Leading House for the Latin American Region

The University of St.Gallen, through its Institute of Management in Latin America (GIMLA), has been mandated by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), to act as Leading House granting incentives and developing joint research cooperation projects with the Latin American region.

For the periods of 2017-2020 and 2021-2024, the Leading Houses keep pursuing bilateral cooperation with priority partners, e.g. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico in Latin America and develop scientific relations with other countries that represent great potential for scientific and technological expansion.

In its role as the Leading House for the Latin America region, the University of St.Gallen shall:

Represent the interests of the Swiss scientific community vis-à-vis its Latin American partners
Advise and share experiences with the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
Develop and manage funding instruments to promote bilateral cooperation
Ensure the communication of opportunities for cooperation with the Swiss research and innovation community liaise with the scientific departments of Latin American and Swiss Embassies and with Swissnex

An overview of funding opportunities and upcoming calls can be found on this website. For more information and updates on specific calls and funding instruments, please visit our website regularly or contact the program administrator. On April 14, 2023, the Call for Research Partnership Grants 2023 was launched.

Leading House: In a Nutshell

In the Leading House model, selected Swiss institutes of higher education are commissioned by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to set up cooperation instruments for seed funding and innovative pilot projects under the framework of the bilateral programmes. This has proved to be a useful and efficient format for establishing privileged contacts and testing new instruments of research and innovation cooperation. Between 2017 and 2020, more than 500 pilot research and innovation activities with these new countries and regions received funding.

In consultation with the Rectors' Conference swissuniversities, has commissioned for the period in 2021 to 2024 the University of St.Gallen with the Leading House in Latin America (from SERI website).

Funding Opportunities

Early Career Grant

The Early Career Grants (ECG) aim to promote research in all Latin American countries and to support fieldwork in the region

Academia Industry Training

The Academia-Industry Training (AIT) is a startup accelerator program to support young scientists from Switzerland, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.

Consolidation Grants

The aim of the Consolidation Grant (COG) is to encourage more advanced, solid projects filling in the gap between smaller instruments and bigger funding calls (e.g. SNSF projects).

Research Partnership Grants

The goal of the Research Partnership Grants (RPG) is to strengthen or initiate a scientific exchange between researchers from Swiss and Latin American institutions in all disciplines by enabling them to jointly undertake preliminary research and organize meetings, conferences, or workshops.

Upcoming Calls

2023 Ecosystem Grants – PLANNED CALL

The aim of the Ecosystem Grants (ECO) is to promote partnerships between academia and practice as well as transatlantic public-private initiatives supporting ecosystem innovation. It is to connect and encourage exchanges between startups, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and researchers at universities and research centres in Switzerland and Latin America (beyond the Brazil and Colombia AITs). The ECO highlights the importance of networks, platforms, and digital technology and will encourage the connection between scholars and industry.

- for projects from up to CHF 25'000

2024 Early Career Grants – PLANNED CALL

The Early Career Grant (ECG), formerly called Mobility Grant, specifically targets emerging researchers (PostDocs and PhD students). It allows for the integration of the next generation of scientists in international collaboration, helps to build new networks through personal contacts and mutual trust, and makes partnerships more sustainable. Early Career Grants offer a possibility to encourage Swiss researchers to boost their studies with a stay and fieldwork in Latin America without having to be a part of a team or academic group. The grant allows for up to three months of research stay.

- for projects from up to CHF 8'000
- planned for Spring 2024.