Not only the possible effects of the duties: the profound consequences of the action of the Trump administration could be felt above all on US competitiveness in the field of innovation and in the ability of superpower to attract brains from all over the world. This is what emerges from a new editorial of the prestigious Science magazine Signed by Stefan Raff-Heinen and Fiona E. Murray of the Mit Sloan Sloan School of Management for which the cuts to federal funds for research “threaten the entrepreneurial engine at the source: university laboratories. Without a lasting federal support, the country risks losing its technological advantage, threatening economic competitiveness and national security”.
“The United States – the authors continue – attract for some time i Best talents in engineering and science, offering opportunities for academic and entrepreneurial excellence, together with flexible funding in the initial phase through government and university programs that align with the needs of a project as it advances through technological goals. It is a serious concern that, with the decline in government support, less scientists will have the resources to pursue entrepreneurship, suffocating innovation And reversing the trend of research and post-doc doctors who enter the startups “.
A situation that could push many researchers to find luck elsewhere or – if already in the States – to return to their countries of origin as underlined by Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini who on the occasion of the Event South 2030 said that “as regards university and research, The duties war is having a return effect. Scientists, scholars and doctors of research is bringing us back. The current American administration has cut funds for research, while we are investing. We allocating 11 billion on research infrastructures. So we are witnessing a return phenomenon because researchers return to Italy because they are financed “.
In addition to Italy, other countries are also moving to try to welcome this possible wave of “fleeing” scholars. Given to an article always published in Science La France was among the first countries to move to try to exploit the wave out of the US talent. The University of Aix Marseille launched an initiative at the beginning of this month called Safe Place for Science, which will invest between 10 and 15 million euros to support about 15 researchers. The offer has so far attracted more than 50 candidates, says a spokesperson for the University, and the institution “has already accepted a researcher” for a visit. Another French university, Paris-Saclay, told Science that could extend or launch new initiatives to support US researchers. And the French research minister has recently sent a letter to the French universities asking for “concrete proposals” on how to attract researchers from the United States, according to what was reported by France-Presse.
The offers in other countries have been more direct. After the Trump administration threatened to stop 400 million dollars of federal funding for Columbia University Yi Rao, a neurobiologist of the University of Beijing, contacted the researchers of the institution to offer his help. “I was shocked in learning the vast cancellation of subsidies and contracts”, he wrote in an email seen by Science, adding that “if a good scientist wants to have a stable position to conduct scientific research, do not hesitate to contact me”.
At the University of Lausanne, the oncologist Johanna Joyce, elected president of the European Association for Cancer Research, states that spontaneous candidates for his laboratory by US scientists have increased five times since January. It is clear, he says, that “the future of so many scientists in the United States and all over the world has quickly become very uncertain”.
Some politics experts say that national governments should do more to attract foreign talents. Danielle Cave, executive director, strategy and Research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has pushed that Australia offers visits or quick permits to the best US scientists, an idea that has also been discussed in Norway and in other countries in the last few weeks. Do not capitalize on the situation, he said, “it would be to waste a unique opportunity”. An opportunity confirmed also by the numbers. According to a survey conducted by Nature, 75 percent of the more than 1600 scientists who answered the magazine questions are evaluating the possibility of leaving the country. The trend is particularly relevant among the researchers at the beginning of the career. Of the 690 post-graduate researchers who responded to the survey, 548 are thinking of leaving; 255 of the 340 doctoral students involved said the same.