As an independent consultative body to the Federal Council, the SSC periodically examines on behalf of the Federal Departement of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER the Swiss policy on research and innovation promotion. For this purpose, the Council undertakes evaluations, assessments of multi-year plans and studies on the effectiveness of federal measures. The results of these examinations contribute, along with the recommendations of the Council, to developing scientific quality in Switzerland.
Evaluations can touch upon scientific institutions, funding instruments, funding agencies or government’s measures (see RIPA, Art. 54). The main method used by the SSC is the peer review process conducted by members of the Council and/or by external experts specialised in the scientific field under consideration. (For further specification see the note about SSC procedures and methodological choices.)
For each term of the Swiss Science Council (SSC), the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) commissions various evaluations, assessments and impact measurements. The most recent reports from these activities appear at the top of the following list.
- Assessment of the multi-year plans 2021–2024 for federal support under Art. 15 RIPA
- SSC’s full report and recommendations, on behalf of the SERI
- Report by BAK economic intelligence ‘Hyperloop: a breakthrough for vacuum transportation?’, on behalf of the SCC
- Report by Franz Barjak and Fabian Heimsch ‘Systemic evaluation of the AM-TTC Alliance’, on behalf of the SSC
- Statement on the revised application of the Swiss Center for Design and Health SCDH, on behalf of the SERI (June 2021, French version)
- Overhead contributions as an instrument of research and innovation policy
Position statements on the SSC report by swissuniversities and Innosuisse - Nano-Tera.ch: engineering complex systems for health, security, energy and the environment
- SystemsX.ch: The Swiss Research Initiative in Systems Biology
- Appreciation of the «Funding request for the establishment of a Swiss Competence Center 3Rs (3RCC)» under art. 15 Federal Act on the Promotion of Resarch and Innovation RIPA
- Assessment of the admission procedure for the study of medicine in universities with numerus clausus
Preceding analyses of the SSC related to funding under Art. 15 RIPA: