EUR-CHF collapsed after SNB gave up the 1.2000 franc cap

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) unexpectedly gave up its minimum exchange rate of 1.20 per euro today, ending a three-year-old policy designed to shield the economy from the euro area’s sovereign debt crisis.

In a surprise statement that sent shockwaves through equities and currency markets, the central bank ended its cap of 1.20 franc per euro and reduced the interest rate on sight deposits, deepening a cut announced less than a month ago.

The shift marks an attempt by the SNB to reinforce its defenses of the economy before government bond purchases by the European Central Bank that could crumple the franc cap.

In a chaotic few minutes on markets after the SNB's announcement, the franc broke past parity against the euro to trade at 0.8052 francs per euro before trimming those gains to stand at 1.0350 francs. It also gained 25 percent against the dollar to trade at 0.8900 francs per dollar.

New H2020 funding opportunities for innovative firms: InnovFin

Under the umbrella of H2020, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund launched a new generation of EU financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily.

"InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" consist of a range of tailored products – from guarantees for intermediaries that lend to SMEs to direct loans to enterprises - helping support the smallest to the largest research and innovation projects in the EU and countries associated to Horizon 2020.

If you would like to learn more about these instruments, follow the six steps of the "launch tool", watch the InnovFin video or read more in the EC's press release. 

Partial association to H2020

Switzerland and the EU have agreed on a partial association to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, which will provisionally come into effect on 15 September 2014 and initially run until the end of 2016 (http://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/6138964-la-suisse-reintegre-le-programme-europeen-en-recherche-de-pointe.html).

This partial association allows researchers in Switzerland to again participate asassociated and equally entitled partners in all activities under the first pillar of Horizon 2020, comprising ERC grants, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) and research infrastructures.

For all other Horizon 2020 calls (second and third pillar) Switzerland remains a third country entity. In these collaborative programme areas Swiss partners can still join European collaborative projects, however they will not be entitled to any direct funding from the EU for their part. The SERI will provide direct funding to researchers in Switzerland, whose participation in collaborative projects under Horizon 2020 are not funded by the European Commission.

The official SERI fact sheet is available here. 

Stakeholder consultation on the 'health' societal challenge

The European Commission (EC) launched an open stakeholder consultation on the 2016 - 2017 Horizon 2020 Work Programme for the 'Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing' societal challenge. You can find the survey here. Deadline for this exercise is 20 Sep 2014. 

Decision on Publication of SNSF Advanced Grant Postponed

Euresearch informs that due to the ongoing negotitiations with the EC, the SNSF is not publishing its Advanced Grant Call in August as foreseen, but will decide on the publication by mid September.

Researchers working in Switzerland can assume to be able to submit either to the ERC Advanced Grant (deadline 21 October) or the equivalent temporary backup scheme by SNSF (deadline probably in November).

We hence advice researchers to prepare to submit by 21 October until the outcome of negotiations is known.

Federal Council approved interim measures in response to the unresolved situation regarding Switzerland’s association to Horizon 2020

On 25 June 2014 the Federal Council approved interim measures in response to the unresolved situation regarding Switzerland’s association to Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The measures are designed to support researchers in Switzerland who are involved in projects and programmes financed under Horizon 2020 and who will no longer receive any funding from Brussels. The Federal Council’s stated aim remains for Switzerland to achieve full association to Horizon 2020 by the end of the year, if possible.

Researchers in public research institutions, organisations and companies based in Switzerland are eligible for funding for all partnership projects in the Horizon 2020 package including ERA-NET projects and European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) projects. Funding is also available to meet the costs of managing or coordinating such projects. 

Read the full article on the news page of the Federal Council. 

EU approves Swiss proposal concerning Croatia

The Swiss "Tagesanzeiger" reports that EU negotiators approved the Swiss proposal to apply the free circulation agreement for Croatia without signing the related protocol. This presents a major step in the negotiation of a framework agreement and is expected to impact also on the H2020 and Erasmus dossiers.

Read the full article (in German) on the Tagesanzeiger website.