Science Since Brexit: Innovation in the New Economy

by Claris Monica Diaz

Science and technology drive innovation and economic growth. Studies of technology and its effect on the economy have been done since the 1950s and have generally concluded that it is a source of growth in productivity (Pakes & Sokoloff, 1996). Science has been called the currency of technology (Impact of Science on Global Economies, 2016), and just like any other currency, it is shared, traded, and bought. However, the free flow of this “science currency” was changed by Brexit. “Brexit, ” the moniker given to Britain withdrawing from the European Union, was predicted by experts to have negative economic consequences (Baldwin, 2016; Giles, 2017). The science sector has suffered from these consequences, and it has been increasingly apparent since the UK’s infamous referendum in 2016 that Britain is losing its “science superpower” status (Foster, 2021).

First and foremost, Brexit affected Britain’s science economy by changing their eligibility for research funding. As part of the European Union, the UK could participate in research funding schemes such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programs and receive money from the European Research Council, but Brexit prevents them from being eligible for many EU-based funding schemes. The UK’s share of EU research funding has decreased by half a billion Euros since 2015. Even a year before the official referendum vote, far fewer EU research programs funded researchers from the United Kingdom (“Brexit Is Already Having an Impact on UK Science, ” 2019). In June of 2022, the European Research Council (ERC) mandated that 143 UK-based researchers relocate their labs to an EU country or lose their ERC grants. Four of the 143 scientists were interviewed, and after the ERC’s decision, two scientists relocated their labs to an EU country, and the two others stayed in the UK hoping to find auxiliary funds (Woolston, 2022). These scientists have been obliged to make hard decisions affecting their livelihood and personal lives.

A trade deal enabling the UK to be an associate member of Horizon Europe, the EU’s lead research program worth €100 billion created in 2018, was issued right before Britain left the EU to ease the impact on research. This deal is intended to afford scientists based in the UK more project funding security and collaboration opportunities despite the exit from the EU (Gibney, 2021). However, due to prolonged negotiations to finalize the details of the UK’s participation in this scheme, they only became an associate country on January 1, 2024. The lengthy process of joining Horizon Europe involved a political agreement between the UK and the EU, which is part of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (European Commission, 2023). Unfortunately, the participation of UK-based researchers in EU funding schemes still declined considerably despite the association in Horizon Europe. Before Brexit, the UK was part of the Horizon 2020 scheme, Horizon Europe’s predecessor. Under Horizon 2020, the UK had the third greatest number of project participants receiving funding. They fell to seventh under the Horizon Europe scheme (Matthews et al., 2023). The figure below shows five of the UK’s top universities and how Brexit has affected the funding they have received under the Horizon schemes. The period of years in each scheme is different, as the UK has been part of Horizon Europe for only a short period, but the data illustrates the difference in the proportion of funding received under Horizon 2020 (pre-Brexit) and Horizon Europe (post-Brexit) schemes.

Figure 1: Oxford University, the UK’s top-funded university, went from receiving €523 million in a seven-year span to €2 million in a two-year span. Cambridge, with the second-highest amount of funding in Horizon 2020, received no funding from Horizon Europe as of January 2023. University College London, Imperial College London, and the University of Edinburgh suffered similar cuts (Matthews et al., 2023).

Another way that Brexit has damaged Britain’s science industry is with the new immigration rules that deter EU nationals from finding posts in the UK. Science has its own labor market, employing professors, lab technicians and analysts, research assistants, and graduate students. These employees are the individuals who “produce” our science (Stephan, 1996), and a state’s healthy response to rapid technological change is handled by individuals with the proper skill set (Science, Technology and Innovation in the New Economy, 2000). Twenty percent of academic personnel at UK research universities are EU nationals, but since the advent of Brexit, Britain has lost a significant source of the talent and intellect needed to instigate the scientific and technological change that helps drive its economy (Stokstad, 2019). Brexit has resulted in the UK no longer being a top employer of the best scientific talent, and as of 2019, 35% fewer researchers have decided to work in the UK (“Brexit Is Already Having an Impact on UK Science, ” 2019; Kennedy & Adrjan, 2021). Britain’s science arena is no longer viewed as accessible and accommodating for either movement or cooperation (Foster, 2021).

The decrease in research funding and restrictions on freedom of movement to UK-based EU-national scientists is due to Brexit, and the overarching effect of this is slower technological advances and the doubt cast upon Britain’s future as a science superpower. This loss of “science currency” will result in the UK being superseded by other nations in scientific research and development, which in turn will slow the UK’s economic growth over time. Will the prestige of running a lab at Oxbridge outweigh the need for visas and the search for additional funding? From 2015 until now, the answer seems to be no. The UK is losing its leadership in science research and development, and only time will tell how the UK’s science economy progresses in the future.