Reception for the winners of Swiss Youth in Science

At the National Library in Berne, Alain Berset receives 24 winners of the 2023 national competition of the Swiss Youth in Science Foundation (Schweizer Jugend forscht). After the presentation of two award-winning projects, he answers their questions: “Wir müssen alles dafür tun, dass junge Forscherinnen und Forscher hier in der Schweiz beste Bedingungen vorfinden.” He praises the range of award-winning topics, from separating plastics to land reform in Namibia, by way of ethanol made from old clothes.

A project on feathers serves as his starting point: on the Federal Council, he says, one constantly wears feathers that are not one’s own; “Wir in Bern nennen es Kollegialitätsprinzip.” In French, he mentions CERN’s Science Gateway, inaugurated ten days earlier, and Switzerland’s limited access to Horizon Europe: “In the long term, this will pose a problem for research and innovation in Switzerland.”

Speeches on this site

• Réception des lauréats de Science et jeunesse (in German, French-language page)

Sources

• Schweizer Jugend forscht, 17.10.2023