• Posted May 7, 2025

Europe Launches $565 Million Campaign to Attract U.S. Scientists

WEDNESDAY, May 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The European Union is looking to capitalize on the Trump administration's dismantling of U.S. research programs to beef up its own.

A $565 million program unveiled Monday aims to make "Europe a magnet for researchers," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said. 

"Unfortunately, we see that the role of science in today's world is questioned, the investment in fundamental, free, and open research is questioned," she said in announcing the initiative. "What a gigantic miscalculation."

The 500€ initiative, which STAT News reported will last through 2027, would support researchers not only from Europe itself but also around the world. It will underwrite new, long-term grants and support researchers who move to Europe.

Appearing at Paris' Sorbonne University with French President Emmanuel Macron, von der Leyen said science plays a crucial role in linking people and creating a shared future in a fractured world. 

"We can all agree that science has no passport, no gender, no ethnicity, no political party," she said.

She and Macron both took swipes at Trump administration moves to slash funding for research and to target studies focused on health equity and diversity, among others, STAT News reported.

Macron said no one could have imagined that a major democracy would scuttle research programs based on their focus on diversity, particularly a country "whose economic model is so dependent on science and innovation."

Countries around the world rely on investments in science to stimulate their economics. Many have been trying to make themselves more appealing to researchers and firms that finance development. 

But competing with the U.S., long the pinnacle of scientific research, has been a challenge. 

Since Trump returned to the White House, however, other countries have recognized the U.S. pull back from research as a chance to stop the exodus of their own scientists and recruit new ones. 

Norway launched a $9.5 million recruitment program and France's Aix-Marseille University aims to raise about $17 million. Some European universities have also upped their recruitment efforts.

While funding levels vary from country to country, Europe has a whole has long missed its target of spending 3% of its gross domestic product on research, STAT News reported. 

The aim now, von der Leyen said, is to hit that target in five years. She also unveiled a pilot program to support early-career researchers.

Wooing U.S. researchers has been a perennial challenge.

What job opportunities there are usually come with smaller paychecks than in the U.S. The new funding aims to make the E.U. more appealing to disenchanted or unfunded U.S. scientists.

"We are choosing to be the continent where innovation serves humanity, where global talent is welcomed," von der Leyen said, adding: "Progress thrives on freedom, openness and collaboration."

More information

There's more about federal funding for scientific research at the National Institutes of Health.

SOURCE: STAT News, May 5, 2025