Western Balkans

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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News archive - Switzerland’s Science and Technology Initiatives towards the Western Balkans

Since 1990, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), has been conducting a programme of scientific cooperation with Eastern Europe. From the year 2000 onwards, Switzerland and the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia) have been cooperating in the framework of the so-called SCOPES-programme (Scientific Co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland).

The cooperation programme is organised in four-year phases:

SCOPES 2000-2004: CHF 14,0 million budget (1 CHF = 0,6 euro)
SCOPES 2005-2008: CHF 13,0 million budget

The programme mainly comprises Joint Research Projects and Institutional Partnerships, the former focusing on basic research, the latter concentrating on the improvement of general conditions for scientific research. Each project and partnership is composed of a consortium of scientists from Eastern Europe and Switzerland. As SCOPES is open for activities within all scientific disciplines ranging from humanities and social sciences to natural sciences, medicine etc., thematic areas are defined by the participants themselves. Furthermore, conference grants are included in the programme, allowing scientists from Eastern Europe to participate in international scientific conferences taking place in Switzerland. The projects and partnerships have a duration of 3 years with the maximum grants of CHF 70,000 and CHF 100,000, respectively. At least 70% of the funds are earmarked for the partners from Eastern Europe. The current programme was implemented through a call in January 2005. Only the action line “Conference Grants” is still open. Conferences have to take place before December 31, 2008, and proposals have to be submitted at least three months in advance.

Article published in eJournal fall 06.
Author: Evelyne Glättli, Swiss National Science Foundation

Entry created by Evelyne Glättli on November 13, 2006
Modified on November 10, 2006

Western Balkans Info Hub - powered by "Policy Answers" - is funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe project "R&I policy making, implementation and support in the Western Balkans", grant agreement: 10105887. The portal builds upon previous initiatives, such as for instance WBC-RTI.INFO and WBC-INCO.NET, which were funded under different Framework Programmes (FP) for Research and Technological Development (RTD) of the European Commission and other contracts.

Kosovo* (This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.)