The SSSTC was established in 2003, after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).  In its "Dispatch on the Promotion of Education, Research and Innovation for the period 2008-2011",  the Swiss Federal Council defined eight non European countries, including China, as priority countries for research collaboration. The Joint Research Projects of the current call will be funded by the third phase of the SSSTC programme which starts in 2012 ("Intercalary  Dispatch on the Promotion of Education, Research and Innovation 2012" before the one for 2013 – 2016 is established).

Proposals in the following priority research areas only will be accepted for consideration:
• Renewable Energy & Cleantech
• Material Sciences & Nanotechnologies

The selected projects will be funded for 36 months at most and will receive a maximum support of CHF 250,000 per project (for the Swiss part). The total Swiss budget allocated to the third phase of the SSSTC amounts to CHF 2.5 million (subject to approval by the Swiss parliament).

The call text is available on the SSSTC website.