Funding and Financing

There are three funding possibilities for joint projects with industry: Direct financing, national funding and international funding for co-operation.

Directly funded research co-operation

Companies can finance joint projects with ETH Zurich directly. This eliminates the need to submit applications to funding institutions and allows for a project start without delay.

What are the financial and legal requirements for co-operation with industry? More information is available here: Research contracts

Are there partners in industry for your research topic? Who should I contact? The ETH Industry Relations team will be happy to assist.

Nationally funded research co-operation

external pageInnosuisse is the Swiss agency for promoting innovation. It supports joint projects between companies and universities, thereby strengthening in particular the competitiveness of small and medium-??sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland .

Do you have questions about Innosuisse's funding schemes, the application process or do you need support in finding suitable project partners? Please contact ETH Industry Relations.

Innosuisse supports preliminary studies (innovation cheques) and innovation projects with or without implementation partners from industry.

With the innovation cheque, Innosuisse supports preliminary studies with a credit voucher for the research partner (max. CHF 15,000.-). No personal contribution by the implementation partner is required. Only SMEs based in Switzerland are entitled to receive the voucher.

Science-based innovation projects between industry partners, private or public organisations and recognised research partners, which meet a clear market need and promise economic success or added value for society. Innosuisse bears the project costs of the research partners (maximum 50% of total project costs), the implementation partners contribute at least 50% to the implementation of the project (personal contribution). Innovation projects with implementation partners are neither limited in time nor financially, provided that the general conditions are met and the cost-benefit ratio is appropriate.

Research-driven innovation projects that have a high market potential but are not yet mature enough to involve an implementation partner or to create a start-up. Innosuisse finances 100% of the project costs (project duration maximum 18 months).

Beispiel für ein Innosuisse-Projekt (Video: ETH Zürich)

Internationally funded research co-?operation

For any queries regarding international funding for companies, please contact EU GrantsAccess for the Zurich region. The team is part of the regionally structured Euresearch network and supports researchers, all ETH Zurich spin-??offs and companies in the Zurich region with regard to international funding.

external pageEuresearch is the central contact point in Switzerland for EU funding programmes for regions other than Zurich. Swiss-??based companies can obtain information and advice on EU funding as well as specific assistance with a funding application. You can find a list of external pageregional contact persons here.

In addition to the European Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation external pageHorizon 2020 (2014-??2020) and external pageHorizon Europe (2021-??2027), there are other European funding programmes, e.g. external pageEurostars and Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (external pageECSEL), for which external pageInnosuisse offers consulting services.

Researchers and companies can be supported in different ways and at different stages of their project:

As indivitual participant (so-?called mono-??beneficiary)
As member of a consortium with participants from industry and academia
In programmes with predefined topics (top-??down) as well as in programmes with open topics (bottom-??up)
With a focus on either early product development phases or phases bringing products to market maturity or towards expansion into new or larger market segments (scaling-??up)