The European Union has unveiled a €500 million (?424 million) scientific research package to ¡°make Europe a magnet for researchers¡±, including new seven-year ¡°supergrants¡± to attract the ¡°best and brightest¡± scientists from around the world.

Speaking at the Choose Europe for Science event at Sorbonne University in Paris, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the new seven-year European Research Council (ERC) grants would offer a ¡°longer-term perspective to the very best¡±.

Her speech follows last month¡¯s decision to double the maximum grant available to those arriving from outside Europe to set up a laboratory or research team to €2 million (?1.7 million).

In the EU¡¯s latest pitch to US researchers disaffected by Donald Trump¡¯s defunding of American science, von der Leyen said the EU is ¡°choosing to put research and innovation, science and technology, at the heart of our economy¡±.

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¡°We are choosing to be the continent where universities are pillars of our societies and our way of life. We are choosing to be the continent where innovation serves humanity, where global talent is welcomed,¡± she added.

While not naming the US specifically, von der Leyen alluded to recent developments, noting how ¡°unfortunately¡­the role of science in today¡¯s world is questioned¡±.

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¡°The investment in fundamental, free, and open research is questioned,¡± said von der Leyen, adding: ¡°What a gigantic miscalculation. I believe that science holds the key to our future here in Europe.¡±

Announcing the for the ERC, von der Leyen also recommitted to the EU¡¯s ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP on research and development by 2030.

The commission would put forward ¡°ambitious proposals on research and innovation funding in the next long-term budget¡­because we know that an investment in science is an investment into our future¡±, she explained.

The ¡°shifting EU narrative towards enhanced competitiveness¡± articulated by von der Leyen in the Choose Europe for Science speech was also likely to be reflected in the European Commission¡¯s forthcoming plans on how research will be supported after Horizon Europe finishes in 2027, said European Universities Association (EUA) secretary general Amanda Crowfoot.

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Details of the EU¡¯s next multiannual financial framework (MFF) are likely to be released in July.

In its response to the commission¡¯s consultation, the EUA had ¡°stressed the importance of further investment in research and innovation, education and skills as an essential contribution to the EU¡¯s long-term competitiveness, as well as its green and social resilience and sustainability¡±.

¡°The design of the next MFF must give priority to the establishment of a fifth freedom, allowing the free movement of research, innovation and education to genuinely lay the foundations for a strengthened single market,¡± said the EUA, noting the importance of Erasmus+, as well as researcher mobility.

¡°By strengthening higher education and research mobility, capacity building and collaboration, Erasmus+ and the R&I framework programme play a pivotal role in boosting Europe¡¯s competitiveness and prosperity. Therefore, these two flagship European initiatives must continue to exist as stand-alone programmes, with their own identity and community¡± said Crowfoot.

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Secretary general of the League of European Research Universities (Leru), Kurt Deketelaere, said that investing in research, innovation and education ¡°is not optional, but foundational to Europe¡¯s future¡± and this should be reflected in the next MFF.

¡°The EU has the legal tools, the political mandate, and the policy evidence to do this. What is needed now is the political will,¡± he added. The speech by von der Leyen ¡°gave the impression that the political will is finally there¡±, according to Deketelaere, but the ¡°proof of the pudding is in the eating¡±.

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In a separate development, a joint declaration has been issued by Leru, along with other associations that make up the global Research-Intensive Universities Network, that calls for ¡°intensified international research collaboration amid growing international turbulence and uncertainty¡± after a meeting in Ottawa, Canada.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com