4,322 people have signed a petition launched by EuroScience and the Initiative for Science in Europe, calling for an increased European Research and Innovation budget.
Although the signatories welcome the general structure and ambition of the Commission’s proposal for Horizon Europe, they consider that “it falls short of the effort required to face the growing political challenges as well as the very high level of competition now et notably by Asian countries: gross domestic spending on R&D in the EU as percentage of GDP, which is below 2% and lags behind Korea (4.2%), Taiwan (3.3%), Japan (3.1%), USA (2.8%), China (2.1%, and constantly rising). There is a serious danger that the situation will force many promising young scientists to leave Europe, and that Europe will become less attractive for foreign scientists”.
The petition urges “the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission to create the needed step change in budgetary commitment for Research and Innovation, by moving from the current 100 billion € target proposed for the next 7-year Financial Framework period to 160 billion €”.
The signatories include Nobel Prize winners, Fields medallists, Abel Prize winners, researchers and Presidents of a wide range of agencies, organisations and associations e.g. European Research Council, Initiative for Science in Europe, European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities, European Educational Research Association.
For more information, the petition can be found here or on Twitter under #DoubleRIEU
