Who are we?
Swissnex Shanghai is an initiative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Similar institutions are located in Boston, San Francisco and Singapore. Their goal is to fully exploit the potential of cooperation between Switzerland and the respective host countries in the fields of higher education, research, technology, innovation and culture and to promote Switzerland as one of the leading countries in those domains.
What do we do?
The main goal of Swissnex Shanghai is to establish a solid, long-lasting network of cooperation between Swiss and Chinese scholars serving as a base for bottom-up initiatives in the future. In order to achieve this goal, Swissnex Shanghai, at least in its first years of operation, will fulfil such basic tasks as raising the level of knowledge of the Chinese science system in Switzerland, establishing a decentralized early awareness system for new developments in specific research fields and putting in place an effective selection system for Chinese scholars motivated to spend some time in Switzerland. Swissnex Shanghai will serve as a home base and platform for all Swiss parties in the above-mentioned domains.
What is planned in the near future?
Swissnex will help the Swiss parties to find partners in an environment that is still not well known in Switzerland, host them for short-term stays and provide facilities for example for workshops and seminars. Besides traditional forms and instruments of cooperation in well established fields - natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, social sciences and the humanities -, Swissnex Shanghai intends to explore new (interdisciplinary) research areas of common interest. In addition, Swissnex Shanghai plans to play an active role in bridging science to other areas of society, specifically the arts.
Why are we in China?
In a recent survey, Swiss universities were asked about their priorities in the field of international relations in the years to come: China, clearly, came out first. And China has caught the eye of the newly conceived Swiss universities of applied science: considering the fact that 90% of research done in China is applied research, their potential for fruitful and rewarding cooperation with Chinese counterparts is considerable. In addition, there is a great and increasing interest of Swiss companies with a research base in China. They are in need of highly qualified young Chinese scientists who know the Swiss research system, i.e., have spent some time in Switzerland. This great interest of major Swiss players is in sharp contrast to the existing low level of cooperation. Other countries have a long tradition of cooperation with China. Swissnex Shanghai, and a new governmental program for Sino-Swiss research projects it will run (see below), will be essential to Switzerland as it catches up and reaches a similar level of activities.
Will Swissnex Shanghai provide funding?
Swissnex Shanghai's main role is that of initiator, facilitator and coordinator. However, it will also have an important function in the funding of bilateral initiatives. In 2008, Switzerland and China will launch a Sino-Swiss Cooperation Program. 2-3 million Swiss francs (15 million RMB) per year will be matched by the Chinese side and invested in cooperative instrument like grants, research projects and joint labs. While the respective activities in Switzerland will be coordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) and the University of Zurich, Swissnex Shanghai will serve as the Swiss coordinator in China.
Shanghai, June 2008
