Mandates
As an independent extra-parliamentary commission, the SSC initiates its own working programme at the beginning of each term and submits its recommendations and considerations to its stakeholders. Those stakeholders include the Federal Council, the Parliament, the Federal Administration, the cantonal authorities, and the ERI partners, such as the academies, swissuniversities, the ETH Board, Innosuisse, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
In addition to implementing its working programme, the SCC periodically assesses research and innovation policies on behalf of the Confederation. It reviews multi-year plans, drafts impact analyses, and conducts evaluations. The SSC also comments on individual projects or broader problems within the ERI system on its own initiative or on behalf of the Federal Council or the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education, and Research EAER. These tasks are described in the Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation.
- Accompanying evaluation of the NRP pilot
- Evaluation of the instrument for promoting research institutions of national importance (Art.15 RIPA)
- Doctoral students in Switzerland: number, conditions and prospects
- Strengthening research collaboration between universities of applied sciences and cantonal universities
- Evaluation of the Innosuisse Portfolio
Working group
Council: Sabine Süsstrunk (Chair), Markus Kern (Vice-Chair)
Secretariat: Sven Hug (Project lead), Lukas Zollinger (Deputy Project lead)
Duration of the project
01.01.2025 - 31.12.2026
Publikation Q2/2027SERI is trialling a top-down approach to launching National Research Programmes (NRPs). In this pilot project, NRP topics are determined on the basis of political and administrative priorities. This approach complements the established bottom-up approach, in which topics are determined on the basis of scientific initiatives.
On behalf of SERI, SSC is conducting an accompanying evaluation of the pilot project from January 2025 to December 2026. SSC is assessing whether the four objectives of ‘simplification’, ‘shortening’, “flexibility” and ‘transparency’ are being achieved. In addition, SSC is developing proposals for further optimisation of the procedure.
The SSC assesses the objectives of the pilot project and the commitment of the parties involved – in particular SERI, the SNSF and the Coordination Committee for Departmental Research – as positive. However, it is becoming apparent that the objectives set will be difficult to achieve due to the narrow legal framework.
Working group
Council: Sabine Süsstrunk (Chair), Jane Royston (Vice-Chair), Susanna Burghartz, Jane Royston, Sophie Martin, Christiane Pauli-Magnus, Jean-Marc Triscone, Gabriel Aeppli, Laurent Sciboz
Secretariat: Sven Hug (Project lead), Sophie Girardin (Deputy Project lead)
Mandat
Mandate to: The SSC has commissioned Prof. Dr. Sandrine Baume and Dr. Henri-Pierre Mottironi (Centre de droit public, Université de Lausanne) to conduct a study to shed light on the genesis of Article 15 RIPA and its predecessor, Article 16 of the Research Act (FG).
Duration of the project
31.03.2025 - 31.03.2026
Publication Q2/2027
On behalf of SERI, the SSC will evaluate the instrument for promoting research institutions of national importance (Art. 15 RIPA) by spring 2026. The evaluation will focus on four areas: the instrument in the context of the Swiss research and innovation landscape, the funding categories, the funding criteria and the funding period.
In the SSC's view, Article 15 RIPA provides the federal government with an effective instrument for directly and flexibly funding institutions outside Higher Education Institutions. This allows it to provide impetus in priority areas, further develop the research and innovation system and strengthen coordination at the national level. In its current form and implementation, the funding instrument enjoys a high level of acceptance and support in the Swiss research and innovation landscape, the business community and politics.
Despite its high level of acceptance, there is still room for further development. The SSC therefore recommends, among other things, that the central concept of national significance be defined more precisely. This would increase the coherence of the funding portfolio and strengthen its national impact.
Working group
Council: Sabine Süsstrunk (Chair), Dominique Foray, Jean-Marc Triscone
Secretariat: Sophie Girardin (Project lead), Adèle Gaveau (Deputy Project lead)
Duration of the project
01.04.2025 - 31.03.2026
Publication Q2/2026
At the request of the SCHEI, the SSC analysed the evolution of the number of doctoral students in Switzerland between 2010 and 2024, the conditions for completing a doctorate and the demand for doctoral graduates on the labour market. The SSC analysis is based on data from the Federal Statistical Office and interviews conducted with five Higher Education Institutions.
The number of doctoral students is on the rise, with an increase of 29% between 2010 and 2024. However, this increase is proportional to the increase in the number of students and professors at Swiss Higher Education Institutions. HEUs are able to cope with this increase while ensuring good employment conditions and high-quality supervision for their doctoral students.
Finally, doctoral students are in high demand on the labour market, with unemployment rates lower than those of people with bachelor's or master's degrees, as well as those of the Swiss population in general.
The SSC report therefore concludes that the Swiss Higher Education Institutions do not produce too many doctoral students.
Working group
Council: Dominique Foray (Chair), Laurent Sciboz (Vice-Chair), Christiane Pauli-Magnus, Jane Royston, Bryn Roberts
Secretariat: Adèle Gaveau (Project lead), Sven Hug (Deputy Project lead)
Mandat
Mandat to: Franz Barjak, Fabian Heimsch, Christine Böckelmann.
Duration of the project
01.09.2024 - 31.05.2026
The SSC is conducting a project focused on the organization, functioning, and future of research collaborations between the different Swiss universities of applied sciences (UAS). The SSC aims to better understand the place of UAS within their regional innovation ecosystems, from the perspective of their collaborations with their research partners. More specifically, the SSC investigated the research collaborations between the UAS and the other types of higher education institutions, i.e., cantonal universities, and the ETH domain, based on the funding data from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Innosuisse.
Working group
Council: Sabine Süsstrunk (Chair)
Secretariat: Joël Graf (Project lead), Adèle Gaveau (Deputy Project lead)
Duration of the project
27.02.2025 - 27.02.2026
On behalf of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the SSC evaluated the funding portfolio of the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse. The evaluation was based on the SSC’s own analyses, a self-assessment provided by Innosuisse, and two external mandates. Professor Andreas Lienhard of the University of Bern analysed the legal foundations of Innosuisse, while Technopolis Vienna assessed the portfolio in the context of the international innovation landscape. In September 2025, a workshop was also held between representatives of Innosuisse and the SSC working group, chaired by SSC President Professor Sabine Süsstrunk. On this basis, the SSC identified gaps, complementarities and overlaps between the Innosuisse portfolio and other innovation funding instruments. These findings subsequently informed a series of recommendations addressed to SERI. The evaluation report was submitted to SERI on 27 February 2026. The publication was released on the SSC website in May 2026.