Switzerland and South Korea exchange on Science and Technology
Bern, 04.02.2026 — The 7th meeting of the Swiss-South Korean Science and Technology Joint Committee was held in Bern on 4 February 2026. On the Swiss side,the meeting was formally opened by State Secretary Martina Hirayama and chaired by Ambassador Jacques Ducrest, Head of International Relations at the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). On the South Korean side, the meeting was led by Sunghoon Hwang, Director General of the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT). It served to assess and to strengthen the bilateral ties in research and innovation.
Based on the agreement on cooperation in the fields of science and technology between Switzerland and South Korea signed in 2008, the meeting brought together research and innovation stakeholders and the governments of both countries. They reviewed progress made so far in implementing the joint research and innovation priorities and discussed approaches for further intensifying existing cooperation.
Following the Joint Committee Meeting, on 5 February 2026, scientists from both countries will take part in a workshop on Swiss-Korean scientific collaboration. The workshop, built on the spirit of the Swiss-Korean Innovation Week 2025 under the theme of Human Augmentation, aims to foster collaboration between South Korea and Switzerland in fields such as biomedical and cognitive enhancement, and healthspan extension.
An important partner for Swiss researchers
South Korea is an important partner for Switzerland in research and innovation. Between 2019 and 2024, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funded almost 100 projects that included an element of cooperation between researchers from Switzerland and South Korea. Research collaborations are further fostered through the Leading House Asia Pacific (University of Zurich) mandated by SERI for the period 2025-2028. In the field of innovation, both countries cooperate within the framework of the intergovernmental Eureka initiative and through annual bilateral project calls by Innosuisse and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT).