“Europe cherishes the UK as part of its community of scientific endeavour, and, I hope that you cherish EU membership for its contribution to science,” said EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas, in a speech at the Royal Society in London this week.
Moedas told the audience that UK membership of the EU is essential to the global standing UK universities and to their contribution to the UK economy.
The UK is the recipient of the largest share of EU research funding, Moedas noted. This promotes the mobility of British researchers, creates jobs and opportunities and provides the conditions for scientific discoveries. “British science thrives in the EU and we thrive because of you,” Moedas said.
The majority of the UK’s top 20 research partners are other EU countries and the UK ranked first for the number of applicants to Framework Programme 7. In the last two years of the programme which ran from 2007 to 2013, UK researchers received almost €7 billion of EU fund, in the form of over 17,000 grants.
This was earned by the willingness and ability of UK scientists to compete for funding based on merit. Such success rests on the openness of British science. “So, my ambitions for your place in Europe are immense,” Moedas said, adding, “I always want to see the UK at our table.”
The flattery did not stop here, with Moedas telling the audience that because of UK participations the values of excellence, openness and innovation have been reinforced in Horizon 2020.
However, he was forced to defend the decision to take money out of the €80 billion Horizon 2020 budget to act as pump priming funds for EU President Jean-Claude Juncker’s new innovation fund.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments will put money into high risk, high value investments in strategic infrastructure, education, research and innovation, allowing €315 billion of public and private funding to be leveraged over the next three years. “That means more money for European research and innovation, not less,” Moedas claimed.
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