Switzerland and the EU Just Signed Bilaterals III. Here Is Where the Ecosystem Stands Today

The signing ceremony in Brussels on 2 March 2026 was the formal close of a process that began in earnest in March 2024. Swiss President Guy Parmelin and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed the Bilaterals III package, putting their names to the most comprehensive update to Switzerland’s relationship with the EU in over two decades. For foreign investors tracking Switzerland as a deep tech destination, the deal matters. The more useful questions are what has already changed, what is still in motion, and where the concrete entry points are.

A Brief Recap: What the Exclusion Cost

Switzerland’s exclusion from Horizon Europe began in 2021, when negotiations on a framework agreement with the EU collapsed. The consequences were tangible. The Swiss Federal Council had to allocate CHF 600 million in transitional funding in 2024 alone just to maintain baseline access for Swiss universities, research institutes, and startups, who were barred from coordinating EU-funded consortia.

The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) allocated CHF 58 million in direct grants to 24 startups whose projects had been positively evaluated by the EU but could not receive European Commission funding. This national backstop kept the pipeline intact. Switzerland’s share of Horizon-funded projects still slipped: from 10.82% of all funded projects during the Horizon 2020 period to 9.82% under Horizon Europe. Re-association is designed to close that gap.

The Evidence It Is Already Working

The clearest signal that re-association is producing results comes from the companies already in the field.

During the exclusion years, SERI’s transitional programme covered startups including Qnami (Basel), an ETH and University of Basel spinout developing quantum microscopes for magnetic material analysis at the atomic scale, and Bloom Biorenewables, an EPFL spinout whose Aldehyde-Assisted Fractionation technology converts agricultural and forestry residues into bio-based chemicals. Bloom had already been a partner in the Horizon 2020 IDEALFUEL consortium before the exclusion, using it to move from laboratory to pilot production and build a network of European industrial partners. When association lapsed, SERI covered the gap. The founders noticed.

“Start-ups are always exposed to political decisions so we were very proud and happy that Switzerland was so reactive.”

Remy Buser, Co-CEO, Bloom Biorenewables

Bloom has since raised CHF 13 million in Series A funding backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lombard Odier, and Anaïs Ventures, and is planning a first-of-a-kind commercial production facility with construction beginning in 2027. With full association restored, the company is now planning to coordinate flagship Horizon Europe projects in the circular bioeconomy, a consortium leadership role that was off-limits during the exclusion period.

The first cohort selected under the restored EIC Accelerator in 2025 further confirms the quality of the Swiss pipeline. DePoly (Valais) is developing chemical PET recycling back to virgin-grade monomers; Pregnolia (Zurich) provides a medical device for cervical assessment in pregnancy care; Neutrality (Geneva) is a deep-tech cybersecurity company delivering mathematically secure cloud infrastructure, with its EIC project titled DEEP-SEC: A Deep-tech Foundation for Trusted Clouds; and Verity (Zurich) provides drone-based inventory automation for logistics. All four cleared an EIC process with a 7% success rate in its most recent cycle, selecting 68 companies from 969 full proposals.

What Comes Next, and When

For foreign investors and partners, the signing of March 2 opens a specific window of time. Here is what the calendar looks like.

2026	Swiss startups and research institutions are fully operational within Horizon Europe and the EIC Accelerator. Short proposals can be submitted monthly on a rolling basis. The EIC’s 2025 budget of €634 million covers grants up to €2.5 million at TRL 6–8 combined with equity of €0.5–10 million; larger scale-up rounds are accessible through the EIC STEP Scale-Up scheme at €10–30 million, targeting total financing rounds of €50–150 million or more. Switzerland’s association to ITER, the world’s largest fusion energy project, is also expected to begin in 2026, opening collaborative and commercial opportunities in advanced energy research. Two Swiss VCs, B2Venture and Verve Ventures, already sit within the EIC Fund’s network of nearly 500 venture capital firms and rank among the top 25 VCs in Europe.
2027	Association to Erasmus+ takes effect, enabling Swiss institutions to host and send students and researchers across the EU. For deep tech companies building teams internationally, this expands the talent pipeline in a meaningful way. The Federal Council has proposed an optional referendum on the full Bilaterals III package, meaning parliamentary approval would be followed by a popular vote. With a clear majority in favour during the consultation process, which drew 318 submissions, the political conditions are stable, though procedural steps remain.
2028	Full entry into force of the complete package is targeted before end of 2028, subject to ratification by the Swiss Parliament, the EU Council, and the European Parliament. The EU Programmes Agreement is already provisionally applied, so research and innovation access is secured regardless of the broader ratification timeline. EU4Health participation comes into effect alongside the health agreement, broadening collaboration in health research.

For foreign investors evaluating Switzerland as a base for European deep tech activity, the practical implication is this: the institutional architecture is in place, the programmes are active, and the legal framework for Swiss-EU collaboration is on a trajectory toward full formalisation. Swiss researchers and innovators have been engaged with EU programmes since 1987. The Bilaterals III package updates the terms of that engagement for the next generation of agreements, with mechanisms to manage disputes and align rules without requiring full renegotiation each cycle.

Clarity in the Collaboration

The March 2 signing puts a formal stamp on a process that has been delivering results for over a year. Horizon Europe association is live. The EIC pipeline is active. Swiss deep tech companies are already coordinating European consortia and clearing competitive EU funding thresholds across sectors from cybersecurity to climate chemistry. The next milestones, ITER in 2026, Erasmus+ in 2027, and full ratification by 2028, extend Switzerland’s European integration further with each step.

The deep tech ecosystem, anchored by ETH Zurich, EPFL, and the support infrastructure of Innosuisse, was already generating 60% of its VC funding from international investors before the Bilaterals III era. The institutional conditions that underpin that confidence have strengthened. For foreign partners ready to engage, the window is open now. Explore sector-by-sector data in the Swiss Deep Tech Report and connect with the ecosystem through our AI & Deep Tech focus sector.