There is no alternative to full association

l. to r. Patrick Aebischer (EPFL), Roberto Balzaretti (EU Swiss ambassador), Carlos Moedas (EU, Head of Research and Innovation), Lino Guzzella (ETH Zürich). Scientific Switzerland needs unrestricted access to the best brains, and therefore full association to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020. This was pointed out during a media session in Brussels by the Presidents of ETH Zurich and EPFL, following discussions with EU representatives. "Switzerland is ranked among the most innovative countries in the world. International committees certify this fact year after year. It would be detrimental for all if Swiss universities were prevented from participating in this European research competition," Lino Guzzella, President of ETH Zurich, tells media representatives in Brussels. His counterpart at EPFL, Patrick Aebischer, confirmed the concerns of the two leading technical universities: "After the adoption of the Initiative Against Mass Immigration, science as a whole was the first to suffer the consequences and we must fear that we will also be the first ones having to deal with the negative repercussions if no binding solution for the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons can be found by the end of 2016." Together with their Vice Presidents of Research, both Presidents met in Brussels with various high-ranking EU representatives for talks.