The FHNW School of Business considers increasing the activities in South America. Currently, there is a lack of easily accessible information about this region in terms of academic collaboration. The client therefore wanted to know, which are the most important countries to the Swiss economy and following this, which are the most attractive countries for academic collaboration.

To gain the relevant information a literature review was done about approaches to economic interconnectivity and on criteria that make a country attractive for academic collaboration. The review lead to a framework for assessing the attractiveness of countries for academic collaboration (with Swiss universities of applied sciences) including economic interconnectivity at country level measured through migration, trade and foreign direct investments. Furthermore, seven experts were interviewed on the topic. South American countries were then evaluated on the basis of this framework by means of secondary data and expert interviews. The experts are employees of Swiss universities and universities of applied sciences, as well as experts from the Swissnex Network and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The information gained from the literature and the interviews were used to develop criteria and measurements for the evaluation framework.

First, the thesis shows at one glance how interconnected each of the mentioned countries is with the Swiss economy. Further, the results show that certain countries are definitely more attractive for academic collaborations than others, even though the national context seems not to be the most important factor while deciding on partnerships. Additional benefits the thesis provides for the client are pointing out specific recommendations where to increase activities and also recommended next steps. The knowledge gained from the expert interviews were a valuable driver towards these recommendations. Therefore, the knowledge that could be gathered through the interviews represent a clear benefit for the client as well.