swissnex Shanghai

The main goal of "swissnex Shanghai" is to establish a solid, long-lasting network of cooperation between Swiss and Chinese scholars serving as a base for bottom-up initiatives in the future.

In order to achieve this goal, "swissnex Shanghai", at least in its first years of operation, will fulfill such basic tasks as raising the level of knowledge of the Chinese science system in Switzerland, establishing a decentralized early awareness system for new developments in specific research fields and putting in place an effective selection system for Chinese scholars motivated to spend some time in Switzerland. "swissnex Shanghai" will serve as a home base and platform for all Swiss parties in the above-mentioned domains. It will help them to find partners in an environment that is still not well known in Switzerland, host them for short-term stays and provide facilities for workshops and seminars. In this context, "swissnex Shanghai" will play an important role as coordinator and "go-between" in the recently launched Sino-Swiss Cooperation Program 2008-2011.

Besides traditional forms and instruments of cooperation in well established fields - natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, social sciences and the humanities -, "swissnex Shanghai" intends to explore new (interdisciplinary) research areas of common interest. In addition, "swissnex Shanghai" plans to play an active role in bridging science to other areas of society, specifically the arts.