8 million Swiss francs made available to Croatia.
The agreement for the Program was signed by the ambassador of the Swiss Confederation, Mr. E. Urs Hammer on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Minister Šime Erlić on behalf of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds.
The aim of the second Swiss contribution is to continue activities that contribute to the reduction of economic and social disparities within the European Union. The funds are intended to finance programs and projects in accordance with national needs and strategies, such as investments in research and innovation intended for the business and scientific sectors, water supply and drainage, health and social protection, and civil society.
„As one of the countries that invests the most in research and innovation, Switzerland has identified exactly these two areas as key thematic areas of the Swiss contribution, which at the same time promote economic growth and social cohesion”,
said Ambassador Hammer.
Minister Šime Erlić expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation so far and added that Croatia continues to work actively on using all available resources to ensure the strengthening of our economy, especially through the application of innovations.
“Continuation of activities, especially in the context of business networking, will enable further affirmation of Croatian small and medium-sized enterprises and their international partners in research activities, and this ultimately means better positioning on the European and global level,” said Minister Erlić.
With the signed Agreement, Switzerland donates 8 million Swiss francs to the “Research Program Croatia”, and Croatia provides an additional 15%.
The program consists of two components. The first component “Multilateral Joint Research projects”, worth 6 million Swiss francs, is implemented by the Croatian Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation. It is aimed at building long-term sustainable research partnerships between Croatian and Swiss and other European partners with the aim, among other things, of enabling their better integration into European and international research networks. The second component called “EUROSTARS” is implemented by the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investments (HAMAG-BICRO) with the aim of improving the innovation capacity and international competitiveness of Croatian SMEs by strengthening their participation in the “EUROSTARS” program. The value of this component is 2 million Swiss francs.
