| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Bilateral Korean-Swiss S&T Programme

Dr. Rahel Byland, Programme Manager ETH Global

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 1

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 2

Swiss Priority Countries for Bilateral S&T

Cooperation

China

South

Africa

Russia

India

Brazil

Korea Japan

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Switzerland is a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory

Commission (NNSC), diplomatic relations since 1963

ROK is a major Swiss trading partner, and attracts substantial Swiss

investment

Similarities with respect to high gross domestic expenditure on R&D

and global innovation performance

In 2008 already 30 bilateral university agreements and individual

faculty collaboration with the strong S&T nation Korea

Cooperation in the field of science and research is growing in

importance. Combination of complementary strenghts.

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 3

Why Korea – Bilateral Relations

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

1996 MoU between SNSF – KOSEF

Joint research projects, awards, joint symposia and exchanges

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) 2003 – 2008

All in all, 49 Swiss-Korean co-operation projects (investigator-driven

research projects, fellowships for prospective and advanced researchers,

international co-operation, exchange programme and EURYI)

2004 – 2006 Focal Point Program (SER – MOST)

S&T Forums, Working Group Meetings, Joint Research Activities in

Micro-Nano Materials, Biomedical & Bioengineering, Communication &

Network → Based on Leading Scientists on both sides

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 4

Bilateral S&T Cooperation – Past Developments

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

2009– 2011 Action Plan (SER –

MEST)

Implementation strategy and

guidelines based on :

Reciprocity

Mutual respect and interest

Consent

Benefits

Sustainability

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 5

Agreement on Cooperation in S&T between

MEST Korea and SER Switzerland 2008

Objective: linking people,

technology, infrastructure!

Broad fields

and focus on

mobility/

exchange

instruments

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Operational programme coordination

National Research Foundation in Korea (NRF) and ETH

Zurich as the Swiss Leading House in a Mandate from

SERI, representing all Swiss universities and research

institutions and ensuring programme availability to their

researchers.

Programme governance and steering

Regular Joint Committee Meetings (JCM) including

ministries, funding agencies and leading research

institutions of both countries. Development of action

plans. Past meetings: 2009 (Bern), 2011 (Seoul), 2014

(Bern). National Steering Committee meeting on demand.

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 6

Governance of the Programme 2008-2012

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Bring together Swiss scientists involved in current or past scientific

collaboration with Korea, with the aim to:

Evaluate scientific areas of special interest.

Identify instruments to grant support, where it is most needed.

Get support from the scientific community for the cooperative program.

Outcome:

• Cooperation across all areas of S&T → programme to cover broad fields

• Difficulties to meet and start projects → seed funding for workshops and

exchange

• Complicated application procedures → simple programme, low

administration

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 7

Establishing the Programme – National

Workshop 1

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Instrument

• Seed funding for workshops and short exchanges

• Max. 20’000 CHF for one year (equivalent from Korean side)

• 7 broad scientific areas (environment, material sciences, energy, life sciences, IT, applied physics and design sciences)

• 2 joint calls with parallel evaluation and joint decision.

Outcome

• Applications exceed number of availabale grants threefold

• Applications spread over all fields

• All collaboration projects successful

• Grant recipients apply a second time

• Grant recipients plan for larger proposals

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 8

Establishing the Programme –

Seed Funding Phase 2009/2010 2

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries) Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 9

Establishing the Programm –

Joint Research Projects

Instrument

• Funding for joint research projects (JRPs)

• Max. 50’000 CHF for one year (equivalent from Korean side)

• 5 broad scientific areas (environment, material sciences, energy, life sciences, IT)

• 2 joint calls with parallel evaluation and joint decision.

Outcome

• Applications exceed number of availabale grants massively (1/7) and increase in numbers

• Applications spread over all fields and institutions nationwide

• Grant recipients apply a second time, regular applicants

• Grant recipients plan for larger proposals and longer projects

• Instrument suits the changed needs but not the increased demand

3

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries) Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 10

Korean-Swiss Science Days

2010: 9/10 September in Seoul “Cleantech

for Green Growth” academic + small

companies.

2011: 9/10 November in Zurich at ETH

“Water for the Future” academic only

2012: 17/18 April at SNU, SNU-KAIST-ETHZ

-EPFL Joint Symposium on “Biomedical

Engineering”

2013: 7/8 May 2013 in Lausanne at EPFL

“Novel trends at the frontier of computing

and electronics” academic + Samsung and

LG

2014: 7/8 October 2014 in Seoul “From

Brain Science to Brain IT” academic +

industry

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries) Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 11

Consolidation and Future of the

Programme

Cooperation with the Korean partners is established and trust between

institutions is built up. Instruments and structure will have to adapt to

long term funding of projects.

The responsibility for the programme is split between the Swiss National

Science Foundation (SNSF) and ETH Zurich

SNSF and NRF will launch a call for 3-year joint research projects with grant

sums up to 250’000 CHF

ETH Zurich will continue to organize and fund the Korean-Swiss Science

Days with Korean partners. Both bottom-up initiatives as well as strategic

topics should be considered.

ETH Zurich together with the Swiss Embassy in Seoul is mapping the

ongoing research cooperation between Korea and Switzerland to identify

topics of mututal interest and suggest new funding instruments for the future.

4

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

National Workshop

Seed Funding Phase

Funding of small JRPs

Large JRPs and partnership between funding agencies

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 12

Programme Phases - Summary

Continued governance by JCM and NSC

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Touching base with researchers regularly helps to meet demands

Analyze existing modes and fields of cooperation

Sustainable collaboration evolves around core people with

enthusiasm

Identify the champions to support a programme

The needs for funding change as collaboration evolves

Adapt instruments to needs regulary

Collaboration and the need for funding increase with the programme

and cannot be matched

Build a network and be informed about alternative funding sources

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 13

Learnings from the Korea Programme

| | ETH Zürich (SERI Leading House for Asian-Pacific countries)

Thank you for your attention!

Workshop, Singapore, June 11-12, 2014 14