Switzerland — an international science hub at the heart of Europe
"Biotechnology and nanotechnology are topics for the future — I am proud of the fact that this future is already the present in Switzerland!"
Charles Kleiber, Swiss State Secretary for Science and Research, heads the Swiss Economic, Science and Technology Mission to London (4 & 5 May 2004) which explores opportunities for collaboration in biotechnology and nanotechnology between British and Swiss scientists and entrepreneurs.
Switzerland — a powerful magnet for international science talent: around half of all postgraduate students and one third each of all university professors and R&D personnel in Switzerland have come from abroad.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and University of Zurich: Continental Europe's best universities
In the course of 2003, the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an academic ranking of 500 universities world-wide. The two universities in Zurich did particularly well in this. Europe-wide, only four universities (all in the UK) are ranked higher than the ETH Zurich, which is number 25 in global comparison. However, various other Swiss universities also received very good grades, above all the University of Zurich, which is ranked number 45 world-wide.
National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs): New impulses for the research and higher education centre Switzerland
National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs) promote long-term research projects in areas of vital strategic importance for the evolution of science in Switzerland, for the country's economy and for Swiss society. Each NCCR is based in and managed from a university or other renowned research institution. A network links the research groups from this home institution with other teams throughout Switzerland. The following aspects are decisive for the approval of an NCCR: it must conduct research of outstanding, internationally recognised quality, and actively foster knowledge and technology transfer, training, and the promotion of women researchers. Of the fourteen NCCRs launched up to now, five are conducting research in the Life Sciences sector, three in the Information and Communication Technology sector, and one in the Nanosciences sector.
In 2000, the Lisbon European Council agreed upon the objective to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. Switzerland, with its Europe-wide networked and internationally aligned research and development, is contributing its part towards achieving this extremely ambitious goal.
Europe can only attain the rank of the most powerful, knowledge-based economy in the world by setting appropriate political priorities. The European Commission proposes increasing the GDP share of European expenditure on research and development from not even 2% today to 3% in future.
The investments made by Switzerland in its science and research system have been tending towards the proposed scale for many years. The expenditure on R&D in Switzerland accounts for some 2.6% of the GDP; the contribution of private funds alone amounts to just under 2% of the GDP. Accordingly, the R&D sector is also an important employer for the country: with some 42,000 persons, approx. 1.3% of the active population work here.
SWITZERLAND IN THE LEAD
In international comparison the performance of the Swiss research hub is rather formidable not only in terms of the input in R&D, but also with respect to output. Two examples from the wealth of "Key Figures" published by the EU Commission at the end of 2003 illustrate this.
- There is no country world-wide that reaches a number of scientific publications per inhabitant comparable to Switzerland.
- Switzerland leads in the field of applications for patents, far ahead of Japan or the USA.
What are the reasons for such an impressive performance? Firstly, of course, the generous investments in the "thinking centre" Switzerland.
No less important, however, is the traditionally great confidence of the Swiss legislator in those engaged in research. In the course of history, this freedom has fostered the development of a fertile soil for scientific curiosity and allowed Swiss scientists to be right at the forefront in shaping new research topics.
Thirdly, the smooth interlinking of several decades' standing of basic research on the one hand, financed in particular by the public sector and conducted at the universities, and the application-focused and market-oriented research and innovation of private industry on the other.
And fourthly, last but not least, it is the outstanding results achieved by the Swiss research hub itself that have made an important contribution to its further development and are doing so again and again today: The performance of every single science location is, as it were, part of the magnet that attracts foreign researchers and university lecturers from all over the world.
Martin Fischer, march 2004
SWISS EXCELLENCE IN NATURAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
Swiss Federal Institutes at the cutting edge
Swiss research in science and technology contains a clear international hub: the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology of Zürich (ETH Zürich) and of Lausanne (EPF Lausanne), as well as the four research institutes PSI, WSL, EMPA and EAWAG. All six institutions enjoy wide spread and international acclaim. This conglomerate, the so called ETH Domain, is a cohesive system of universities and research institutions (national labs) active in science and technology. Outstanding research at the cutting edge of international science comprises the main strategic goals, training first class scientists and engineers and provides services at the highest level.
The origins of the ETH Domain can be traced back to the foundation of ETH Zürich in 1855, when the Swiss federal government detected its needs for their own institutes of higher education for natural science and engineering. Research was subsequently introduced as an essential complement to teaching. The ETH Domain as an entity and its member institutions were granted extensive autonomy in two steps: 1991 and 2000. Strategically, the ETH Board leads the domain, allocates the funds to the six institutions and appoints professors.
Natural sciences and transdisciplinary approaches
Of 19000 Bachelor and Master students, 3800 are enrolled in PhD programmes. The two institutes provide as research universities a superb environment and a unique opportunity in the fields of nanotechnology, life sciences, information sciences and technologies, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The national labs develop strong competencies in transdisciplinary sectors of oriented and applied research, such as energy and material sciences, landscape and water research. With sustainable development as the underlying principle in all these activities, the dialogue with society is enabled.
Teaching and research at the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Zurich and Lausanne are at high international standard. Researchers and professors from all over the world perform at a top level of excellence, and also benefit from financial and human resources comparable with the best universities in UK and US.
THE ETH Domain
- ETH Zurich
- ETH Zentrum
- CH-8092 Zürich
- www.ethz.ch
- PSI
- Paul Scherrer Institute
- CH-5232 Villigen PSI
- www.psi.ch
- WSL
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest
- Snow and Landscape Research
- Zürcherstrasse 111
- CH-8903 Birmensdorf
- www.wsl.ch
- EPF Lausanne
- CH-1015 Lausanne
- www.epfl.ch
- EMPA
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for
- Material testing and Research
- Überlandstrasse 129
- CH-8600 Dübendorf
- www.empa.ch
- EAWAG
- Swiss Federal Institute for
- Environmental Science
- Überlandstrasse 133
- CH-8600 Dübendorf
- www.eawag.ch
For General Information
- ETH Board
- Communication
- Email: jaccard@ethrat.ch
- www.ethrat.ch
