Governmental initiatives

The Sino-Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation (SSSTC) program was established in 2003, after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

Traditionally, scientific cooperation occurs first between individual scientists. The SSSTC intends to encourage and strengthen such individual contacts by building a multi-level research cooperation between institutions, research groups, as well as individuals.

Funding instruments

Based on the MoU signed by the SER and the MOST in 2003, three instruments were set up to promote scientific collaboration between the two countries: the annual Sino-Swiss Cooperation Symposia, the SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) research fellowship program, and SNSF workshop program.

1.       Annual Symposia

Between 2004 and 2006, three annual Sino-Swiss Cooperation Symposia were held covering research areas of biotechnology, environment/sustainability, and material sciences. These three symposia have successfully attracted about 200 Swiss (from 8 Swiss universities and 4 Swiss research institutions) and Chinese (from Chinese Academy of Sciences, leading Chinese and Hong Kong universities) scientists. By drawing the attention of leading scientists’ from both countries, these symposia have served the purpose of creating new networking possibilities, as well as raising the profile of Swiss scientific establishment in China and vice versa.

2.       Research Fellowships

The SNSF research fellowship program was designed to provide financial means for Chinese scientists to travel to Switzerland and collaborate with their Swiss partners. It is expected that such research collaborations would nurture the understanding between the Swiss and the Chinese scientists, which in turn may pave a way for future Sino-Swiss science and technology cooperation. Between 2005 and 2007, three calls for proposals were made, and 23 fellowships were granted. 

3.       Scientific Workshop

From 2005 to 2007, three calls for proposals in the areas of biotechnology and environment/sustainability were made and 9 workshops were funded. Similar to the Sino-Swiss Cooperation symposia, these workshops created new networking possibilities for Swiss and Chinese scientists, albeit with a more specific focus of research topics.

Outcome

The three funding instruments have provided Swiss and Chinese scientists the chance of interaction and some of these individual contacts have developed into lasting institutional partnerships with a broad spectrum of collaborations. Since the beginning of the SSSTC program, a joint ETH-CAS Shanghai Center of Cassava Biotechnology has been established in April, 2007. In addition, the following joint research centers/labs are currently under discussion:

·         EAWAG-HIT Water Research Center

·         ETHZ-Tongji Joint Centre of Architecture

In addition, there are also discussions of a joint research center for process engineering between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a Swiss partner.