Can the EU do enough to attract scientists to work in its countries?
Europe is home to more than two million researchers and the bloc wants to attract many more, especially after restrictions imposed by the US government on the scientific community. Will the "Choose Europe" initiative be enough to make the EU a world leader in science?
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00:00Europe is home to more than two million researchers and the bloc wants to attract many more.
00:19The European Commission has seen an opportunity in the restrictions imposed by the U.S. government
00:24on the scientific community.
00:26The Choose Europe for Science initiative promises more resources and less bureaucracy for researchers coming from outside the bloc.
00:34In EU Decoded, we investigate whether this is enough to make the EU a world leader in science.
00:40The European Commission has promised a new 500 million euro package for the period 2025 to 2027.
00:4820 million euro will be earmarked specifically for research projects with industrial applications.
00:54A new 7-year super grant will provide researchers with long-term career prospects.
01:00Researchers who relocate to Europe have a top-up beyond the grant and that amount will be doubled this year.
01:07In her speech to present the initiative, the President of the European Commission said that the EU needs to stand for science.
01:14Ursula von der Leyen added that it is the fuel for growth and progress.
01:19What do Europeans think of this race for scientific genius?
01:23Virem para cá é uma concorrência deslegial para aqueles que já cá estão, não é?
01:28Portanto, viver na Europa já é um incentivo para quem quer que seja.
01:32Não sejam sempre os cá e para lá aprender, que também possam vir para cá passar a mensagem, os conhecimentos.
01:40Acho que fazer a pont com a industria é também importante para se financiar essa própria investigação científica.
01:46Claro que sim, porque a nauca é a base, e im mais que vamos ser construídos, e im mais que vamos ser construídos,
01:53e im mais que vamos ser construídos, e im mais que vamos ser construídos,
01:54a para nós todos os mais que vamos ser melhor.
01:57Eu acho que isso não é um objetivo, principalmente se são pessoas que realmente se conhecem sobre isso
02:03e que são pessoas que podem aprender a pessoas que podem aprender a pessoas que podem aprender a gente,
02:07então eu acho que isso não tem nada.
02:08Meu colega Amadeen S. cobrou este anúncio para a Euronews.
02:13Em sua conversa sobre a iniciativa, Ursula von der Leyen nunca mencionou a situação nos Estados Unidos.
02:19Porém, muitas pessoas pensaram que eram indiretas referências para o Presidente Donald Trump recentes medidas nesta área.
02:28Podemos explicar um pouco esse contexto?
02:30O Presidente da Comissão da Comissão da União Europeia disse que o papel da ciência no mundo hoje está sendo questionado,
02:36e ela até disse que era uma descalculação gigante.
02:40Então, vamos ter em mente que nos Estados Unidos, a administração Trump lançou uma grande ofensiva contra universidades,
02:49Então, um budget federal foi fechado, algumas pesquisas foram terminais,
02:54e as pesquisas foram também bando de usar algumas palavras como o que mudança climática, ou as mulheres,
02:59em seus papéis, ou eles enfrentam o risco de perder acesso a fundação.
03:04Não há apenas uma anúncia financeira aqui,
03:07há também a mention da nova Europa Research Area Acta.
03:12O que é o objetivo da essa legislação?
03:14Então, um dos objetivos desse projeto de pesquisa europeia é para ensinar a liberdade de pesquisa de pesquisa em lei.
03:22A Comissão da Comissão da União Europeia fez claro que a principal prioridade da Ciência Europeia
03:28é garantir que a pesquisa de pesquisa permanece livre e aberta.
03:31Na verdade, na Alemanha, por exemplo, a liberdade de pesquisa e pesquisa de pesquisa de pesquisa
03:36são consideradas fundamentais, e elas são já ensinadas na Constituição da Alemanha.
03:42Há também uma maior ênfase em usar a ciência para criar novas oportunidades novas de pesquisa.
03:48O que serão os novos novos da fronte?
03:50Os novos novos novos novos novos da fronte,
03:52vão ser que a Comissão do EU está planejando com a europeia inovadoras como uma startup e escala-up estratégia.
04:00E basicamente, a aim é a cortar a red tape e facilitar acesso a capital da aurora europeia.
04:09And this is not a new idea, it was already put forward in the Draghi report on EU competitiveness,
04:15which was suggesting to create a research and innovation union in order to foster EU competitiveness.
04:21Let's look at the state of investment in European science.
04:25In the EU budget for 2021 to 2027, distributed among the 27 member states,
04:3193 billion Euro has been allocated to the Horizon Europe research program.
04:36In addition, each country decides its national investment, with significant disparities.
04:42Belgium spends 3.4% of its GDP, while Romania only 0.4%.
04:48In total, the bloc spends 2.2% of its GDP and the Commission has set a target of 3% by 2030.
04:56But even this figure is well below that of other advanced regions.
05:00The United States with 3.5%, Japan with 3.3%, and China with 2.4%.
05:08Our guest is Ekaterina Zahariev, European Commissioner responsible for startups, research and innovation.
05:15Welcome to Euronews.
05:16I'd like to start by asking what is your opinion of the recent United States government measures towards academia and other scientific institutions,
05:27not only in budgetary terms, but also even political guidelines about how to do research.
05:33In Europe we do differently. We don't tell researchers how and what to research.
05:38We respect scientific freedom, we respect scientists, and everybody is free to research, and they are welcome in Europe.
05:48That's why the European Commission is presenting the Choose Europe initiative.
05:53Do you think it will be enough to attract researchers from all parts of the world,
05:58considering that the ones that are already working here face a lot of red tape, bureaucratic problems, short budgets as well?
06:10We have an excellent program actually. It's Horizon Europe, it's the brand name program, the biggest actually program in the world for research and innovation.
06:19So we are really very focused on reducing the red tape, reducing the report, so to say focusing on how to make the program more accessible for the small research organization,
06:32for the smaller companies, for SMEs, which will spare time and money for the applicants.
06:40Scientists fear that the next research framework program will be kind of short of money, and at the same time that it might be even diluted into the new competitiveness fund.
06:53What is your strategy?
06:55The public funds will be never enough. So what the Commission is working and is focused on is how to see more investment coming from the private sector in research and innovation.
07:05But what we are lagging behind and what we have problems, and I speak a lot both with the private sector but with the academia,
07:11is really to transfer this knowledge, to transfer this discovery to the market. So this is the goal of the Competitiveness Fund.
07:18As I said, the research and innovation program, the framework programs, are in our treaties. So there will be a research and innovation program.
07:26But connection with competitiveness is really crucial, I think, for deployment. So it will be win-win.
07:33A quarter of the world's researchers work in Europe, making it one of the most productive in terms of new knowledge.
07:39The bloc is considered a leader in some areas, such as robotics, space technology and pharmaceuticals, for example.
07:47This is a highly competitive sector worldwide, and the EU member states will have to open up their pockets in order to attract the best to its academia and industry.
