Author: Max Cocard
Photo credit: « Ursula von der Leyen during the Choose Europe for Science event at La Sorbonne – 2025 (2) » by Christophe Licoppe / European Union, 2025 / EC – Audiovisual Service is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/?ref=openverse.
Since Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President of the United States, the new government has increasingly attacked science and universities. This includes slashing funds for the National Institutes of Health, firing public agents at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Science Foundation, as well as threatening university fundings. In response, about 1,900 American scientists—all members of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—have published an open letter on March 31, 2025, in which they warn the public about the serious risks they incur. Many signatories fear job losses or political interference.
The past decade has seen a return to Great Power Competition, in which the major players of the international system turn increasingly competitive over regional and domain supremacy. Recognizing that climate change remains the biggest challenge of the century, policymakers must take incisive initiatives—attractive grant offers to foreign talent being one of them. China strives for global leadership in the green transition. It already controls, on average, two-thirds of the production of refining of major critical minerals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel and copper. And, in 2024, 28% of its final energy mix came from electricity, putting it ahead of the US and EU (22% and 21% respectively). Moreover, China ranks number one in the Nature Index for research output in chemistry, earth & environmental sciences and physical sciences.
In the scientific field, China is on the rise, while the US may be on the decline. So, where does that leave the EU? Can the Union reverse its historical scientific deficit from across the Atlantic? And will it be able to formalize a coherent strategy across all 27 member states? The time has come for the EU to realize that achieving strategic sovereignty can only be achieved through a European led decarbonization. Attracting the leading human capital on scientific research, essentially the brains behind the transition, will be essential to pursue this objective.
How the United States have come to rule the world academically
Since 1945, the US has benefitted from extraordinary progresses in scientific research, innovation and technology, spurring continued growth and competitiveness. Two factors seem to explain this success. First, a massive post-war investment in science and research, following American engineer, inventor and science administrator Vannevar Bush’s logic in Science: The Endless Frontier.
Second, appealing to the best talents worldwide has long been a successful strategy. Indeed, about 30% of Nobel Prize winners worldwide come from first-generation immigration. It appears that strong funding for basic research attracts the brightest young scholars from all over the world to the US. Consequently, where American universities become highly reputable, Nobel recognition follows, and the economy grows. This in turn allows for more resources, increasing interest for foreign students and scholars alike, and forming a virtuous cycle.
Van Zedwitz et al. also mention the strategic advantage of institutions possessing a strong track record of Nobel discoveries in this “war for talent”, otherwise known as brain drain—the migration of skilled workers in search of better standards of living and quality of life, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and more stable political conditions.
A European Endless Frontier moment?
Europe needs its own Endless Frontier moment. 2025 seems like a unique opportunity to benefit from a brain gain instead of the historic brain drain vis-à-vis the US, as American scientists are under ideological and budgetary pressure from their own government’s war on science. A March 2025 Nature poll shows that 75% of the 1,600 scientific respondents considered leaving the US. Favored relocation destinations appear to be Europe and Canada. Most interestingly, early career researchers were most tempted to move, as 79% of postgraduate respondents consider leaving.
Aware of the dire situation, Aix-Marseille Université launched its Safe Place For Science program. The aim is to attract American scientists by raising up to 15 million euros for a 3-year program in order to host around 15 researchers. The program quickly became a victim of its own success as it received over 300 applications. The same reality applies to other European research centers, for example the oncologist Johanna Joyce revealed that applications to her lab at the University of Lausanne have risen fivefold since January.
Attracting the best scientists requires resources and a plan. “Starting a new age of invention and ingenuity”, in the EU Commission’s president, von der Leyen’s words, means creating favorable conditions for researchers in order to engage and retain new talents. The European Research Area Act seeks to legally enshrine the freedom of scientific research, while the Choose Europe initiative proposes streamlined visa pathways. A new “scientific visa,” valid across all member states, is being prepared for 2025, aiming to simplify and accelerate the migration process for researchers. However, competition will be fierce as Australia, Canada, and China actively participate in the recent surge to attract American scientists.
A future guided by financial constraints and realistic ambitions
Europe’s ambition to become a global hub for science and innovation hinges on its ability to provide adequate financial support. While initiatives like the European Innovation Act aim to ease access to private capital, this alone is insufficient without a substantial boost in public investment. Currently, the Horizon Europe program allocates 93.5€ billion for research and innovation between 2021 and 2027. And the European Commission has set a target for member states to invest 3% of GDP in research and development by 2030, up from the current 2.2% but still below the US (3.5%) or Japan (3.3%).
Thirteen member states have called for increased funding and infrastructure to attract international researchers. An additional package worth €500 million has been announced for 2025–2027 to draw global talent. Crucially, the next Multiannual Financial Framework must reflect ambitious financing for the European Research Council. The challenge remains financial: stark salary disparities persist, with top US academics earning up to $1 million annually, far outpacing compensation at even Europe’s leading universities. Thus, extraordinary short-term funding needs to be enabled as well in order to not miss this exceptional window of opportunity.
This is a matter of grand strategy. Studies consistently show that top-tier research talent and institutions generate powerful spillover effects—spurring local economic growth and innovation through patent creation. As highlighted by a recent Bruegel publication, 9.3% of top US-based researchers and between 7% to 19% of postdoctoral researchers hold at least one degree from a European institution. Early-career scientists make the most realistic targets for relocation. Thus, targeting younger foreign researchers with European ties while ensuring that future talents remain on the old continent constitute two promising and realistic goals. By investing in the brightest minds of tomorrow, the EU can reaffirm its role as a beacon of hope for the ideas that came to shape the Scientific Revolution of the Renaissance.
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The return of the prodigal son
As he tells me on the telephone, he returns with mixed feelings : “I am happy to see all my friends, to eat my favourite dishes, to be back in my room where I was living throughout my boyhood.” But indeed, there could have been a better reason to take a flight to Central Africa: A couple of days his aunt died. As the young student got that sad information, he did not hesitate a second. A few minutes later, his flight was booked despite the high costs. “She had raised me since I was ten years old. I was always close to her. She is also my mother. I could not stay in Germany in that sad moment. I wanted to be with my family back at home”. Where do you belong to if you have two homes but one decision to make?
« I will leave Germany after my studies. I am sure about it ! »
Lavenir has been asking himself this existential question throughout his past few years. Since he arrived in the country of roast pork, Oktoberfest and an iron Lady governing for more than a decade, his decision to return to Cameroon one day has been continuously swirling in his mind. “I will leave Germany after my studies. I am sure about it!”, he would say to himself. At the airport, his family is already waiting for the plane to debark. And then the moment has come. The prodigal son and his dependents are lying in each other’s arms. They welcome him with a bag full of fresh peanuts that nowhere tastes as good as in that tropical country. They are curious. They are curious to know how it is living in Europe. A sweet surprise, a tearful home-coming.
A laborious path to central Europe
His short stay in the grass fields of the Western highlands near the border of Nigeria is like a trip down memory lane. A foretaste of future? The air is pure. Rainy season is about to end. At the corner, right down the street, children play football and young mothers holding their babies on their arms sell fresh fruits. That time he can only spend a few days in his beloved homeland, “but I am also happy to return to Kaiserslautern to have my normal life, my daily routine. Even though I miss my family and the delicious African food that I still prefer”, he admits. At the end of the week his flight carries him back to his home away from home, within half a day, via Addis Ababa. A world tour XL. He will probably experience the same journey again in the upcoming years with the slight difference that there will be no way back.
Lavenir is one of numerous Africans who leave their country to study in Europe. In Cameroon alone, one to two thousand young high-school graduates and Bachelor graduates apply each year in Germany. The central European country enjoys a good reputation among adolescent Cameroonians. At a time when millions of refugees from war zone arrive in Europe, the procedure to get formally accepted as a student-to-be is complicated and selective: Not only a high language level and a letter of acceptance from a German-based university has to be proven, but also a minimum bank balance of several thousand euros and contacts people already living in Germany are demanded when applying for visa. It is not uncommon to wait a dozen of weeks to get an appointment at the German embassy in the capital Yaoundé. If they succeed, odds are pretty good that their personal path of life end up in a Western socio-economic setting.
The impact of the « brain drain » in Cameroon
“The question is to what extent young African students can put a service to their home institutions. Many policy investigations showed financial gaps for African countries caused by Brain Drain. These people leaving for Europe produce financial income but they pay taxes abroad”, as Dr. Cristina D’Alessandro, senior fellow at the centre on Governance at the university of Ottawa has analysed in her case studies. But not only government revenue is missing, but also know-how in various fields: “Professionals lack in certain disciplines like doctors. They are needed in their home countries”. But there are also those ones who prefer to return to their home countries after their studies. Lavenir is one of them.
« I was really surprised to see poor homeless citizens in such a wealthy state. »
Lavenir has settled down in Kaiserslautern, a modest medium-sized town nearby the Vosges. “It is also because I never had any too optimistic illusions about how life would be here”. In contrast to Cameroonians, he knew that life can be as challenging as in his home country. “On Mondays, I am doing some research about where I can work next. I like to go my lectures at the university. But to be honest – my occasional jobs are even more important.” Lavenir cannot enjoy a scholarship as some of his German fellows do. He has to work to finance his studies, at least two or three days per week. Whereas other students party Saturday evening, Lavenir spends the whole day working in a factory. The rest of his time he has to do his exercises for university. After all, he has little time to have fun with his friends. But still he never misses an opportunity to attend church on Sunday – a tradition that seems like an anachronism in a mostly secularised western society. Lavenir did not expect this society to be so divided: “I was really surprised to see poor homeless citizens in such a wealthy state”.
His friends support him. They are always ready to listen to his troubles: “It is not that easy to find jobs in this region. The neighbouring towns are small. Sometimes you only get temporary employment. With the money I earn I can’t help my Cameroonian family financially as I thought in the beginning”.
« Repatriation » and the collapse of the European dream
Karim does not work at all. He does not have any choice than to return. In Germany, he is not allowed to work. His cheeks are soft. His eyes suggest the fatigue of being in a dead end. The 40 years old father has been separated from his children in Benin. For almost 15 years, Karim has been living in a tiny town in the east of the Republic. His German is poor. Most of his time he spends at home. Karim wasn’t granted the refugee status when he sought for asylum. He is just state-tolerated – since more than a decade: “Since 2004, I am living in Germany but I never got my permission to work. So I am just eating and sleeping. I really want to work”. His children are waiting for him – in Benin. They will soon be able to welcome their father because Karim decided to leave Germany. He had to admit to himself that there is no reasonable chance that anything changes. As Karim got to know that his personal decision to leave voluntarily is even financially supported by the German state, it was clear that there is no holding back. “They give me 2500 euros within the next months as soon as I’ll arrive in Benin. I take the money to start a motor taxi business. I want to help my family.”
Social welfare organizations like Caritas are in charge on consulting returners and providing aid. There are more than 150 of those networks mandated by the International Organization of Migration. Only one out of seven returning refugees has been going to Africa or to the Middle East. In 2016, the German state subsided those so-called Reintegration and Emigration Programmes for Asylum-Seekers in Germany (REAG) and Government Assisted Repatriation Programme (GARP) by 10 million euros. In contrast to the expenses public and private institutions spent for incoming refugees, this is rather a little contribution. For 2015 the IFO institute calculated an amount of 21 billion euros. The EU contributes to such programmes via its 3,1 billion-fund AMIF.
« Start a project back in my own country »
The highly educated elite that studied at least partly abroad, has good chances to find jobs back home – for Dr. Cristina d’Alessandro a reason to be quite optimistic about the next years for Sub-Saharan Africa: “Cameroon high level universities are improving decisively; the question is raised how much they are capable to reabsorb the brain drain. But you have a variety of institutions that are more and more internationally competitive. As much as the political situation improves and also the quality of life, I am confident that the brain drain will come back to its country.”
« As much as the political situation improves and also the quality of life, I am confident that the brain drain will come back to its country. » Dr. Cristina d’Alessandro
Lavenir will return as well. But the time hasn’t come yet. First of all, he aims to finish his studies in Germany and stays so long: “Five years after my graduation I would like to return to Cameroon. I think it would be good if I start working here a bit for a few years to acquire experience. But then I want to return. I want to start a project back in my home country”. There he will belong to the “privileged ones”, as he calls himself. The privilege to study in Europe is followed by the duty to put into practice what you have learnt some thousand miles abroad.
Such a project has been already completed by two other Cameroonians who studied in Germany in the 1990s. Then they returned and started their business. A business that is called: « Educate the generation of tomorrow ». Morene and Chief Charles Morfaw opened up a primary school and a couple of years later a secondary school as well. The institution based in Lavenir’s home town Dschang is regarded in the whole region as its students perform extraordinary well in the common final exams.
On Sunday, they all go to church in Dschang. The service takes two, sometimes up to four hours. Here, life is different. Back in Germany, Lavenir turns on the television. Merkel and Schulz used to smile to each other. Now they have their common point in opposing towards the right-wing party that entered the parliament.
Lavenir could not vote last Sunday. But he noted that there is a wind of change. Immigrants’ issues are causing tension and harsh cleavages inside the society. And even ten percent for the right-wing party in Kaiserslautern are worrying, but still no reason for Lavenir to rethink his plans for the next few years. His home will be based somewhere in the westernmost corner of Germany.
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