Federal Act
on the Promotion of Research and Innovation
(RIPA)

With this Act, the Con­fed­er­a­tion aims to:

a.

en­cour­age sci­entif­ic re­search;

b.

en­cour­age sci­ence-based in­nov­a­tion;

c.

sup­port the ana­lys­is and ex­ploit­a­tion of re­search res­ults;

d.

en­sure co­oper­a­tion between re­search bod­ies;

e.

en­sure the eco­nom­ic­al and ef­fect­ive use of fed­er­al fund­ing for sci­entif­ic re­search and sci­ence-based in­nov­a­tion.

In this Act:

a.

sci­entif­ic re­search (re­search) means the meth­od-based search for new know­ledge; it cov­ers in par­tic­u­lar:

1.

ba­sic re­search: re­search, the main goal of which is to gain know­ledge,

2.

ap­plied re­search: re­search, the main goal of which is to con­trib­ute solu­tions to prac­tic­al prob­lems;

b.

sci­ence-based in­nov­a­tion (in­nov­a­tion) means the de­vel­op­ment of new products, meth­ods, pro­cesses and ser­vices in in­dustry and so­ci­ety through re­search, par­tic­u­larly ap­plied re­search and the ex­ploit­a­tion of its res­ults.

This Act ap­plies to re­search bod­ies that use fed­er­al fund­ing for re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

Pur­su­ant to this Act, re­search bod­ies are:

a.

the fol­low­ing re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions:

1.

the Swiss Na­tion­al Sci­ence Found­a­tion (SNSF),

2.

the as­so­ci­ation of the Swiss academies, which com­prise:

–

the Swiss Academy of Nat­ur­al Sci­ences (SCNAT)

–

the Swiss Academy of Hu­man­it­ies and So­cial Sci­ences (SAHS)

–

the Swiss Academy of Med­ic­al Sci­ences (SAMS)

–

the Swiss Academy of En­gin­eer­ing Sci­ences (SATW);

b.³

the Swiss In­nov­a­tion Agency (In­no­suisse) un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 17 June 2016⁴ on the Swiss In­nov­a­tion Agency;

c.

the fol­low­ing high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres:

1.

the two fed­er­al in­sti­tutes of tech­no­logy and re­search in­sti­tutes with­in the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main,

2.

high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and oth­er in­sti­tu­tions with­in the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor that are ac­cred­ited un­der the Fed­er­al Act of 30 Septem­ber 2011⁵ on the Fund­ing and Co­ordin­a­tion of the High­er Edu­ca­tion Sec­tor (HEdA),

3.

re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al im­port­ance which re­ceive fund­ing from the Con­fed­er­a­tion un­der this Act (Art. 15);

d.

the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion, in­so­far as it:

1.

con­ducts policy re­search for the ful­fil­ment of its re­mit, or

2.

car­ries out activ­it­ies to pro­mote re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

Pur­su­ant to this Act, non-com­mer­cial re­search centres out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor are defined as in­sti­tu­tions with pub­lic or private fund­ing bod­ies which are not re­search bod­ies un­der Art­icle 4, whose aim is to con­duct re­search activ­it­ies and which meet the fol­low­ing re­quire­ments:

a.

the fund­ing bod­ies and own­ers of the in­sti­tu­tion do not gain pe­cu­ni­ary ad­vant­age from its re­search activ­it­ies;

b.

the level and qual­ity of the re­search is com­par­able to that of re­search car­ried out by high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres.

¹ When plan­ning fed­er­ally fun­ded activ­it­ies, re­search bod­ies shall take the fol­low­ing in­to ac­count:

a.

the free­dom of re­search, the sci­entif­ic qual­ity of re­search and in­nov­a­tion, and the vari­ety of sci­entif­ic opin­ions and meth­ods;

b.

the free­dom of teach­ing and the close re­la­tion­ship between teach­ing and re­search;

c.

sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice.

² When ful­filling their tasks, they en­cour­age:

a.

the ca­reer de­vel­op­ment of prom­ising young re­search­ers;

b.

equal op­por­tun­it­ies and true gender equal­ity between men and wo­men.

³ Fur­ther­more, when ful­filling their tasks, they take ac­count of:

a.

the goals of the sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment of so­ci­ety, the eco­nomy and the en­vir­on­ment;

b.

in­ter­na­tion­al col­lab­or­a­tion un­der­taken by oth­er re­search bod­ies and the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

⁴ When pro­mot­ing in­nov­a­tion they are at­tent­ive to their con­tri­bu­tion to com­pet­it­ive­ness, value cre­ation and em­ploy­ment in Switzer­land.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pro­mote re­search and in­nov­a­tion pur­su­ant to this Act and oth­er spe­cif­ic le­gis­la­tion by:

a.

sup­port­ing the two fed­er­al in­sti­tutes of tech­no­logy and the re­search in­sti­tutes with­in the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main;

b.

grant­ing fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions un­der the HEdA⁶;

c.

sup­port­ing re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions;

d.

sup­port­ing re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al im­port­ance;

e.

its own policy re­search, in­clud­ing set­ting up and op­er­at­ing fed­er­al re­search in­sti­tutes;

f.⁷

man­aging In­no­suisse and oth­er in­nov­a­tion sup­port meas­ures;

g.⁸

in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion in re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

² The Con­fed­er­a­tion may sup­port the cre­ation of a Swiss In­nov­a­tion Park in or­der to se­cure Switzer­land’s po­s­i­tion as a loc­a­tion for re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

³ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may give the task of im­ple­ment­ing top­ic-spe­cif­ic fund­ing pro­grammes to re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and to the In­no­suisse.⁹

⁴ It may del­eg­ate in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion tasks to re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and In­no­suisse, when their spe­cif­ic com­pet­en­cies are re­quired in or­der to carry out these tasks.¹⁰

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may draw up ser­vice level agree­ments with non-gov­ern­ment­al re­search bod­ies and oth­er be­ne­fi­ciar­ies spe­cified in this Act.

² It may del­eg­ate these com­pet­ences to the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of Eco­nom­ic Af­fairs, Edu­ca­tion and Re­search (EAER) or to the com­pet­ent ad­min­is­trat­ive unit.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions per­form tasks that, in prac­tice, need to be car­ried out with­in the scope of sci­entif­ic self-gov­ernance.

² They pro­mote re­search which does not dir­ectly serve com­mer­cial pur­poses.

³ They pro­mote re­search in ac­cord­ance with their own stat­utes and reg­u­la­tions. These re­quire the ap­prov­al of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil, in­so­far as they cov­er activ­it­ies for which fed­er­al fund­ing is used. The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions may del­eg­ate the task of is­su­ing im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions of minor im­port­ance to the stat­utes and reg­u­la­tions re­quir­ing ap­prov­al to sub­si­di­ary bod­ies. These pro­vi­sion do not re­quire ap­prov­al.¹¹

⁴ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions place par­tic­u­lar em­phas­is on the pro­mo­tion of ba­sic re­search.

⁵ They pro­mote re­search in non-com­mer­cial re­search in­sti­tutes out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor ac­cord­ing to the fol­low­ing re­quire­ments:

a.

the sci­entif­ic in­de­pend­ence of the per­sons in charge of the im­ple­ment­a­tion of re­search is en­sured;

b.

the re­search serves the edu­ca­tion and train­ing of young re­search­ers;

c.

the res­ults will be made avail­able to the sci­entif­ic pub­lic.

¹ The Swiss Na­tion­al Sci­ence Found­a­tion (SNSF) is the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s fund­ing body for re­search in all aca­dem­ic dis­cip­lines that are rep­res­en­ted at a high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centre.

² It uses the con­tri­bu­tions gran­ted by the Con­fed­er­a­tion for, in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

re­search fund­ing with­in the frame­work of the re­search in­stru­ments that it has set up;

b.

fund­ing pro­grammes and net­worked re­search pro­jects at na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al level that it has de­cided to par­ti­cip­ate in;

c.

im­ple­ment­ing na­tion­al fund­ing pro­grammes which have been ap­proved and com­mis­sioned by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil, par­tic­u­larly the Na­tion­al Re­search Pro­grammes and the Na­tion­al Centres of Com­pet­ence in Re­search;

d.

sup­port­ing Switzer­land’s par­ti­cip­a­tion in in­ter­na­tion­al pro­grammes which have been ap­proved and com­mis­sioned by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil;

e.

sup­port­ing meas­ures for the eval­u­ation and ex­ploit­a­tion of res­ults of re­search which it has en­cour­aged.

³ With­in its re­mit and re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, it de­cides on suit­able in­stru­ments and the type of fund­ing. In so do­ing, it fo­cuses on the fund­ing of:

a.

ex­cel­lent re­search pro­jects;

b.

highly qual­i­fied young re­search­ers;

c.

re­search in­fra­struc­tures which serve the de­vel­op­ment of fields of ex­pert­ise in Switzer­land and which are not with­in the re­mit of the high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres or the Con­fed­er­a­tion;

d.

in­ter­na­tion­al re­search co­oper­a­tion in ac­cord­ance with the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s rel­ev­ant goals and meas­ures.

⁴ In the con­text of its sup­port for high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres and non-com­mer­cial re­search centres out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor, it pays con­tri­bu­tions in or­der to com­pensate for in­dir­ect re­search costs (over­heads) which are in­curred. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates the prin­ciples for cal­cu­lat­ing the con­tri­bu­tions.

⁵ The SNSF par­ti­cip­ates in the pro­ced­ures that pre­cede the de­cisions on the Na­tion­al Re­search Pro­grammes, the Na­tion­al Centres of Com­pet­ence in Re­search and fur­ther fund­ing pro­grammes which are as­signed to it.

⁶ In or­der to en­sure the con­tinu­ity of its re­search fund­ing, it may use part of the fund­ing provided by the Con­fed­er­a­tion to build up equity in the form of re­serves. In any fin­an­cial year, the total of the re­serves may not ex­ceed 10 per cent of the con­cur­rent an­nu­al fund­ing provided by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

⁷ Based on the fin­an­cing de­cisions of the Fed­er­al As­sembly, the State Sec­ret­ari­at for Edu­ca­tion, Re­search and In­nov­a­tion (SERI) peri­od­ic­ally draws up a ser­vice level agree­ment with the SNSF. In this agree­ment, ad­di­tion­al tasks con­ferred by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil are also spe­cified.

¹ The as­so­ci­ation of Swiss academies is the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s fund­ing body for strength­en­ing co­oper­a­tion in and between all aca­dem­ic dis­cip­lines and for root­ing sci­ence in so­ci­ety.

² It uses the con­tri­bu­tions gran­ted by the Con­fed­er­a­tion for the fol­low­ing pur­poses in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

con­duct­ing and pro­mot­ing the early re­cog­ni­tion of themes rel­ev­ant to so­ci­ety in edu­ca­tion, re­search and in­nov­a­tion;

b.

striv­ing to en­sure that who­ever makes or ap­plies sci­entif­ic dis­cov­er­ies as­sumes their eth­ic­al re­spons­ib­il­it­ies;

c.

en­cour­aging dia­logue between the world of sci­ence and so­ci­ety; it pro­motes stud­ies on the op­por­tun­it­ies and risks of in­nov­a­tions and tech­no­lo­gies.

³ The academies co­ordin­ate their re­search fund­ing activ­it­ies in the con­text of the as­so­ci­ation and in par­tic­u­lar en­sure col­lab­or­a­tion with high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres.

⁴ They pro­mote col­lab­or­a­tion among sci­ent­ists and ex­perts in spe­cial­ist bod­ies, com­mis­sions and oth­er suit­able or­gan­isa­tion­al forms and use these to per­form their tasks.

⁵ They sup­port in­ter­na­tion­al sci­entif­ic col­lab­or­a­tion by fund­ing or run­ning suit­able in­sti­tu­tions, in par­tic­u­lar na­tion­al co­ordin­a­tion plat­forms and sci­entif­ic ad­min­is­trat­ive of­fices for in­ter­na­tion­ally co­ordin­ated pro­grammes in which Switzer­land par­ti­cip­ates.

⁶ They may sup­port data col­lec­tions, doc­u­ment­a­tion sys­tems, sci­entif­ic journ­als, pub­lic­a­tions, or sim­il­ar in­sti­tu­tions, which serve as use­ful in­fra­struc­tures for the de­vel­op­ment of fields of ex­pert­ise in Switzer­land and which do not come un­der the re­mit of the SNSF or the high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres or do not re­ceive dir­ect sup­port from the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

⁷ Based on the fin­an­cing de­cisions of the Fed­er­al As­sembly, SERI peri­od­ic­ally enters in­to a ser­vice level agree­ment with the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sci­ences. In this doc­u­ment, the as­so­ci­ation and the in­di­vidu­al academies may be as­signed with eval­u­ations un­der para­graphs 1–4, with the im­ple­ment­a­tion of sci­entif­ic pro­jects, the op­er­a­tion of in­sti­tu­tions un­der para­graph 6 and oth­er spe­cial tasks.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions en­sure that re­search which they sup­port con­forms to the rules of sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice.

² If they have good reas­on to be­lieve that these rules are be­ing breached, they may, with­in their pro­mo­tion and con­trolling mech­an­isms, ob­tain in­form­a­tion from na­tion­al or for­eign in­sti­tu­tions or per­sons con­cerned and provide in­form­a­tion to such in­sti­tu­tions or per­sons.

³ They shall set out ad­min­is­trat­ive sanc­tions in their reg­u­la­tions for vi­ol­a­tions of sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice in con­nec­tion with the ac­quis­i­tion and use of their fund­ing. They may ap­ply one or more of the fol­low­ing meas­ures:

a.

writ­ten rep­rim­and;

b.

writ­ten warn­ing;

c.

re­duc­tion, sus­pen­sion or re­pay­ment of the con­tri­bu­tions;

d.

tem­por­ary ex­clu­sion from mak­ing fur­ther ap­plic­a­tions.

⁴They may in­form the em­ploy­ing in­sti­tu­tion of vi­ol­a­tions and sanc­tions.

⁵Of­fencesun­der Art­icle 37 or 38 of the Sub­sidies Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1990¹² in re­la­tion to the pro­mo­tion of re­search are pro­sec­uted by SERI in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974¹³ on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions reg­u­late their pro­ced­ures for rul­ings on fund­ing. These must com­ply with the re­quire­ments of Art­icles 10 and 26–38 of the Ad­min­is­trat­ive Pro­ced­ure Act of 20 Decem­ber 1968¹⁴ (APA).

² Art­icle 11b APA ap­plies to no­ti­fic­a­tion of rul­ings giv­en to ap­plic­ants abroad in the case of cross-bor­der pro­ced­ures.

³ Ap­plic­ants may ap­peal against:

a.

the vi­ol­a­tion of fed­er­al law in­clud­ing ex­ceed­ing or mis­us­ing dis­cre­tion;

b.

the in­cor­rect or in­com­plete de­clar­a­tion of the leg­ally rel­ev­ant facts.

⁴ The names of the ref­er­ees and the sci­entif­ic re­view­ers may only be com­mu­nic­ated with their con­sent to the com­plain­ant.

⁵ Fur­ther­more the ap­peal pro­ced­ure shall com­ply with the gen­er­al pro­vi­sions on the ad­min­is­tra­tion of fed­er­al justice.

This Act ap­plies to the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion in­so­far as it car­ries out or funds re­search; spe­cif­ic leg­al pro­vi­sions re­lat­ing to policy re­search are re­served.

¹ As part of its ap­proved budget, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may make con­tri­bu­tions to re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al im­port­ance. Fed­er­al con­tri­bu­tions may be linked to cer­tain con­di­tions, namely the con­di­tion of re­or­gan­ising or mer­ging the re­search fa­cil­it­ies con­cerned.

² It may del­eg­ate to the EAER the re­spons­ib­il­ity for de­cisions re­gard­ing con­tri­bu­tions. Rules of jur­is­dic­tion in spe­cif­ic leg­al pro­vi­sions are re­served.

³ Re­search fa­cil­it­ies un­der para­graph 1 may be leg­ally in­de­pend­ent fa­cil­it­ies of the fol­low­ing types:

a.

non-com­mer­cial re­search in­fra­struc­tures based out­side high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions or which are as­so­ci­ated with them, in par­tic­u­lar aux­il­i­ary sci­entif­ic ser­vices in the field of sci­entif­ic and tech­nic­al in­form­a­tion and doc­u­ment­a­tion;

b.

non-com­mer­cial re­search in­sti­tutes based out­side high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions or which are as­so­ci­ated with them;

c.

centres of tech­no­lo­gic­al ex­cel­lence which work with high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and busi­nesses on a non-com­mer­cial basis.

⁴ In or­der to re­ceive fund­ing, re­search fa­cil­it­ies must meet the fol­low­ing re­quire­ments:

a.

they per­form tasks of na­tion­al im­port­ance which can­not be car­ried out ex­pedi­ently by ex­ist­ing high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and oth­er in­sti­tu­tions with­in the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor;

b.

they re­ceive sub­stan­tial fund­ing from can­tons, oth­er pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions, high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions or private per­sons and leg­al en­tit­ies.

⁵ The fed­er­al fund­ing amounts to:

a.

in the case of re­search in­fra­struc­tures, a max­im­um of 50 per cent of the total ex­pendit­ure for in­vest­ments and op­er­a­tions; the con­tri­bu­tion is com­ple­ment­ary to sup­port provided by can­tons, oth­er pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions, high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions or private per­sons and leg­al en­tit­ies;

b.

in the case of re­search in­sti­tutes, a max­im­um of 50 per cent of ba­sic fund­ing (total ex­pendit­ure for in­vest­ments and op­er­a­tions, after de­duc­tion of com­pet­it­ive re­search fund­ing and man­dates); the max­im­um amount equals the sum of the sup­port provided by can­tons, oth­er pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions, high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and private per­sons and leg­al en­tit­ies;

c.

in the case of centres of tech­no­lo­gic­al ex­cel­lence, a max­im­um of 50 per cent of ba­sic fund­ing (total ex­pendit­ure for in­vest­ments and op­er­a­tions, after de­duc­tion of com­pet­it­ive re­search fund­ing); the max­im­um amount equals the sum of the con­tri­bu­tions provided by re­search and de­vel­op­ment co­oper­a­tion pro­jects and the sup­port provided by can­tons, oth­er pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions, high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and private per­sons and leg­al en­tit­ies.

⁶ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall spe­cify the as­sess­ment cri­ter­ia un­der para­graph 5. In or­der to de­vel­op new areas of activ­ity of centres of tech­no­lo­gic­al ex­cel­lence, he may put in place spe­cial tem­por­ary reg­u­la­tions re­lat­ing to the qual­i­fy­ing in­come from com­pet­it­ive re­search fund­ing.

⁷ If the sup­port meas­ures af­fect the re­mit of oth­er re­search bod­ies, the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence or the ETH Board, they must be con­sul­ted be­fore­hand.

¹ Policy re­search is re­search ini­ti­ated by the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion be­cause it needs the res­ults of this re­search to ful­fil its tasks.

² Policy re­search may in­clude the fol­low­ing meas­ures:

a.

op­er­at­ing the Con­fed­er­a­tion's own re­search in­sti­tutes;

b.

con­trib­ut­ing to high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres for the im­ple­ment­a­tion of re­search pro­grammes;

c.

im­ple­ment­ing the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion’s own re­search pro­grammes, in par­tic­u­lar in co­oper­a­tion with high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres, re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions, In­no­suisse¹⁵ or oth­er fund­ing or­gan­isa­tions;

d.

the award­ing of re­search con­tracts (con­tract re­search).

³ In ad­di­tion to the meas­ures un­der para­graph 2, policy re­search in­sti­tu­tions which are not fed­er­al re­search in­sti­tutes, but which must con­duct their own re­search pro­jects for the ap­pro­pri­ate ful­fil­ment of their re­mit, may ap­ply to In­no­suisse or oth­er na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al fund­ing or­gan­isa­tions for third party fund­ing or for par­ti­cip­a­tion in pro­grammes.¹⁶

⁴ Policy re­search is sub­ject to the prin­ciples of Art­icle 6 para­graph 1 let­ters a, b and c as well as para­graph 3 and 4.

⁵ De­part­ments are re­spons­ible for policy re­search in their area of re­spons­ib­il­ity.

⁶ In the case of meas­ures un­der para­graph 2 let­ters b and c, the re­spons­ible ad­min­is­trat­ive units shall make con­tri­bu­tions to com­pensate for in­dir­ect re­search costs (over­heads). The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates the prin­ciples for cal­cu­lat­ing the con­tri­bu­tions.

⁷ Pro­vi­sions on fund­ing un­der Sec­tion 8 do not ap­ply to policy re­search.

¹ Un­der spe­cif­ic leg­al pro­vi­sions, the Con­fed­er­a­tion may set up its own re­search in­sti­tutes and take over ex­ist­ing ones in part or in en­tirety.

² Fed­er­al re­search in­sti­tutes must be closed if they no longer ful­fil a need or if their tasks could be ful­filled more ef­fi­ciently and to a com­par­able stand­ard by high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres.

³ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall en­sure that fed­er­al re­search in­sti­tutes are ap­pro­pri­ately or­gan­ised.

⁴ Un­der para­graph 3, it may del­eg­ate de­cision-mak­ing powers to the de­part­ment re­spons­ible. Reg­u­la­tions on re­spons­ib­il­it­ies con­tained in spe­cif­ic leg­al pro­vi­sions are re­served.

⁵ If meas­ures un­der para­graphs 1 and 2 af­fect the activ­it­ies of oth­er re­search bod­ies, the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence or the ETH Board, they shall be con­sul­ted be­fore­hand.

⁶ Fed­er­al re­search in­sti­tutes may ap­ply to In­no­suisse or oth­er na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al fund­ing or­gan­isa­tions for third party fund­ing or for par­ti­cip­a­tion in pro­grammes.¹⁷

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion may sup­port in­nov­a­tion pro­jects.

² In ad­di­tion, it may sup­port:

a.

meas­ures to pro­mote sci­ence-based en­tre­pren­eur­i­al ini­ti­at­ives;

b.

meas­ures for set­ting up and de­vel­op­ing sci­ence-based com­pan­ies;

c.

the ex­ploit­a­tion of know­ledge and the know­ledge and tech­no­logy trans­fer between high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions, the private sec­tor and so­ci­ety;

d.¹⁸

Next-gen­er­a­tion in­nov­at­ors.

³ It shall de­vel­op the prin­ciples for pro­mot­ing in­nov­a­tion.

⁴ It shall en­sure the eval­u­ation of fund­ing activ­it­ies.

¹ As the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s fund­ing in­sti­tu­tion, In­no­suisse en­cour­ages sci­ence-based in­nov­a­tion with­in the mean­ing of the Fed­er­al Act of 17 June 2016¹⁹ on the Swiss In­nov­a­tion Agency and sup­ports in­nov­a­tion pro­jects through con­tri­bu­tions to high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres and non-com­mer­cial re­search centres out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor.²⁰

² Con­tri­bu­tions shall only be gran­ted if the fol­low­ing re­quire­ments are ful­filled:

a.

the pro­ject is run with one or more private or pub­lic part­ners who are re­spons­ible for its com­mer­cial ex­ploit­a­tion (im­ple­ment­a­tion part­ner(s));

b.

ef­fect­ive im­ple­ment­a­tion of the re­search find­ings in fa­vour of the eco­nomy and so­ci­ety may be ex­pec­ted;

c.

the pro­ject could prob­ably not be car­ried out without the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s sup­port;

d.

the im­ple­ment­a­tion part­ner(s) par­ti­cip­ate equally in the pro­ject fund­ing. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may make an ex­cep­tion to this fund­ing rule, in par­tic­u­lar for:

1.

pro­jects with an above-av­er­age po­ten­tial for suc­cess,

2.

pro­jects whose res­ults may be­ne­fit a large num­ber of users;

e.

the pro­ject con­trib­utes to the prac­tice-ori­ented train­ing of young re­search­ers.

³ In­no­suisse may fund feas­ib­il­ity stud­ies, pro­to­types and test­ing fa­cil­it­ies even without im­ple­ment­a­tion part­ners if they are car­ried out by high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres or non-com­mer­cial re­search in­sti­tutes out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor and the pro­ject has sig­ni­fic­ant po­ten­tial for in­nov­a­tion.²¹

⁴ It may in ad­di­tion provide for in­stru­ments to sub­sid­ise the costs of stud­ies car­ried out by com­pan­ies to de­term­ine the ef­fect­ive­ness and feas­ib­il­ity of pro­jects.²²

⁵ In par­tic­u­lar, it shall pro­mote pro­jects un­der para­graphs 1 and 3 which make a con­tri­bu­tion to the sus­tain­able use of re­sources.²³

⁶ The pro­jects pro­moted must fol­low the prin­ciples of sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice. If this is not the case, the sanc­tions and the duty to provide in­form­a­tion un­der Art­icle 12 para­graphs 2–4 ap­ply.

¹ In­no­suisse may sup­port sci­ence-based en­tre­pren­eur­i­al ini­ti­at­ives by:²⁴

a.²⁵

in­form­ing and train­ing people who wish to start a busi­ness, have re­cently star­ted a busi­ness or wish be­come part of an ex­ist­ing busi­ness;

b.

provid­ing in­form­a­tion and coun­selling.

² It may sup­port the set­ting up and de­vel­op­ment of sci­ence-based busi­nesses by:²⁶

a.

provid­ing guid­ance, con­sult­ing and coach­ing to new en­tre­pren­eurs;

b.

help­ing busi­ness people to find fund­ing;

c.

provid­ing in­form­a­tion and ad­vis­ory ser­vices.

³ It may sup­port the use of know­ledge as well as know­ledge and tech­no­logy trans­fer by en­cour­aging an ex­change of in­form­a­tion between high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and the private sec­tor.²⁷

¹ In the case of guid­ance, con­sult­ing and coach­ing un­der Art­icle 20 para­graph 2 let­ter a, and sup­port in the ex­change of in­form­a­tion between high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and the private sec­tor un­der Art­icle 20 para­graph 3 through in­nov­a­tion ment­or­ing, only ser­vices rendered by qual­i­fied pro­viders se­lec­ted by In­no­suisse are eli­gible.

² In­no­suisse shall main­tain a pub­lic­ally ac­cess­ible list of qual­i­fied ser­vice pro­viders.

³ Vouch­ers may be used in sup­port of:

a.

new en­tre­pren­eurs for guid­ance, con­sult­ing and coach­ing (Art. 20 para. 2 let. a);

b.

com­pan­ies for in­nov­a­tion ment­or­ing (Art. 20 para. 3).

⁴ In­no­suisse-fun­ded ser­vices and cor­res­pond­ing max­im­um thresholds shall be form­al­ised in a con­tract with the vouch­er re­cip­i­ent un­der para­graph 3. In simple cases, fund­ing com­mit­ments shall be made by an of­fi­cial de­cision.

¹ In­no­suisse may sup­port highly qual­i­fied next-gen­er­a­tion in­nov­at­ors by provid­ing them with schol­ar­ships or in­terest-free loans.

² The fin­an­cial aid re­ferred to in para­graph 1 shall be provided with­in the frame­work of a per­son­al­ised sup­port pro­gramme de­cided by In­no­suisse. This shall in­clude a stay abroad:

a.

in a sci­ence-based com­pany to ac­quire prac­tic­al skills; or

b.

in a re­search centre with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 4 let­ter c or Art­icle 5 to fur­ther de­vel­op ap­plied re­search skills.

³ The fin­an­cial aid re­ferred to in para­graph 1 shall only be provided if the pro­gramme re­ferred to in para­graph 2 can­not be provided as part of an in­nov­a­tion pro­ject un­der Art­icle 19 or as meas­ures un­der Art­icle 20.

⁴ The dur­a­tion of the stay re­ferred to in para­graph 2 may not ex­ceed 3 years.

⁵ The amount of schol­ar­ships, fin­an­cial par­ti­cip­a­tion in com­pan­ies and the terms of re­pay­ment of in­terest-free loans are set forth in the In­no­suisse Fund­ing Or­din­ance.

¹ As part of its sup­port activ­it­ies, In­no­suisse shall make con­tri­bu­tions to com­pensate for in­dir­ect re­search costs (over­heads) in­curred by high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres and by non-com­mer­cial re­search centres out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates the prin­ciples for cal­cu­lat­ing the con­tri­bu­tions.

The pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1990³² on Fin­an­cial As­sist­ance and Sub­sidies ap­ply to In­no­suisse in­nov­a­tion sup­port activ­it­ies.

Of­fences re­ferred to in Art­icle 37 or 38 of the Sub­sidies Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1990³³ in re­la­tion to in­nov­a­tion sup­port shall be pro­sec­uted by the EAER un­der the pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 22 March 1974³⁴ on Ad­min­is­trat­ive Crim­in­al Law.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may make the grant­ing of fed­er­al fund­ing to high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres sub­ject to the fol­low­ing cri­ter­ia:

a.

the high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres in­tro­duce qual­ity as­sur­ance meas­ures for re­search fun­ded by the Con­fed­er­a­tion;

b.

they is­sue guidelines on com­pli­ance with the rules of sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice for the sci­ent­ists work­ing in their in­sti­tu­tions;

c.

they are able to take meas­ures in the event of vi­ol­a­tions of these rules and have the pro­ced­ures re­quired for do­ing so.

² Meas­ures are deemed par­tic­u­larly ne­ces­sary in cases where:

a.

re­search find­ings made by third parties are used without cit­ing the source;

b.

re­search find­ings, re­search data and re­search re­cords are used that have been in­ven­ted, or are forged or fals­i­fied by be­ing presen­ted in an in­ten­tion­ally mis­lead­ing man­ner;

c.

sci­entif­ic in­teg­rity and good sci­entif­ic prac­tice are breached in any oth­er ser­i­ous man­ner.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may make fed­er­al fund­ing for high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres con­tin­gent on high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres de­vel­op­ing a strategy for their re­search and in­nov­a­tion activ­it­ies on the ex­ploit­a­tion of know­ledge and the know­ledge and tech­no­logy trans­fer between high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions and the private sec­tor.

² It may ad­di­tion­ally make the grant­ing of fed­er­al fund­ing con­tin­gent on one or more of the fol­low­ing re­quire­ments:

a.

the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights or the rights of use to the res­ults of fed­er­ally fun­ded re­search are trans­ferred to the em­ploy­er high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centre;

b.

the em­ploy­er high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centre con­cerned takes meas­ures to pro­mote the ex­ploit­a­tion of re­search res­ults, in par­tic­u­lar their com­mer­cial use, and to share the rev­en­ues ap­pro­pri­ately with the cre­at­ors of the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty;

c.

the re­search and im­ple­ment­ing part­ners pro­pose reg­u­la­tions for in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty and rights of use.

³ If the high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres con­cerned fail to im­ple­ment the meas­ures un­der para­graph 2 let­ter b, the cre­at­ors may re­quest the re­as­sign­ment of the in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty rights or the rights of use.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall sup­port Swiss in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion in re­search and in­nov­a­tion to bet­ter po­s­i­tion Switzer­land as a loc­a­tion for re­search and in­nov­a­tion, to pro­mote the Swiss high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor and to fur­ther busi­ness, so­cial and en­vir­on­ment­al in­terests.

² In the con­text of the over­all goals for Switzer­land’s in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy, it may pro­mote:

a.

Switzer­land’s par­ti­cip­a­tion in the de­vel­op­ment and op­er­a­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al re­search fa­cil­it­ies and in­ter­na­tion­ally co­ordin­ated re­search in­fra­struc­tures;

b.

Switzer­land’s par­ti­cip­a­tion in in­ter­na­tion­al pro­grammes and pro­jects pro­mot­ing re­search and in­nov­a­tion;

c.

Switzer­land’s in­volve­ment in in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions and bod­ies in the con­cep­tion, plan­ning, im­ple­ment­a­tion, op­er­a­tion and de­vel­op­ment of the cor­res­pond­ing pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies;

d.

fur­ther bi­lat­er­al and mul­ti­lat­er­al co­oper­a­tion and co­oper­a­tion in re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

¹ With­in the lim­its of the cred­its au­thor­ised, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may make the fol­low­ing con­tri­bu­tions and provide for the fol­low­ing meas­ures:

a.

con­tri­bu­tions to re­search and tech­no­logy pro­grammes and pro­jects which en­able or fa­cil­it­ate Swiss par­ti­cip­a­tion in in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions and pro­grammes’ ex­per­i­ments and schemes or Swiss use of in­ter­na­tion­al re­search fa­cil­it­ies;

b.

con­tri­bu­tions to high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres and non-com­mer­cial re­search centres out­side the high­er edu­ca­tion sec­tor, to en­able or fa­cil­it­ate Swiss par­ti­cip­a­tion in the ex­per­i­ments and schemes of in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions and pro­grammes;

c.

con­tri­bu­tions to high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres for bi­lat­er­al or mul­ti­lat­er­al co­oper­a­tion in re­search out­side in­ter­na­tion­al pro­grammes and or­gan­isa­tions; in this con­text it may make its con­tri­bu­tion con­tin­gent on the be­ne­fi­ciary mak­ing its own suit­able con­tri­bu­tions in the in­terests of Switzer­land’s in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy;

d.³⁵

con­tri­bu­tions to Swiss com­pan­ies for de­vis­ing pro­ject pro­pos­als for par­ti­cip­a­tion in the European Uni­on’s frame­work re­search pro­grammes;

e.³⁶

con­tri­bu­tions to Swiss com­pan­ies for the pro­mo­tion of their par­ti­cip­a­tion in the European Uni­on’s frame­work re­search pro­grammes and the ini­ti­at­ives and pro­grammes co-fin­anced by these frame­work pro­grammes, provided pro­vi­sion is made for the com­pany to re­ceive gov­ern­ment con­tri­bu­tions for such par­ti­cip­a­tion;

f. ³⁷

con­tri­bu­tions to non-com­mer­cial in­sti­tu­tions and or­gan­isa­tions for the fol­low­ing activ­it­ies, provided they are not car­ried out by the Con­fed­er­a­tion it­self:

1.

pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion to in­ter­ested groups in Switzer­land on activ­it­ies and pro­grammes for in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion in re­search and in­nov­a­tion,

2.

coun­selling and sup­port for in­ter­ested groups in Switzer­land in re­la­tion to the draft­ing and fil­ing of ap­plic­a­tions re­gard­ing in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and in­nov­a­tion pro­grammes and pro­jects.

g.³⁸

...

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the as­sess­ment of the con­tri­bu­tions and the pro­ced­ure.

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may give the SNSF the fol­low­ing tasks with­in its re­mit and ex­pert­ise:

a.

rep­res­ent­ing the in­terests of the Swiss Con­fed­er­a­tion in in­ter­na­tion­al bod­ies that con­ceive and plan in­ter­na­tion­al fund­ing pro­grammes in which Switzer­land par­ti­cip­ates;

b.

eval­u­at­ing ap­plic­a­tions for pro­grammes in which Switzer­land par­ti­cip­ates;

c.

im­ple­ment­ing na­tion­al pro­mo­tion­al meas­ures to sup­port the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s in­ter­na­tiona­l pro­mo­tion­al meas­ures;

d.

con­clud­ing agree­ments that fall with­in its re­mit with re­search fund­ing or­gan­isa­tions in oth­er coun­tries.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may con­clude in­ter­na­tion­al treat­ies on in­ter­na­tion­al col­lab­or­a­tion on re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

² In the treat­ies, it may make ar­range­ments for:

a.

budget­ary con­trol and audits;

b.

per­son­nel se­cur­ity screen­ing;

c.

safe­guard­ing and al­loc­at­ing in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­erty that res­ults from or is re­quired in the con­text of sci­entif­ic col­lab­or­a­tion;

d.

the fed­er­al par­ti­cip­a­tion in pub­lic or private leg­al en­tit­ies;

e.

ac­ces­sion to in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions;

f.

con­trolling activ­it­ies by rep­res­ent­at­ives from third coun­tries and from in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tions in high­er edu­ca­tion re­search centres and oth­er private or pub­lic re­search in­sti­tu­tions in­volved in Switzer­land.

³ If the agree­ments un­der para­graph 1 af­fect the tasks of spe­cif­ic re­search bod­ies, the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence or the ETH Board, they must be con­sul­ted be­fore­hand.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion may sup­port the con­struc­tion of a Swiss In­nov­a­tion Park sub­ject to the fol­low­ing con­di­tions:

a.

the in­nov­a­tion park serves a great­er na­tion­al in­terest, com­pet­it­ive­ness, re­source ef­fi­ciency and sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment;

b.

in or­der to main­tain a bal­ance between the re­gions, it is from the out­set es­tab­lished on sev­er­al re­gion­al sites, which are co­ordin­ated and which work with the high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions;

c.

it can­not be real­ised as part of the or­din­ary pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies un­der Art­icle 7 para­graph 1;

d.

it com­ple­ments the stand­ard pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies un­der Sec­tions 2 and 4 in an ap­pro­pri­ate man­ner;

e.

it makes an ef­fect­ive con­tri­bu­tion to the net­work­ing of in­nov­a­tion activ­it­ies in Switzer­land in both in­sti­tu­tions and re­gions.

² The Fed­er­al As­sembly shall ap­prove the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s sup­port of a Swiss In­nov­a­tion Park with a simple fed­er­al de­cree.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion’s sup­port for the Swiss In­nov­a­tion Park can be im­ple­men­ted by:

a.

the sale of suit­able real es­tate owned by the Con­fed­er­a­tion;

b.

the pro­vi­sion of suit­able real es­tate owned by the Con­fed­er­a­tion without waiv­ing claims to land lease in­terests;

c.

the pro­vi­sion of suit­able real es­tate owned by the Con­fed­er­a­tion sub­ject to a fixed-term waiver of claims to land lease in­terests;

d.

the ac­quis­i­tion of real es­tate owned by third parties;

e.

a com­bin­a­tion of the meas­ures un­der let­ters a–d;

f.³⁹

fur­ther meas­ures ne­ces­sary to the suc­cess of the in­nov­a­tion parks which can­not be achieved through stand­ard pro­mo­tion meth­ods un­der Art­icle 7 para­graph 1, par­tic­u­larly fixed-term in­terest-free loans or oth­er ap­pro­pri­ate fin­an­cing in­stru­ments or con­tri­bu­tions to the op­er­at­ing costs of the in­sti­tu­tion re­spons­ible in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 2 let­ter b.

² The fol­low­ing re­quire­ments ap­ply to the sup­port:

a.

Land use and loc­al area plan­ning re­quire­ments for the planned use of the real es­tate con­cerned must be met in full at the time of the fed­er­al de­cree un­der Art­icle 32 para­graph 2.

b.

A private or pub­lic in­sti­tu­tion with di­verse na­tion­al in­vestors with the in­volve­ment of sev­er­al can­tons and the private sec­tor is re­spons­ible for the con­struc­tion of the in­nov­a­tion park; its es­tab­lish­ment must at the latest co­in­cide with the fed­er­al de­cree.

c.

The in­sti­tu­tion re­spons­ible for the con­struc­tion of the in­nov­a­tion park guar­an­tees, in par­tic­u­lar:

1.

long-term-ori­ented de­vel­op­ment and the re­li­able op­er­a­tion of the in­nov­a­tion park;

2.

com­pli­ance with all build­ing law and pub­lic pro­cure­ment law re­quire­ments for pub­lic and private in­vestors;

3.

a clearly reg­u­lated struc­tur­al and man­age­ment or­gan­isa­tion ad­ap­ted to its leg­al form, which ob­serves the prin­ciples ap­plic­able to pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions re­gard­ing ac­count­ing, fin­an­cial con­trolling and fin­an­cial re­port­ing to its in­vestors;

4.

reg­u­lated rights for the ETH Board, re­search in­sti­tutes with­in the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main and oth­er in­ter­ested high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions to par­ti­cip­ate in de­cision-mak­ing pro­cesses on is­sues af­fect­ing the activ­it­ies and in­terests of these bod­ies and in­sti­tu­tions.

³ The con­struc­tion of the in­nov­a­tion park will be di­vided across sev­er­al sites. For the in­sti­tu­tions re­spons­ible for the loc­a­tions, dif­fer­ent fund­ing bod­ies may be provided un­der para­graph 2 let­ter b. The re­quire­ments un­der para­graph 2 let­ter c ap­ply to all of these in­sti­tu­tions. Fur­ther­more, the in­sti­tu­tions re­spons­ible for each loc­a­tion must be able to provide a suf­fi­cient guar­an­tee of ap­pro­pri­ate net­work­ing of the loc­a­tions.

¹ Based on the fed­er­al de­cree in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 32 para­graph 2, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall enter in­to a pub­lic law con­tract with the in­sti­tu­tions re­spons­ible un­der Art­icle 33 para­graph 2 let­ter b.

² This con­tract reg­u­lates the fol­low­ing:

a.

the pur­pose of the gov­ern­ment’s in­di­vidu­al sup­port meas­ures;

b.

the amount of and due date for re­pay­ment to the Con­fed­er­a­tion of the in­come gen­er­ated by the in­sti­tu­tion;

c.

the way in which fund­ing should be re­im­bursed to the Con­fed­er­a­tion if the aim fails.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall sub­mit to the Fed­er­al As­sembly:

a.

a peri­od­ic dis­patch on the pro­mo­tion of edu­ca­tion, re­search and in­nov­a­tion (the ERI Dis­patch);

b.

as re­quired fur­ther spe­cif­ic dis­patches on the pro­mo­tion of re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

² In these dis­patches, it re­quests the Fed­er­al As­sembly to make the re­quired fin­an­cing de­cisions.

The Fed­er­al As­sembly shall au­thor­ise the fol­low­ing for a multi-year peri­od by simple fed­er­al de­cree:

a.

the pay­ment struc­ture for re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions;

b.

the pay­ment struc­ture for con­tri­bu­tions to re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al sig­ni­fic­ance;

c.⁴⁰

the pay­ment struc­ture for In­no­suisse in­nov­a­tion sup­port activ­it­ies;

d.

the guar­an­tee cred­its for con­tri­bu­tions in the con­text of in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion in the field of re­search and in­nov­a­tion;

e.⁴¹

the pay­ment struc­ture for the op­er­at­ing costs of the in­sti­tu­tion re­spons­ible for the Swiss In­nov­a­tion Park un­der Art­icle 33 para­graph 2 let­ter b.

¹ Fed­er­al con­tri­bu­tions to re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions are ap­proved on the basis of the pro­mo­tion plans which are presen­ted an­nu­ally by the in­sti­tu­tions and ap­proved by the rel­ev­ant fed­er­al of­fices (Art. 48).

² Fed­er­al con­tri­bu­tions to re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al im­port­ance (Art. 15) are ap­proved on the basis of rul­ings on con­tri­bu­tions and on ser­vice level agree­ments.

³ The pay­ment of ap­proved fed­er­al con­tri­bu­tions is made in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 23 of the Sub­sidies Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1990⁴².

⁴ The ap­prov­al and pay­ment of fed­er­al con­tri­bu­tions in the con­text of in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion de­pends on:

a.

the pro­vi­sions of the in­ter­na­tion­al treat­ies; or

b.

the pro­vi­sions of rul­ings on con­tri­bu­tions and agree­ments.

¹ Re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions shall de­mand the re­pay­ment of the funds which they have gran­ted if these have been wrong­fully paid out or if the re­cip­i­ent has not ful­filled his ob­lig­a­tions des­pite hav­ing been re­minded to do so.

² The right to de­mand re­pay­ment shall pre­scribe three years from the time that the donor be­comes aware of it, and in any case ten years from the time that the right is cre­ated.⁴³

^2bis If the re­cip­i­ent has com­mit­ted a crim­in­al of­fence through his or her con­duct, the right to de­mand re­pay­ment pre­scribes at the earli­est when the right to pro­sec­ute the of­fence pre­scribes. If the right to pro­sec­ute is no longer li­able to pre­scrip­tion be­cause a first in­stance crim­in­al judg­ment has been is­sued, the right to de­mand re­pay­ment pre­scribes at the earli­est three years after no­tice of the judg­ment is giv­en.⁴⁴

³ Re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions shall use re­paid funds for tasks as­signed to them by the Con­fed­er­a­tion. They shall provide in­form­a­tion on this in their an­nu­al re­ports.

¹ If the res­ults of fully or par­tially fed­er­ally-fun­ded re­search are used com­mer­cially, the re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions may de­mand:

a.

re­pay­ment of the funds they gran­ted in pro­por­tion to the rev­en­ues earned; and

b.

an ap­pro­pri­ate share of profits.

² Re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions shall use re­paid funds for tasks as­signed to them by the Con­fed­er­a­tion. They shall provide in­form­a­tion on this in their an­nu­al re­ports.

¹ Every re­search body shall co­ordin­ate the activ­it­ies to be car­ried out un­der its au­thor­ity or with its sup­port.

² Re­search bod­ies shall co­ordin­ate their activ­it­ies between them­selves by provid­ing each oth­er with in­form­a­tion in good time.

³ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions, In­no­suisse and the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion, in­so­far as they pro­mote re­search and in­nov­a­tion, shall co­ordin­ate their activ­it­ies by ad­just­ing their pro­mo­tion meas­ures and col­lab­or­a­tion with­in the scope of their pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies. They shall in their co­ordin­a­tion ef­forts take ac­count of teach­ing needs, re­search car­ried out without gov­ern­ment fund­ing, re­search abroad and co­ordin­a­tion un­der the HEdA⁴⁵.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall en­sure that fed­er­al fund­ing for re­search and in­nov­a­tion is used in a co­ordin­ated, eco­nom­ic­al and ef­fect­ive man­ner.

² If co­oper­a­tion can­not be achieved through self-co­ordin­a­tion, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall take the re­quired meas­ures. To this end, it may in par­tic­u­lar give ex­ist­ing com­mis­sions spe­cif­ic co­ordin­a­tion tasks or set up spe­cial com­mis­sions.

³ It checks, peri­od­ic­ally or when re­quired:

a.

the co­ordin­a­tion between na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al pro­mo­tion of re­search and in­nov­a­tion;

b.

the co­her­ence between in­ter­na­tion­al co­oper­a­tion on re­search and in­nov­a­tion and Switzer­land’s eco­nom­ic for­eign policy, de­vel­op­ment policy and gen­er­al for­eign policy.

⁴ Ad­di­tion­ally, it shall take the re­quired meas­ures for the co­her­ent co­ordin­a­tion of the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s in­ter­na­tion­al re­search and in­nov­a­tion pro­mo­tion, par­tic­u­larly re­gard­ing cost-in­tens­ive re­search in­fra­struc­tures, with:

a.

de­vel­op­ment plan­ning with­in the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main; and

b.

na­tion­al co­ordin­a­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion policy and di­vi­sion of tasks in par­tic­u­larly cost- in­tens­ive fields.

⁵ It shall co­ordin­ate the plan­ning and im­ple­ment­a­tion of na­tion­al pro­mo­tion ini­ti­at­ives in the field of re­search and in­nov­a­tion which, due to their or­gan­isa­tion­al and fin­an­cial con­sequences can­not be im­ple­men­ted with­in the stand­ard pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies of the re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and In­no­suisse.

⁶ In do­ing so, it shall en­sure that the re­search bod­ies, the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence and the ETH Board are in­volved in the plan­ning. It shall draft pro­pos­als to the Fed­er­al As­sembly re­gard­ing pro­mo­tion­al meas­ures un­der para­graph 5, in­clud­ing de­cisions on fin­an­cing and im­ple­ment­a­tion, in agree­ment with the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall set up an in­ter­de­part­ment­al com­mit­tee for fed­er­al policy re­search.

² It shall set out the pro­ced­ure for the ap­point­ment of mem­bers of the co­ordin­a­tion com­mit­tee.

³ The co­ordin­a­tion com­mit­tee has the fol­low­ing tasks:

a.

it co­ordin­ates the pro­cess for the de­vel­op­ment of the multi-year pro­gramme (Art. 45 para. 3);

b.

it is­sues guidelines on qual­ity as­sur­ance in the field of policy re­search.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil may give the co­ordin­a­tion com­mit­tee oth­er tasks in the field of policy re­search.

The re­sources used for re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy plan­ning are:

a.

the re­view of the stra­tegic ob­ject­ives of the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s pro­mo­tion policy;

b.

the multi-year pro­grammes;

c.

the an­nu­al plan.

¹ The EAER shall in­struct na­tion­al or in­ter­na­tion­al ex­pert com­mis­sions to con­duct the peri­od­ic re­view of Swiss re­search and in­nov­a­tion pro­mo­tion policy or parts there­of.

² It shall ob­tain an over­arch­ing state­ment from the Swiss Sci­ence Coun­cil⁴⁶ con­cern­ing the res­ults.

³ In cer­tain cases it may in­struct the Swiss Sci­ence and In­nov­a­tion Coun­cil to con­duct re­views un­der para­graph 1 or the co­ordin­a­tion there­of.

⁴ Based on the re­view un­der para­graph 1, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the stra­tegic ob­ject­ives for the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s re­search and in­nov­a­tion pro­mo­tion policy. Be­fore do­ing so, it shall con­sult the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence, the ETH Board, the SNSF, In­no­suisse and, if re­quired, oth­er re­search bod­ies con­cerned.

⁵ It shall ad­apt pro­mo­tion policy to the new con­di­tions.

⁶ It shall peri­od­ic­ally sub­mit a re­port on the res­ults of the re­views un­der para­graph 1 and on its re­search and in­nov­a­tion pro­mo­tion policy strategy to the Fed­er­al As­sembly at the same time as it sub­mits the ERI Dis­patch.

¹ With the multi-year pro­grammes, the re­search bod­ies provide in­form­a­tion on their re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy plans and their me­di­um-term pri­or­it­ies.

² The multi-year pro­grammes aim at the co­ordin­a­tion and co­oper­a­tion among re­search bod­ies and con­tain the in­form­a­tion re­quired for the peri­od­ic ERI Dis­patch and for the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s fin­an­cial plan­ning. They also serve as a basis for the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s peri­od­ic ser­vice level agree­ments with re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions.

³ The multi-year pro­grammes for policy re­search are presen­ted in the form of trans-or­gan­isa­tion­al re­search con­cepts. In them, the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion provides in­form­a­tion on planned pri­or­it­ies for policy re­search. In do­ing so, they par­tic­u­larly take in­to ac­count the ex­ist­ing re­search pri­or­it­ies for high­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions, the SNSF’s fund­ing pro­grammes un­der gov­ern­ment man­date and the In­no­suisse’s activ­it­ies.

¹ Re­spons­ib­il­ity for de­vel­op­ment of the multi-year pro­gramme lies with:

a.

the re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions;

b.

In­no­suisse;

c.

the re­search fa­cil­it­ies of na­tion­al im­port­ance that are sup­por­ted un­der this Act;

d.

of­fices of the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion des­ig­nated by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil.

² High­er edu­ca­tion in­sti­tu­tions that re­ceive con­tri­bu­tions un­der Chapter 8 of the HEdA⁴⁷ shall provide the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion on their re­search in ac­cord­ance with the pro­ced­ures spe­cified in the HEdA.

³ The two fed­er­al in­sti­tutes of tech­no­logy and the re­search in­sti­tutes with­in the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main shall provide the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion on their re­search in ac­cord­ance with the pro­ced­ures spe­cified in the Fed­er­al Act of 4 Oc­to­ber 1991⁴⁸ on the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil de­cides on the form­al re­quire­ments for the multi-year pro­grammes.

² The multi-year pro­grammes shall be presen­ted to:

a.

the Fed­er­al Coun­cil for in­form­a­tion;

b.

if it con­cerns uni­versity re­search: the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence for com­ment;

c.

if it con­cerns the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main: the ETH Board for com­ment.

³ If the multi-year pro­grammes are not har­mon­ised or if the fund­ing re­quests ex­ceed the fed­er­al funds ex­pec­ted to be avail­able, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil may re­quire the pro­gramme to be re­vised.

⁴ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall sub­mit a re­port on the multi-year pro­gramme to the Fed­er­al As­sembly in the con­text of the peri­od­ic ERI Dis­patch.

¹ Re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions shall is­sue an an­nu­al pro­mo­tion plan. They shall sub­mit it to the EAER for ap­prov­al.

² The EAER may del­eg­ate its power of ap­prov­al to the rel­ev­ant ad­min­is­trat­ive unit.

³ The Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion shall cla­ri­fy in the ex­plan­at­ory state­ments on the budget how funds for policy re­search tasks should be used.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions, In­no­suisse and the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion shall in­form the pub­lic of their pro­mo­tion activ­it­ies in a suit­able man­ner.

² To this end, they shall op­er­ate pub­licly ac­cess­ible in­form­a­tion sys­tems on the pro­jects they fund in the field of re­search and in­nov­a­tion.

The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions, In­no­suisse and the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion shall en­sure that the res­ults of re­search are avail­able to the pub­lic in ac­cord­ance with the leg­al pro­vi­sions.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and In­no­suisse shall main­tain a suit­able qual­ity con­trol sys­tem for de­cision-mak­ing and pro­grammes.

² In ad­di­tion, in the con­text of the tasks and re­spons­ib­il­it­ies con­ferred to them, they shall peri­od­ic­ally re­view the suit­ab­il­ity of the fund­ing in­stru­ments and the form of sup­port.

³ Qual­ity con­trol in the field of policy re­search shall be gov­erned by guidelines is­sued by the in­ter­de­part­ment­al co­ordin­a­tion com­mit­tee for policy re­search. Rules in spe­cif­ic le­gis­la­tion are re­served.

¹ The re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion, in­so­far as it car­ries out or pro­motes re­search, shall peri­od­ic­ally re­port on their activ­it­ies and on the im­ple­ment­a­tion of the multi-year pro­gramme to the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or the de­part­ment re­spons­ible.

² The de­part­ment re­spons­ible reg­u­lates the form, ex­tent and tim­ing of the re­port, if ap­pro­pri­ate in the con­text of the ser­vice level agree­ment con­cluded.

³ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall provide the Fed­er­al As­sembly with the peri­od­ic ERI Dis­patch.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall or­der the stat­ist­ic­al sur­vey re­quired for the ap­plic­a­tion of this Act.

² It shall first con­sult the re­search bod­ies con­cerned and, if the stat­ist­ic­al sur­vey con­cerns re­cip­i­ents of fund­ing un­der the HEdA⁴⁹ or the Fed­er­al Act of 4 Oc­to­ber 1991⁵⁰ on the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy, the Swiss Uni­versity Con­fer­ence or the ETH Board.

³ It shall guar­an­tee the pro­vi­sion of in­form­a­tion on the re­search and in­nov­a­tion activ­it­ies of the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion and the Fed­er­al In­sti­tutes of Tech­no­logy Do­main whenev­er pos­sible ac­cord­ing to Art­icle 50.

⁴ SERI runs a data­base for policy re­search pro­jects.

¹ The Swiss Sci­ence Coun­cil (SSC⁵¹) is an ex­tra-par­lia­ment­ary com­mis­sion un­der Art­icle 57a para­graph 1 of the Gov­ern­ment and Ad­min­is­tra­tion Or­gan­isa­tion Act of 21 March 1997⁵². It ad­vises the Fed­er­al Coun­cil on all ques­tions re­lat­ing to re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy on its own ini­ti­at­ive or when asked to do so by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or the EAER.

² On be­half of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil or the EAER, it has the fol­low­ing tasks:

a.

It eval­u­ates in par­tic­u­lar:

1.

the Con­fed­er­a­tion’s pro­mo­tion meas­ures;

2.

the re­search bod­ies’ ful­fil­ment of their tasks;

3.

the fund­ing in­stru­ments of the re­search fund­ing in­sti­tu­tions and In­no­suisse;

4.

the ef­fic­acy of policy re­search meas­ures.

b.

It com­ments on spe­cif­ic plans or prob­lems in re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy.

c.

It sup­ports the EAER with the peri­od­ic re­view of Swiss re­search and in­nov­a­tion policy.

d.

It ad­vises the Fed­er­al Coun­cil on the im­ple­ment­a­tion of this Act.

¹ The Fed­er­al Coun­cil chooses the mem­bers of the SSC and its pres­id­ent.

² The SSC has 10–15 mem­bers. They have proven in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary com­pet­en­cies in sci­ence, vo­ca­tion­al edu­ca­tion and train­ing and in­nov­a­tion.

³ The SSC shall is­sue reg­u­la­tions gov­ern­ing its or­gan­isa­tion and man­age­ment. These shall be ap­proved by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil.

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue the im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions.

¹ The Re­search and In­nov­a­tion Pro­mo­tion Act of 7 Oc­to­ber 1983⁵³ is re­pealed, sub­ject to para­graph 2 be­low.

² Un­til the entry in­to force of the HEdA⁵⁴, Art­icle 5 let­ter b num­bers 2 and 3, 6 para­graph 1 let­ters b and c and 24 para­graph 2 of the Fed­er­al Act on Re­search and In­nov­a­tion of 7 Oc­to­ber 1983 con­tin­ue to ap­ply.

³ The HEdA is amended as fol­lows:

...⁵⁵

Ad­visors who car­ried out an activ­ity with­in the frame­work of Art­icle 20 para­graph 2 let­ter a and para­graph 3 when the Amend­ment of 17 June 2016 came in­to ef­fect, shall be con­sidered as qual­i­fied with­in the mean­ing of Art­icle 21 in the cur­rent con­tract.

¹ This Act is sub­ject to an op­tion­al ref­er­en­dum.

² The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall de­term­ine the com­mence­ment date.

³ It shall bring the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions in­to force at the same time as the HEdA⁵⁷:

a.

Art­icle 4 let­ter c num­ber 2;

b.

Art­icle 7 para­graph 1 let­ter b;

c.

Art­icle 46 para­graph 2.

⁴ Art­icles 5 let­ter b num­bers 2 and 3, 6 para­graph 1 let­ters b and c and 24 para­graph 2 of the Re­search and In­nov­a­tion Pro­mo­tion Act of 7 Oc­to­ber 1983⁵⁸ shall be re­pealed at the same time as the HEdA comes in­to force.

Com­mence­ment date: 1 Janu­ary 2014⁵⁹
Art­icle 4 let­ter c num­ber 2, 7 para­graph 1 let­ter b and 46 para­graph 2 come in­to force at the same time as the HEdA⁶⁰ (Art. 58 par. 3).