Earlier this month, Switzerland approved an Association Agreement with Horizon 2020, indicating that, in January 2017, Switzerland will be fully associated with Horizon 2020 and Swiss researchers will be eligible for receiving funding for their projects, a major status change from the “partial association” in effect between September 2014 and December 2016. With this new status, Switzerland can send observers to participate in any meetings regarding the implementation of Horizon 2020, as well as participate in meetings with the Board of Governors of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center and the European Research Area. For these rights as a fully associated Horizon 2020 country, Switzerland is required to pay a monetary fee to the EU budget, based on a ratio between the country’s GDP and the total number of the Member States of Union GDP, as based on the Agreement.

All research projects that began before the Agreement will be unaffected and treated as projects from a non-associated country. As the Agreement does not come into effect until January 1, 2017, Switzerland will still be considered a non-associated country, except in regards to: the Excellent Science pillar, which includes the European Research Council, Future and Emerging Technologies and Research Infrastructures; an exclusive objective of “spreading excellence and widening participation”; the Euratom Program; and any activities implemented by the European Joint Undertaking for the ITER project, as well as the Development of Fusion for Energy for 2014–2020.

Source: European Commission