The Swiss Genomics Association awards recognise contributions that meaningfully advance what the genomics and omics community can achieve and create foundations that others can build upon.
Open Omics describes an ecosystem in which knowledge, systems, and products can connect, be understood, and work together across organisations. It allows companies and institutions to remain free to use their own software, methods, and intellectual property.
For example, a biotechnology company may develop an advanced new genomic product, while hospitals remain uncertain whether they can use or trust its outputs because the formats, evidence structures, or interfaces are incompatible with their own systems. Shared standards can remove that barrier without requiring the company to disclose its proprietary methods.
We therefore seek contributions with lasting collective value. These may include scientific methods, standards, software, infrastructure, reference resources, clinical implementations, interoperability efforts, enabling technologies, or other advances that improve what becomes possible across genomics and omics.
The awards reflect the principles of the Swiss Genomics Association: scientific ambition guided by evidence, shared standards, interoperability, responsible implementation, open reflection, and long-term benefit.
Awards
Two awards will be presented in 2027:
- Swiss Open Omics Award: recognising an outstanding contribution with a meaningful connection to the Swiss genomics and omics community.
- International Open Omics Award: recognising an outstanding contribution from the wider international genomics and omics community.
Nominations
Anyone may submit a nomination, and self-nominations are encouraged.
We welcome nominations from all backgrounds, including industry, academia, healthcare, public organisations, non-profit initiatives, community projects, and individuals.
Contributions may include scientific methods, standards, software, infrastructure, reference resources, clinical implementations, interoperability initiatives, community resources, enabling technologies, or other work that has materially advanced what is possible in genomics or omics.
The contribution does not need to originate directly within genomics or omics. Advances from other fields may be considered where they have substantially enabled progress in these areas.
To nominate a contribution, email admin@swissgenomicsassociation.ch with:
Award category: Swiss / International
Name:
Short description:
URL:
Nominee or project contact:
Contact email:
Your name:
Your email:
Contact information will be retained privately only for the award management and will not be published.
After receiving a nomination, SGA will contact an appropriate recipient, maintainer, representative, or project lead to confirm that they are willing to participate as a nominee.
Confirmed nominations will be listed publicly in recognition of the contribution:
Name - Short description - URL
Important dates
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Nominations open | December 2027 |
| Nominations close | 28 February 2027 |
| Review and judging | March 2027 |
| Award recipients announced | 7 April 2027 |
The awards will be presented at SGA 2027 seminar.
Recipients will be invited to attend the award ceremony. Where attendance is not possible, participation by a short video call or recorded message will be offered.
Confirmed nominees
Confirmed nominees will be added here during the nomination period. The list will normally be updated weekly.
Swiss Open Omics Award
To be announced.
International Open Omics Award
To be announced.
Principles
SGA awards are guided by several broad considerations:
- Advance: the contribution should represent meaningful progress rather than repetition of an established solution.
- Collective value: its importance should extend beyond a single project, institution, or immediate use case.
- Durability: it should provide knowledge, capability, infrastructure, or practice that others can build upon.
- Interoperability: where relevant, it should help knowledge or systems work across organisational, technical, or disciplinary boundaries.
- Quality: the contribution should be scientifically, technically, or operationally credible.
- Foresight: its value should be considered in terms of where omics needs to progress, not only where the field stands today.
Open access, open-source development, reproducibility, transparency, and shared standards can be important means of achieving these aims. They are valued for the extent to which they strengthen collective progress and allow advances to be understood, adopted, tested, and extended.
Adoption and popularity may provide evidence of value, but they do not determine the award. New or emerging contributions may represent important advances before widespread adoption has occurred.
Judging
Award recipients will be selected by a judging panel convened by the Swiss Genomics Association.
Selection is based on expert assessment and deliberation. The purpose is not to identify the most popular contribution, but to recognise work judged to have substantially strengthened the foundations or future possibilities of omics.
Judges will consider the award principles together rather than treating the process as a purely numerical competition.
SGA members may be nominated.
A person directly responsible for a confirmed nominee may not serve on the judging panel for that award cycle. Judges must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from assessment where a relationship could reasonably affect impartial judgement.
The 2027 judging panel will be announced here.
Supporting the awards
The SGA welcomes financial or in-kind support from organisations that share an interest in the responsible and long-term advancement of genomics and omics.
Support may contribute to the award programme, recipient participation, travel, the award ceremony, and hosting costs.
Supporting organisations will be acknowledged publicly on this page and in connection with the award ceremony.
Support for an award does not confer influence over nominations, eligibility decisions, judging, ranking, or selection of recipients. Scientific and community recognition remain independent of financial or in-kind support.
Organisations interested in supporting the 2027 awards may contact admin@swissgenomicsassociation.ch.
Supporting organisations
To be announced.
Award recipients
Recipients will be announced on 7 April 2027 and recorded permanently here.
Swiss Open Omics Award
To be announced.
International Open Omics Award
To be announced.
Swiss Genomics Association
The Swiss Genomics Association is a national collaboration bringing together expertise from academia, healthcare, industry, public institutions, and the wider omics community.
Its purpose is to support coordinated progress in omics through shared standards, evidence-based guidance, interoperability, responsible implementation, and long-term scientific foresight.
