EU offers €500M in grants to woo American scientists amid US funding cuts

French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen held a conference, “Choose Europe for Science,” at Paris’s Sorbonne University on Monday, aimed at attracting US researchers.

The announcement aims to benefit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s funding cuts and conflicts with top U.S. universities.

“We call on researchers worldwide to unite and join us … If you love freedom, come and help us stay free,” French President Emmanuel Macron says at Paris’ Sorbonne University.

EU announced a €500M package

As a part of the announcement, von der Leyen announced a two-year €500M package to encourage American experts to relocate to Europe. 

“This will help support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world. We aim to create a new seven-year ‘super grant’ under the ERC to help offer a longer-term perspective to the very best. Through the ERC, we are already supporting researchers who relocate to Europe with a top-up beyond their grant. We are now doubling the amount they can receive this year. And I want to extend this support for 2026 and 2027,” says von der Leyen.

“Choose Europe Pilot”

Additionally, support for early career scientists is also increasing through a “Choose Europe pilot” under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, offering higher allowances and longer contracts, with targeted incentives in frontier fields like AI planned.

Moving forward, Europe aims to reach the 3 per cent of GDP target for investment in research and development by 2030 in cooperation with Member States, and ambitious proposals for future R&I funding are anticipated in the next long-term budget

European Innovation Act

To fast-track the innovations, Europe plans to propose a first-ever European Innovation Act and a Startup and Scaleup Strategy to remove regulatory barriers and facilitate access to venture capital for European startups and scaleups.

Other efforts are being made to make coming to Europe for research easier and more attractive. 

It includes better linking researchers with institutions, speeding up entry and stay processes, and enhancing existing platforms that connect researchers with jobs, visa support, and career guidance.

“We now want to support public and private institutions to better link up to highly skilled workers and researchers, and to speed up and simplify the entry for top researchers. Because bringing the best from across the world is about bringing out the best of Europe,” says von der Leyen.