During his working meeting with Mr Isaksen, the State Secretary also underscored the high level of scientific cooperation between Switzerland and Norway. He also raised issues surrounding future development of cooperation in a multilateral European context, in international research infrastructures and in the area of polar research.

During his official trip to Oslo, State Secretary Dell’Ambrogio also visited the CICERO Institute, which is specialised in interdisciplinary climate research. He also attended the ceremony in which the Kavli Prize was awarded to a team of three researchers, including Swiss professor Christoph Gerber from the University of Basel. The USD 1,000,000 Kavli Prize is awarded every two years to recognise exceptional research in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Christoph Gerber (Switzerland), Gerd Binnig (Germany) and Calvin Quate (United States) received this award for the invention and realisation of atomic force microscopy, a breakthrough in measurement technology and nanosculpting that continues to have a transformative impact on nanoscience and technology. Their research was carried out in particular at the IBM Institute in Zurich.

“Swiss-Norwegian Beamlines” are one example among others of fruitful collaboration between Swiss and Norwegian research groups made possible thanks to country participation in an international research organisation. For over twenty years, Switzerland and Norway have jointly used two bending magnet beamlines (BM 01 and BM 31) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). These two beamlines are considered to be particularly useful in crystallography experiments.

Visit to Norway by State Secretary Mauro Dell’Ambrogio