A multi-level governance approach is necessary to understand the small but very successful Swiss research and innovation system. Switzerland has taken a liberal political approach to its development, whereby the federal government has left the competence for research policy to its regional governments and to a stronger politically coordinated research system with an unusually high number of actors that are divided territorially and functionally. In parallel, although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it has succeeded in integrating itself into the European Research Area, which has positively contributed to its innovation capacity. However, due to political conflicts with the European Union, the well-balanced Swiss governance system of the research and innovation field and the field’s high capacity are seriously threatened.