On 5 May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron took to the stage at Paris’s Sorbonne University to launch “Choose Europe for Science”, a €500 million initiative running from 2025 to 2027 that aims to position Europe as a global magnet for top scientific talent, safeguard academic freedom and accelerate the path from fundamental research to market-ready innovation.  

With this move, the EU seeks to respond in particular to recent developments in the United States, where political interference and funding cuts have increasingly undermined the independence of science. Notable examples that have drawn sharp criticism from Europe include the dismantling of federal research institutions under the guise of efficiency, such as mass layoffs at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DoE), as well as the dismissal of 400 scientists working on the sixth National Climate Assessment. 

“Science has no passport, no gender, no ethnicity or political party”, von der Leyen declared, adding, “What a gigantic miscalculation to question the value of fundamental, free and open research.” Macron, for his part, spoke plainly of a “reverse Enlightenment”, stressing that the assault on knowledge now emanates from within democracies once considered scientific powerhouses. 

“Choose Europe for Science” rests on three pillars: support for open science, increased investment in research and innovation (R&I), and a stronger innovation cycle linking fundamental research to commercial application. One of its most promising components is the introduction of new European Research Council (ERC) “super grants”, aimed at reinforcing Europe’s position as a global centre of scientific excellence. As with existing ERC schemes, these grants will be awarded solely on the basis of scientific merit and will be open to individual researchers of any nationality wishing to carry out their work at a host institution in an EU Member State or an associated country. Crucially, grant duration will be extended from five to seven years, offering long-term support for transformative, high-impact research across all disciplines. Meanwhile, funding to support the relocation of international researchers will be doubled in 2025 and extended through 2027. 

President von der Leyen also used the occasion to reaffirm the EU’s commitment to the 3% of GDP target for R&I investment and pledged that the Commission would table “ambitious proposals” for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034). She also referred to the forthcoming European Innovation Act and the Start-up and Scale-up Strategy, intended to reduce regulatory burdens and improve access to venture capital for innovative European enterprises. 

Alongside this EU-wide initiative, several national governments are stepping up. Among others, Macron pledged an additional €100 million from the “France 2030” programme, building on his earlier “Choose France for Science” initiative. Germany is mobilising part of its €500 billion climate and infrastructure package to support R&I and has announced a “1,000 Heads” scheme to recruit international talent. Norway has earmarked €8.4 million to attract global researchers while Italy, reportedly irritated by the perceived French-led framing of the “Choose Europe for Science” launch, also launched its own €50 million programme with similar objectives. 

This renewed momentum is also gaining strength from the bottom up. Among others, Université Aix-Marseille, with its “Safe Place for Science” programme, and Université Paris-Saclay in France, along with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium, are taking bold steps to defend academic freedom and attract international talent. 

While these developments are encouraging, several structural challenges must still be addressed for them to succeed. Europe’s complex funding architecture, bureaucratic hurdles, fragmented knowledge systems, and the growing precarity of research careers, which continue to spark regular protests across the continent, remain a source of frustration for many scientists. Despite some progress, salaries and relocation incentives too often still fall short of what other global centres can offer. In his well-known report on European competitiveness, published in 2024, Mario Draghi identified these challenges and issued a strong call to address them, recommending, among other things, significantly boosting R&I investment, tackling fragmentation, and strengthening Europe’s single market for knowledge, a message echoed in the Letta report on the future of the single market, also published that year. 

In EERA’s view, the message behind “Choose Europe for Science” reflects a growing recognition that scientific leadership is increasingly at the forefront of the geopolitical game. In a world marked by trade rivalries, as seen, for example, in the escalation of tariff wars, and increasingly polarised public discourse, research and innovation are not only seen as engines of prosperity but also pillars of strategic autonomy and socio-economic resilience. 

The fundamentals of the initiative also resonate with ongoing discussions around the EU’s next seven-year budget (2028–2034), and in particular, the much-discussed European Competitiveness Fund, currently the subject of considerable speculation over whether and which R&I-related investments will include, fuelling uncertainty about the future of Horizon Europe’s successor programme. The outcome of these deliberations will offer a crucial test of whether the von der Leyen II Commission will deliver on what was first stated in Strasbourg on 18 July 2024, when she made the political pitch that secured her re-election as President of the European Commission and reaffirmed in Paris at the launch of “Choose Europe for Science”: that research and innovation, science and technology, must be placed at the centre of Europe’s economy. Attracting the brightest minds is essential, but Europe’s scientific future will ultimately depend on what those minds are empowered to achieve once they arrive.