State Secretary Hirayama’s working visit to Czech Republic

On March 29, 2022, Martina Hirayama, Secretary of State for Education, Research and Innovation, will meet with Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Petr Gazdík and Czech Minister of Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová in Prague.

Martina Hirayama segretaria di Stato — Martina Hirayama Secretary of State

In addition to bilateral scientific relations between the two countries, the talks will examine the possible deepening of relations in the field of education, research and innovation within the framework of the second Swiss contribution, as well as Switzerland’s association with Horizon Europe and Erasmus+. Also on the agenda are the research and innovation priorities of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2022. State Secretary Hirayama will discuss Switzerland’s desired early association with Horizon Europe and related programs and initiatives.

With around 370 cooperation projects between Swiss and Czech researchers within the framework of Horizon 2020, the Czech Republic is one of Switzerland’s 20 most important partners. In addition, thanks to the Lead Agency Agreement between the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), it will be possible from 2019 for researchers from these two countries to submit a single joint application to one of the two institutions. Among other things, it should be noted that both scientific communities collaborate in various international research infrastructures, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) or the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Finally, since 1968, 186 Czech scientists and artists have spent part of their careers at a Swiss university thanks to Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships.