The second Swiss Contribution for Croatia amounts to CHF 45,7 million, and is to be spent in the fields of research and innovation, water and waste-water management, palliative care and civic engagement.

Priorities for financing were identified by the Croatian Authorities, under the coordination of the National Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. They target areas where there are proven needs of and opportunities for Switzerland to add value with its expertise and experience in a sustainable way, and also in complementarity with national and EU schemes.

1. Research Programme Croatia

The Programme contributes to the economic growth and competitiveness of Croatia by strengthening research excellence and innovation capacities of Croatian research organisations, universities and enterprises and by facilitating research and innovation cooperation with international partners. 

The Programme will be implemented through two Programme Components:

1) MAPS for researchers in selected Central and Eastern European Countries: The multilateral call for research projects (MAPS: Multilateral Academic Projects) supports projects devised and conducted by researchers in Switzerland together with researchers in a minimum of two up to a maximum of all five of the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. 

The projects will run for up to four years, and each team from each country will be funded with a maximum of CHF 350,000. The call was opened from April till July 2024.

2) EUROSTARS: Croatian SMEs are encouraged to participate in this program, which aims to improve the innovative capacity and international competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Eurostars, a programme under the Eureka Network, is the largest international funding initiative for SMEs collaborating on research and development (R&D) projects to create innovative products, processes, or services for commercialization, thereby gaining a competitive advantage. 

The Swiss Contribution will ensure co-financing of approved projects and support activities to increase the SMEs’ success rate at applying to EUROSTARS, such as the allocation of vouchers for writing project applications, and workshops and guidance for Croatian companies participating in matchmaking events.

The value of the Swiss Contribution for the Programme is CHF 8 million. 

It is implemented by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Croatian Sciences Foundation and the Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investments - HAMAG-BICRO.

2. Water and waste-water management

The Programme contributes to the environmental protection of the groundwater and surface water as well as to sustainable economic development by i) improving the municipal drinking water supply and waste-water infrastructure in the area of Gorski Kotar including increasing its energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources; and by ii) improving professional skills in the water and waste-water sector.

The specific locations the Programme will be targeting will be selected based on the Feasibility Study implemented through the Support Measure Preparation Fund.

The value of the Swiss Contribution is CHF 23 million. 

The Programme is implemented by Croatian Waters.

3. Palliative Care Programme

The Programme aims at ensuring equity and access to palliative care services in Croatia by promoting palliative care among medical and non-medical staff, improving the coordination and integration of all levels of palliative care, and by improving the quality of palliative care at the national level. 

It will put special focus on ensuring appropriate home-based care.

The value of the Swiss Contribution is CHF 5,5 million. 

The Programme is implemented by the Ministry of Health, which also uses the Support Measure Preparation Fund within the Technical Support in order to further develop the Programme.

4. Civic Engagement

The overall goal of the Civic Engagement Support Measure Programme is to strengthen democratic processes through civic engagement to reduce economic and social disparities in Croatia. 

The Programme shall finance activities selected under Calls for proposals that empower partnerships of civil society organisations and local stakeholders as well as provide capacity building and management support to civil society organisations within four Programme Components: 

Component 1: Sustainable Development Education

Component 2: Strengthening Volunteering

Component 3: Micro Projects

Component 4: Service-Learning Programmes

The value of the Swiss Contribution for the Programme is CHF 7,62 million.  

The Programme is implemented by the Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Croatian Government.