Scientific expertise for policy-making

Transdisciplinary topics

The Scientific Advice Mechanism provides the European Commission with independent and transdisciplinary scientific knowledge. This mechanism relies on the collective expertise of the European Academies via the consortium Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA), which brings together five European networks with over 100 academies of all scientific disciplines from more than 40 European countries. The Swiss Academies contribute expertise to SAPEA through their memberships in the networks ALLEA (All European Academies), Euro-CASE (European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering) and FEAM (Federation of European Academies in Medicine).

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), with its more than 140 national and regional member academies, supports political efforts to find solutions to major global challenges. To this end, the IAP makes use of expertise in the natural sciences, medicine and engineering that is available among its members. The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences participate in the work of the IAP by delegating researchers.

Biosciences and Public Health, Energy and Environment

In addition to its contribution to SAPEA, EASAC (European Academies Science Advisory Council) provides scientific expertise to the EU policy-making bodies on biosciences, energy and environmental issues. EASAC associates the national science academies of the EU Member States, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland. The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences support the work of EASAC with their participation in the Steering Panels on Biosciences and Public Health (delegate: Patrick Matthias, Friedrich Miescher Institute) and Energy (delegate: Konstantinos Boulouchos, ETH Zurich) and by delegating scientific experts from Switzerland to working groups for the preparation of specific reports and or for the evaluation of their drafts.

Technology assessment

EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) is the association of European institutions that analyse the effects of new technologies on society, the environment and the economy, and make their conclusions available to policymakers, administrators and the public. TA-SWISS is part of this network and fosters the exchange of experience with other international organisations.