Since his entry into office in January, President Donald Trump has tightened immigration controls, has reduced the funding of government grants and research, has reduced NASA and Noaa staff, and has attacked the best universities.
France seems to have felt an opportunity.
The National Research Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Education, announced on Friday an initiative “Choosing France for Science” to attract scientists from abroad, opening more government funding for universities, schools and research organizations to attract foreign talents.
“While the international context creates the conditions for an unprecedented wave of mobility among researchers from around the world, France aims to position itself as a host country for those who wish to continue their work in Europe, based on the research ecosystem and the country’s infrastructure,” the agency said in a press release.
In a LinkedIn post, French president Emmanuel Macron said research is a “priority”. “Researchers from around the world, choose France, choose Europe!” He wrote.
The chief scientist of Meta AI, Yann Lecun, born in France, responded to the announcement on Saturday, qualifying the initiative as “intelligent movement”.
Lecun criticized Trump for targeting funding for public research. Last month, he wrote on LinkedIn that “the United States seems ready to destroy its system for financing public research. Many scientists based in the United States are looking for a B plan.”
In the same position, he told European countries: “You may have the opportunity to attract some of the best scientists in the world.”
Lecun is not the only technological leader in criticizing the political decisions of the Trump administration concerning science, research and education. Last week, the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, said that the administration had launched a “total attack on all science in America”.
Speaking at the AI + Biotechnology summit, Schmidt said he knew people in the technological space that planned to return to London because “they did not want to work in this environment”.
businessinsider
