The research carried out under national research programmes is targeted research that contributes to the solution of current problems of national importance. The Federal Council selects the topics and foci to be researched and mandates responsibility for conducting the NRP to the Swiss National Science Foundation.
National research programmes are designed to support programmes of co-ordinated research projects in various fields and institutions that target a common goal and that meet the following criteria: the topic of research is of national importance; the research is not research within a specific section of the Administration and is not industrial applications research; the research is independent of industry funding; the research can be expected to produce research results that have practical applications within a five-year duration.
