The charter of GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG founded in 1997 states the foundation's purpose as driving Switzerland as a site for economic activities and as an attractive place to live. It has an annual grant budget of around 10 million Swiss francs. The foundation supports projects at Swiss universities and other institutions of higher learning by promoting innovation through funding new approaches and thus fostering the development of promising next-generation academics. The focus and criteria are on effective, high quality initiatives. Although the foundation is not running the projects, it takes an active part in the project design and implementation.