The UK is preparing for a frenzy of post-Brexit science deals – and the U.S is next – after it was excluded from the EUs The flagship £80bn innovation program, Science Minister George Freeman revealed in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk. Britain has negotiated to join Horizon Europe, a major project that gives British researchers the chance to access prestigious EU grants and enables scientific collaboration with European partners, as part of the 2020 post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
The Science Minister is serious now assessing a “Plan B“, after the EU banned the UK from taking part in the program two years ago and told the British they could not rejoin until the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol was resolved. Joining the programme, in which the UK left the EU Handing over £15 billion to participate is still the government’s main target, the minister explains.
But the Financial Times reported this week that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had asked Mr Freeman to speed up work on a proper blueprint for the minister’s “Global Plan B”, which he said is partly about making deals with other scientific great powers.
And he already seems to be gaining ground. Last week he visited Tokyo and announced the International Science Partnerships Fund, handing out an initial £119 million boost to British researchers working with scientists in Japan and around the world.
The minister doesn’t stop there, however, and has revealed exclusively to Express.co.uk that the US is the next country on the agenda that he expects to strike a deal with as he begins to lay the groundwork for his alternative to Horizon. Europe.
Mr Freeman said: “There are countries around the world that are very eager to work with us. There are two types of international cooperation that we want to enter into. Bilateral collaborations are about deepening our R+D (research and development) partnerships …with strong R+D economies.
“Next on that list is the US, which I’ll be visiting. There’s almost countries within countries in the states. There’s the Boston area, life sciences, technology, space — there’s some really exciting things we can do there .”
After the US, Mr. Freeman said it would be Canada’s turn. He told Express.co.uk: “There are a lot of interesting things we can do there. We share an interest in polar research, arctic research and particularly in agritech and aerospace.”
Other countries where the minister is keen to forge partnerships include South Korea, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Chile, to name a few. But these bilateral partnerships are only one part of the global plan.
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Mr Freeman explained: “In addition to the individual bilateral partnerships, I develop multilateral projects internationally, and this is very important for two reasons. The academic community will often point out that bilateral partnerships are fine as far as they go, but it is the convenience of international cooperation that Horizon offers, which is very valuable.”
And this is a view that Express.co.uk has heard before. James Wilson, professor of research policy at the University of Sheffield, told earlier Express.nl: “You can’t really have a plan B for relaunching large collaborative network projects. It certainly represents a significant setback to the UK’s ambition to remain at the forefront of global science.
“We know, and there is ample evidence, that collaborative research is generally of higher quality in terms of the impact it has. And in many areas you can’t really tackle core problems without working with key groups.
“Even in a post-Brexit context, there are plenty of countries outside the EU that are members of Horizon, and the government has always said we would stay in the framework programs even if we did Brexit. So in a way it’s an unnecessary act of self-harm for British science not to be in it.”
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But by establishing multilateral partnerships, or in other words, forming a multi-country collaborative group, Freeman hopes to convince the British research community of his plan.
He said: “You could have three, four or five countries in each of these programs. We can focus on some specific areas of the world where we have real scientific and technological expertise and pooling power, like in polar research, for example.”
While Mr Freeman may be gearing up to roll out the alternative plan, leading academics have repeatedly urged the EU to allow Britain back into Horizon Europe. For example, the Stick to Science campaign has garnered more than 5,500 signatures from more than 76 countries, with signatories ranging from research funders and academies to university alliances and international research centers.
A spokesperson for Universities UK International said: “If they are not associated with EU programmes, the UK and Switzerland (also blocked) will have to redirect their international cooperation with other parts of the world.”
The government has also continually urged the EU to reconsider, arguing that the bloc has “armed” science by needlessly dragging researchers into a Brexit feud with which they have nothing to do. The EU is still withholding the fund promised to the UK’s top minds, with some even saying they can only keep their grants if they move to the EU or a Horizon-associated country.