The Leading House South Asia promotes and fosters research and innovation cooperation between Switzerland and nine countries in South Asia. For the 2025-2028 mandate period we have set ourselves the goal to make an impact by supporting projects that incorporate the following cornerstones:

• adress global challenges holistically.
• bridge the gap between knowledge and action.
• focus on building long-lasting relationships and trust.

Adress global challenges holistically

Topics such as climate change, improvements in public health, and sustainable development demand collaborative efforts beyond science alone. These challenges require input from policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society to ensure that scientific solutions are implementable, socially acceptable, and scalable. 

Co-creation between different fields encourages breaking down silos, fosters open-mindedness, and enhances cross-disciplinary learning. It also allows for integrating diverse perspectives, methodologies, and expertise, leading to innovative solutions, a more holistic understanding of complex challenges, faster problem-solving and is more likely to produce practical, relevant, real-world applications.

Bridge the gap between knowledge and action

Interdisciplinary approaches can better bridge the gap between knowledge and action, ensuring that scientific discoveries evolve into practical solutions that address pressing needs. 

By combining expertise from various scientific disciplines with real-world insights from industry, government, and communities, collaborative science not only deepens understanding but also accelerates the development of impactful innovations that enhance quality of life, support sustainable practices, and drive societal progress.

Focus on building long-lasting relationships and trust

Collaboration in science across disciplines and involving diverse stakeholders helps build trust, even amid strained political relations. Shared scientific goals and challenges, such as addressing environmental issues and water scarcity, provide common ground for scientists, policymakers, and industries to work together.

By uniting expertise from various fields and sectors, such collaborations foster mutual understanding and create resilient and sustainable partnerships that transcend political borders.

Get to know the other Leading Houses

The Leading Houses (LH) are comparably small and unique institutions within the Swiss science and innovation funding landscape. There are five Leading Houses. In addition to the Leading House South Asia, these are the Leading Houses:

• Asia: ETH Zurich
• Latin America: University of St Gallen
• Middle East and North Africa: HES-SO
• Sub-Saharan Africa: University of Basel

All Leading Houses support scientists and sciencepreneurs in their international journey and

• ensure that they are offering complementary, innovative, pioneering, and agile instruments that are aligned with the needs of the Swiss science and innovation community,
• make use of synergies within the LH network and the entire Swiss science and innovation landscape,
• concentrate on the value and potential of the partnerships arising out of the supported projects for both Switzerland and the partner country.