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A few months ago I attended the "Quantum Europe" conference in Amsterdam, where the new EU flagship project on quantum computing was kicked off and celebrated.

A few months ago I attended the "Quantum Europe" conference in Amsterdam, where the new EU flagship project on quantum computing was kicked off and celebrated. With a total funding volume of 1 BN € this initiative is huge, and there are several British universities and research centers involved. Now with the BREXIT it's unclear whether they will be able to still participate in this project, which will start in 2018. And if they can't it will be at least doubtful if the UK government will allot them a similar amount of funding for quantum technologies... I can only start to imagine how disappointed these researchers must be now, as winning the EU flagship was such a huge deal to everyone involved and took years of preparation from dozens of industry & research partners. It really is a shame.

sievebrain 10y ago
So tell the EU to let British universities continue to participate regardless of EU membership. If you believe they will say no for purely political reasons, then there's the problem. There are lots of academic collaborations that span the globe. It's only the EU that artificially ties quantum computing research to immigration policies. edit: There is a massive amount of political downvoting going on in this thread. Voting is NOT intended to express agreement or disagreement.
- Vespasian 10y ago
  Working together on EU projects is significantly easier than getting other sources of (large) funding internationally.
- pjc50 10y ago
  As the sibling comment points out, the participation involves money. If the UK stops paying into the EU, it stops recieving payouts.
  - sievebrain 10y ago
    But it hasn't stopped paying in money, and the EU could easily strike a separate deal to allow continued participation in Horizon 2020 if it wanted to. My point stands: the EU allocates research funding based on political concerns that have nothing to do with science. And that needs to stop.
    - lispm 10y ago
      Research/Science is one of THE main political topics for every country and also for the EU (and other European institutions involved in science). 'Science' was never and will never be free of political concerns. It's just the opposite. > continued participation in Horizon 2020 My impression was that the UK wanted to distance itself from the 'EU superstate'. Research is just one topic. Get rid of centrally planned and funded research projects, which are for the political benefit of the EU. ;-) > if it wanted to. 'cherry picking'. Probably easier for Britain to concentrate on non-EU research projects. Since they save money from not paying to the EU, the UK can now freely invest that money into their own research projects and attract partners.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  > There is a massive amount of political downvoting going on in this thread People might be fed up reading your opinion. You've posted 25 comments on this story, many of them alike.
yread 10y ago
Horizon 2020 is 80 billion euros and non-members of EU have to pay quite a lot of money to participate (Switzerland paid 2.2 billion CHF [1]) http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/aktuell/medien/00483/00586/index.html?lang=en&msg-id=60389 http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/aktuell/medien/00483/00586/index.ht...

sievebrain 10y ago

So tell the EU to let British universities continue to participate regardless of EU membership. If you believe they will say no for purely political reasons, then there's the problem. There are lots of academic collaborations that span the globe. It's only the EU that artificially ties quantum computing research to immigration policies. edit: There is a massive amount of political downvoting going on in this thread. Voting is NOT intended to express agreement or disagreement.

Vespasian 10y ago
Working together on EU projects is significantly easier than getting other sources of (large) funding internationally.
pjc50 10y ago
As the sibling comment points out, the participation involves money. If the UK stops paying into the EU, it stops recieving payouts.
- sievebrain 10y ago
  But it hasn't stopped paying in money, and the EU could easily strike a separate deal to allow continued participation in Horizon 2020 if it wanted to. My point stands: the EU allocates research funding based on political concerns that have nothing to do with science. And that needs to stop.
  - lispm 10y ago
    Research/Science is one of THE main political topics for every country and also for the EU (and other European institutions involved in science). 'Science' was never and will never be free of political concerns. It's just the opposite. > continued participation in Horizon 2020 My impression was that the UK wanted to distance itself from the 'EU superstate'. Research is just one topic. Get rid of centrally planned and funded research projects, which are for the political benefit of the EU. ;-) > if it wanted to. 'cherry picking'. Probably easier for Britain to concentrate on non-EU research projects. Since they save money from not paying to the EU, the UK can now freely invest that money into their own research projects and attract partners.
Symbiote 10y ago
> There is a massive amount of political downvoting going on in this thread People might be fed up reading your opinion. You've posted 25 comments on this story, many of them alike.

yread 10y ago

Horizon 2020 is 80 billion euros and non-members of EU have to pay quite a lot of money to participate (Switzerland paid 2.2 billion CHF [1]) http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/aktuell/medien/00483/00586/index.html?lang=en&msg-id=60389 http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/aktuell/medien/00483/00586/index.ht...