Competence centre for data science Statistical methods, data science and artificial intelligence: the FSO and UniNE intensify their cooperation 25.02.2021 - The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) are reinforcing their cooperation in the field of data science and statistical methods.

Statistical production, data management and data science Statistics, data science and national data management: three tasks for a forward-looking FSO 28.12.2020 - The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has reorganised itself for the start of 2021 to meet the challenges that tomorrow will bring.

During its session of 13th May 2020, the Federal Council decided to create a national data science competence centre. This centre will support the Federal Administration in solving complex tasks.

Switzerland dedicated CHF 22.6 billion to research and development (R&D) in 2017, 2% more than in 2015, the year of the last survey. Enterprises remained the main producers of research accounting for more than two thirds of expenditure. They nonetheless curbed their expenditure contrary to higher education institutions. These are the main findings from the surveys carried out by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on research and development.

Study and living conditions at Swiss higher education institutions in 2020: first results Students work about 10 hours per week in addition to their studies 23.02.2021 - On average, students undertake 9.7 hours of paid work per semester week in addition to their studies.

Confederation research and development expenditure and personnel in 2019 Swiss Confederation dedicated CHF 2.6 billion to research in 2019 In 2019, the Confederation spent CHF 2.6 billion undertaking or in support of research and development activities.

Official statistics can benefit from new analysis methods arising from its data innovation strategy. The automation of certain tasks, especially data preparation, seems to be particularly promising. Although the first results from the FSO's pilot projects are encouraging, according to an initial assessment published on the "experimental statistics" microsite, they still need fine-tuning before they can be fully implemented in ongoing production.

Gender parity in research has not yet been achieved in Europe, even though the participation of women in scientific activities is steadily increasing. In Switzerland, women are under-represented at all levels of scientific careers. In international comparison, Switzerland is still of-ten below the European average. The situation of women is, however, slowly improving according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office presented in the report "She Figures 2018" pub-lished by the European Commission concerned with the place of women in science.