European Commission Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva: Research and Innovation for Start-Ups, Science and Business in the 21st Century
For decades, one country more than any other has been a magnet for global research talent. The United States became the world’s science and technology power by funding students and researchers not only from inside its borders, but from around the world, to study, experiment, innovate, found companies and scale them up. It’s an environment that has created both landmark scientific achievements and science-driven prosperity. As Marcia McNutt, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, has observed (M. McNutt Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 21, e2321322120; 2023), it would be surprising if the United States didn’t win science Nobels in any given year.
The Dutch government asked its national research-funding council to create a fund that would attract top scientists looking to move because of the changing climate. Universities in Belgium and France have advertised specific opportunities for US researchers.
Ekaterina Zaharieva is the European Union’s new commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation. After a long career in the Bulgarian government, including as justice minister, she took office in December.
The successor to the EU’s 93.5-billion (US$101-billion) research programme will begin in 2028 and it is one of the main jobs of the commissioner.
The budget and plan are expected to be decided on this year. But there’s a debate over whether the programme should be subsumed into a wider EU ‘competitiveness fund’, targeted at reviving the economy. Some scientists worry that this could switch the focus from research to meeting immediate economic needs.