Science as a geopolitical ‘bargaining chip’: Horizon Europe is growing rapidly

Japan joined Horizon in January, the European research programme that distributes billions of euros. It is the latest country from outside Europe to join in recent years. “Science is being deployed as soft power.”

Horizon Europe now stretches to the other side of the world. In five years’ time, fourteen non-EU countries have joined, including South Korea, Egypt and New Zealand. Last year, talks were opened with Australia, and negotiations with Japan have just been concluded.

The European programme Horizon, which spends more than thirteen billion euros a year on scientific research, now counts 23 ‘associated’ countries, in addition to the 27 EU member states.

Paying

Japan will ceremonially sign the agreement later this year, but Japanese scientists can already benefit from it. They no longer have to join a European research group to be eligible for European funding. They can now submit applications themselves for Japanese research on Japanese soil.

The country does pay for that. Details of the deal will only be made public later, but partner countries often spend more on Horizon than their scientists receive back from the programme.

Even so, countries are keen to take part, says Annabel Hoven. She recently changed jobs, but at the time of the interview she was a policy adviser at Neth-ER, the interest group of Dutch knowledge institutions in Brussels. “Horizon has by now become a kind of international brand. It funds only excellent research and it is a competitive system. Scientists are happy to put a Horizon grant on their CV.”

Geopolitical bargaining chip

This allows the EU to deploy the programme as a diplomatic instrument, says Hoven. Science is being used as a means to strengthen ties with other countries. Europe has something to offer in that respect. Only China and the United States can compete with the EU in the field of science. And the EU is well aware of that.

The responsible European Commissioner, Ekaterina Zaharieva, openly calls science and innovation a geopolitical currency: an international means of exchange or payment. “Today, more than ever, science, technology and innovation translate into power and geopolitical influence.”

For the EU, ‘science diplomacy’ has by now become part of the diplomatic toolbox. For instance, Egypt promised in 2024 to limit the flow of migrants to Europe. A year later, the country joined Horizon.

Security and stability

Meri Georgievska-Van de Laar, director of European affairs at Erasmus University, is not cynical about science as an international lubricant. She has herself seen how European cooperation brought progress in Macedonia, where she was born and raised, and in Turkey, where she worked for a long time. Both countries are EU candidate members and therefore already received a form of membership of Horizon.

As far as she is concerned, even more countries south of Europe should be involved in Horizon. “These countries have expertise in areas where Europe is vulnerable: water security, drought management, infectious diseases, sustainable agriculture… we can learn a lot from them.” Tunisia has been taking part for some time; with Jordan, the EU announced new talks at the beginning of January.

Safe and stable countries around us also increase Europe’s security, Georgievska-Van de Laar believes. “In effect, thanks to the participation of countries such as Egypt, we gain strategic allies, who also pay for their participation and share their talent and knowledge with us.”

Billion ‘inhabitants’

Switzerland already took part in Horizon’s predecessor in 1987, and in the 1990s Iceland, Norway and Israel followed. More countries joined later, but growth has been especially rapid since 2021. That is partly because countries from all over the world have been eligible since then. Fourteen new partner countries joined, including New Zealand, South Korea and Canada.

Thanks to the 124 million Japanese who are now joining in, the 23 partner countries together have 593 million inhabitants, compared with 450 million in the EU member states themselves. Added together, the Horizon countries have more than one billion inhabitants. Does this make it harder for scientists from small countries such as the Netherlands to secure funding?

Competition?

Especially from countries such as Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Canada, you can expect many grant applications, Annabel Hoven of Neth-ER thinks. In those countries, the scientific infrastructure is more highly developed.

But at the same time, the expansion makes the pot of money larger. “And control over that money remains with the EU. The associated countries play a role in implementation, but have no say in strategic choices, for example about what type of research receives funding.”

Perhaps Dutch scientists do not necessarily lose out when more countries take part. When the United Kingdom, a scientific superpower, rejoined Horizon after Brexit, this had no effect on the number of grants awarded to the Netherlands.

World power

Cooperation with non-European countries came under a magnifying glass because of Israeli violence in Gaza. The European Commission considered last year whether to remove the country from Horizon, but Germany in particular blocked that move. In the Netherlands, the KNAW still argues for suspending Israel from Horizon.

What about Egypt, for example? The country not only struggles with corruption, but is also hardly democratic and has little academic freedom. So far, the KNAW has not taken a position on Egypt’s accession. A spokesperson confirms this.

The values of the EU and of scientists will clash more often in the future. We should not be naïve about that, says Georgievska-Van de Laar of Erasmus University. Of course, you have to keep an eye on knowledge security, as the EU also does. “We must cooperate where it is safe and useful and protect what is sensitive and strategic. But only by working together will we make Europe a leading scientific world power.”