The research institutions focus primarily on applied research. There are close links between them and the two Institutes of Technology, on the one hand thanks to joint projects and, on the other, because a number of their staff lecture at the Institutes of Technology. Many ETH students also pursue their studies at one of the research institutions.

The public and private sectors can commission research at any of the six institutions in the ETH domain. As such the institutions act as an interface between science and its real-life applications.