Strengthening of cooperation between Switzerland and Japan on science and technology

Bern, 05. Since the signing of the agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and the government of Japan on scientific and technological cooperation in 2017, cooperation in the fields of research and innovation between the two countries has increased significantly. At the fourth meeting of the joint committee for scientific and technological cooperation between Switzerland and Japan, which took place in Tokyo on 28 February, steps were taken to further strengthen cooperation and gauge additional possibilities for cooperation. Eleven years after the signing of the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between Switzerland and Japan the balance is extremely positive: the efforts undertaken and the funding instruments made available have resulted in a significant strengthening and facilitation of bilateral cooperation. At the fourth meeting of the joint committee for scientific and technological cooperation in Tokyo, the already well-established direct cooperation between the various research funding agencies was further strengthened: the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and its Japanese counterpart, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), signed a Memorandum of Understanding intended to further extend and facilitate their direct cooperation. The ground was also prepared for a joint project call to be launched by the SNSF and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in the spring. The members of the Swiss delegation were also able to sound out further possibilities for cooperation with representatives from the Japanese institutions.