Leading scientific organisations join forces to highlight importance of UK’s association with Horizon Europe
5 April 2023
The Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Biology and Royal Society of Chemistry have jointly written to the UK Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to emphasise the importance of UK's association with Horizon Europe.
As learned scientific societies, the communities we represent consistently highlight the benefits of collaborating on Horizon Europe including their ability to provide a route to international collaboration, networks and world-class infrastructure on a global scale.
Horizon Europe attracts and retains talented researchers and innovators, bringing significant financial benefits to research and companies. Playing an active part in Horizon Europe is proven to create supportive international ecosystems for potentially high-growth, transformative SMEs to thrive.
We welcome the news that the Secretary of State for DSIT, Michelle Donelan, has kickstarted talks on research collaboration and Horizon Europe with the EU Commission yesterday. This is a promising step and we urge both parties to get UK association to Horizon Europe swiftly over the line.
Tom Grinyer, IOP Chief Executive, said: “Association to Horizon Europe is crucial to UK business, the economy and the wider science community. To attract the best global talent and international investment we must give the private sector, research institutions and universities the confidence they need now to invest in UK research and innovation. Physics-powered businesses and innovators will help grow the UK’s economy and any delay in providing this much needed confidence could have serious consequences.”