Swiss science sector will struggle outside Horizon

Scientists are warning the sector will be in deep trouble if Switzerland does not renew its place within the EU’s Horizon Programme by the end of the year.

The EU downgraded this country after a failure of a framework agreement which would have formalised a series of separate agreements with the bloc into one overall treaty. 

Speaking to yesterday’s Blick newspaper, the head of the ETH Zurich, Michael Hengartner, is calling on the government to resolve the crisis. 

He and other researchers are worried this country will lose ground to other nations and it won’t be able to attract or keep world leading scientists.
The government says it’s doing everything it can to fix the problem and it will cover funding shortfalls.

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