The head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, announced the launch of six new National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs) at a press conference in Bern on 16 December.

swissnexDay 2019, held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL) on the subject of space technologies and sustainability, attracted a large turnout.

On 27 and 28 November 2019, State Secretary Martina Hirayama attended the European Space Agency's ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Seville ("Space 19+"). At this meeting, which brought together the ministers in charge of space affairs from the 22 ESA Member States, the Council conferred on ongoing programmes, new initiatives, and agreed on the Agency's budget for the next three years.

On 14 November, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), met Chen Baosheng, the Chinese Minister of Education, in Bern.

The fifth meeting of the Swiss-South African joint committee established under the bilateral agreement on scientific and technological cooperation took place in Bern on Monday, 23 September.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor paid an official visit to Switzerland on Thursday, 19 September. President Ueli Maurer and Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis received the Slovenian delegation at the Lohn country residence.

On 13 December 2019 the Federal Council approved a report on Switzerland's international activities in vocational and professional education and training. The report concludes that the country has a coherent system of activities which are well coordinated by the existing interdepartmental coordination group and lead to the creation of synergies.

From December 10 - 12, Switzerland will be present at the "New Space Economy Expo Forum" (NSE) in Rome, Europe's largest conference for space technologies.

From 20 to 22 November, Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, will be holding bilateral talks with her counterparts in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki.

The Joint Committee on Cooperation in Science and Technology met yesterday, for the fourth time, in Brasilia. In this context, a symposium was organised to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed with Brazil in 2009.

On 23 September 2019, the head of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Ms Martina Hirayama, met with the head of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, Ms Iris Rauskala, in Bern to share information and perspectives.

Bern, 5 September 2019 - Nicola Spaldin, Professor of Materials Theory at the ETH Zurich, has been awarded the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist for her ground-breaking research into multiferroic materials, with which she has laid the foundations for new ultrafast and energy-efficient data storage technologies.