In January 2021, the Swiss Space Office (SSO) of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) announced a selection procedure for a new national platform for the promotion of space in Switzerland. Under the name Space Exchange Switzerland (SXS), the platform is intended to support the further development of space in Switzerland in areas which are not core tasks of SERI/SSO.
Following the successful selection procedure, SXS is now operational and is implemented on a national scale by a consortium of 5 project partners, namely EPFL, as leading house, ETH Zurich, University of Zurich, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, and Università della Svizzera italiana. The initial mandate for SXS ran from 2021 to end 2024 and is now extended for the period 2025-2028. SXS is neutral platform, with the following portfolio of tasks and functions: Facilitate, in cooperation with professional associations and educational institutions, the organization of professional training (especially courses for specialists) in the field of space; Organize space related outreach activities and support selected outreach events of the European Space Agency ESA in Switzerland; Encourage exchange and mobility of students and young professionals to ESA; Organization of events in the space sector for professionals (supporting SERI/SSO); Support to SERI/SSO for stakeholder consultations in the space sector; Support to SERI/SSO for technology harmonization (advisor role in the Technology Harmonization Advisory Group THAG of ESA); and Scientific NPOC (National Point of Contact) for satellite images, including professional and technical support for Earth observation programmes.
