7 Annual Report 2024 The Network The Euresearch Network The great news about the transitional arrangement between the EU and Switzerland reached us as an early Christmas present in December 2024. We had grown accustomed to Switzerland being a Third Country – even if we had continually hoped it would change soon – so it was a gift to learn that the ‘temporary’ situation that had existed since 2020 would finally change. The Euresearch Network remained resilient in the face of the challenges associated with Switzerland’s status, maintaining a positive attitude and a strong sense of commitment and community. Col- laboration remains a key strength within the Network with both longstanding and new members, of which we had 14 in 2024 (4 in the Network Office and 10 in Regional Offices). We currently have 26 employees at the Network Office (19.3 FTE) and 93 in the now 17 Regional Offices (33.7 FTE), after the split of the Regional Office in Zurich into 2 separate offices (ETHZ and University of Zurich). The integration of most of the Euresearch Regional Offices into Grants Offices means that the advisors there often work for Euresearch with a lower FTE (average 37%) because they also cover other programmes. This has not impacted the spirit of cooperation and identification with the Euresearch brand. The internal Euresearch digitalisation project was successfully wrapped up by the end of the year and the entire Network is now connected in one single Teams application that includes our intranet and internal weekly newsletter. This has reduced the number of sign-ins and improved access to up-to-date information and shared knowledge resources. Over the past few years, we have also become accustomed to working together in a mix of onsite and online settings and have come to appreciate the flexibility of choosing the setting to suite the content and level of interaction of the activity. This holds true for our internal interactions as well as for our interactions with clients and the meetings of the Euresearch Association. In 2024, our efforts for our clients were once again focused on minimising the negative effects of Switzerland’s ongoing non-association to Horizon Europe, while maintaining optimism and interest in submitting to the many open calls to which we were eligible. Together with SERI, we again provided answers and solutions for researchers and innovators in Switzerland as well as their European collaborators. We are confident that the new situation awaiting us in 2025 will make our work at Euresearch even more visible to the research and innovation community, and that we will be able to guide our clients competently and successfully through the changes that the transition to “Associated Country” status will bring. Petra Hertkorn-Betz and Karl Kerschbaum, Regional Network Coordinators and Managment Board Members
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