¹ The Confederation shall promote research and innovation pursuant to this Act and other specific legislation by:

a.

supporting the two federal institutes of technology and the research institutes within the Federal Institutes of Technology Domain;

b.

granting financial contributions under the HEdA⁷;

c.

supporting research funding institutions;

d.

supporting research facilities of national importance;

e.

its own policy research, including setting up and operating federal research institutes;

f.⁸

managing Innosuisse and other innovation support measures;

g.⁹

international cooperation in research and innovation.

² The Confederation may support the creation of a Swiss Innovation Park in order to secure Switzerland’s position as a location for research and innovation.

³ The Federal Council may give research funding institutions and Innosuisse, individually or jointly, the task of implementing special programmes or topic-specific funding programmes.¹⁰

⁴ It may delegate international cooperation tasks to research funding institutions and Innosuisse, when their specific competencies are required in order to carry out these tasks.¹¹