The ceremony not only signifies the formalization of agreements, but also marks the commencement of a collaborative journey towards the shared socio-economic success. As both countries look forward to the implementation phase, the Second Swiss Contribution remains a commitment to building a future of EU’s strong relations, prosperity, safety and growth.
Development of Towns Programme
The Development of Towns Programme is the single largest Programme of the Second Swiss Contribution. It aims at reducing economic and social disparities in Poland through strengthening institutional capacities of local authorities of marginalized medium-sized towns and through targeted investments corresponding to the needs of the inhabitants. The DoT-Programme will contribute to a better quality of life of the citizens and to make the towns an attractive, inclusive, resilient and safe place to live and work.
The target group of the DoT-Programme encompasses 139 medium sized towns identified in the Strategy for Responsible Development (SRD) and the National Strategy for Regional Development (NSDR) as being at risk of losing their socio-economic functions. Ca. 15 of these towns, selected through a call for proposals, will be supported in their implementation of strategic hard and soft infrastructure initiatives based on local development plans. The towns will benefit from comprehensive advisory support of the Association of Polish Cities and get access to best practices from Switzerland by collaborating with Swiss towns and Swiss experts.
The focus areas of support include vocational education and training, SME support, migration and integration, public safety, energy efficiency and renewable energy, public transport, water and wastewater management, waste management, nature conservation and biodiversity, health and social protection and civic engagement.
The Programme aims to promote economic growth and the reduce youth unemployment, strengthen migration management and integration, better protectthe environment and the climate, promote social dialogue, strengthen social systems and increase public safety, and to enhance civic engagement and transparency.
Research and Innovation Programme
Sufficient investment in high quality research is crucial for building a knowledge-based economy, driving innovation and boosting global competitiveness. Across Europe there is a disparity in research and innovation performance. While Poland has steadily improved its innovation performance over the last decade, the gap to the EU average remains significant.
The Research and Innovation Programme aims at strengthening the research excellence and innovation capacities of Polish research institutions and enterprises through collaborative projects with Swiss and other international partners. The strengthened integration of participating researchers into European and international networks will lead to increased competitiveness and higher success rates in research programmes. The application of research results in industry and economy will benefit the society at large.
The Research and Innovation Programme includes a dedicated bilateral programme on applied research and a multilateral basic research programme supporting researchers from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Switzerland.
The applied research programme in the amount of CHF 29 Mio aims at fostering the collaborative links between private enterprises and research institutions as mean to boost innovation as well as gain valuable experience and capacities to successfully apply for future funding from other schemes such as the EU framework programmes. Two rounds of calls for proposals will be organized, starting in 2024.
The multilateral basic research programme has a dedicated funding window for Polish researchers in the amount of CHF 6 Mio. Multilateral cooperation allows for building networks between research groups from participating countries. Building on the complementarity and expertise concentrated among research partners furthermore allows for tackling more complex research questions and facilitates access to knowledge and technologies. There is only one call for joint multilateral project proposals envisaged and it will be launched by the end of 2023.
Visit the official Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme Website for further information and updates on announcements of the call for proposals.
