exceptional basis without Switzerland being associated to Horizon Europe. Therefore, SERI can award ‘SERI-funded ERC Starting Grants’, ‘SERI-funded ERC Consolidator Grants’ or ‘SERI funded-EIC Accelerator Grants’ (see Mono-beneficiary projects 2021). If they carry out their project in Switzerland, researchers and innovators with a successfully evaluated project receive direct funding from SERI under the same conditions as those of the European Commission (e.g. regarding project budget and project duration).
SERI-funded ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants
"SERI-funded ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants" (listed below) are awarded for positively evaluated project proposals of the ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants 2021 that are carried out at a host institution in Switzerland. This direct funding by SERI enables cutting-edge research in all fields, based on scientific excellence that has proven itself in international competition. Not only does it support basic research in Switzerland, the funding also contributes to the attractiveness of Switzerland as a research location. The Starting Grants are aimed at talented researchers who want to start their own independent career and establish their own working group, while the Consolidator Grants serve to strengthen existing independence.
For more information on the projects, please see this list (it is updated regularly):
SERI-funded EIC Accelerator Grants
‘SERI-funded EIC Accelerator Grants’ (listed below) are awarded for projects, which have been positively evaluated in the first EIC Accelerator cut-off 2021 (after two evaluation stages) and will be carried out in Switzerland. Funding by SERI should accelerate the market entry and growth of these companies. Their newly developed products shall contribute to addressing societal challenges.
For more information on the projects, please see this list:
Quantum Transitional Call
Since the European Commission counts quantum science and technology as a strategic research topic, researchers in Switzerland are excluded from some calls in this research area due to the current non-association to Horizon Europe. This applies in particular to the Quantum Technologies Flagship. As part of the national transitional measures, the Quantum Transitional Call 2022 was therefore launched in an attempt to secure the European and international competitiveness and connectivity of the Swiss quantum research community. The Swiss National Science Foundation published this call in September 2022 and carried out the evaluation of the project proposals received. SERI finances the successfully evaluated projects by means of direct funding.
22 applications were received in response to the Quantum Transitional 2022 call for proposals. 16 projects with more than 30 participating main and co-applicants will be supported with a total of CHF 24 million, including 15% overhead.
More information on the 16 projects with their respective lead applicants can be found in this list (the projects are listed alphabetically by their acronyms):
List of SERI-funded projects in response to Quantum Transitional Call 2022 (PDF, 261 kB, 11.05.2023)