Credit: Cheng Xin/Getty
Chinese research organizations can no longer take part in most of the research grants funded by Horizon Europe, the European Union’s €93.5 billion (US$111 billion) research-funding programme. The EU says it is concerned about sharing sensitive technologies with China that could jeopardize the region’s security.
Starting this year, organizations based in or controlled by China cannot apply for grants to fund projects involving artificial intelligence, telecommunications such as 5G, health, semiconductors, biotechnology or quantum technologies. China’s Seven Sons of National Defence, a group of universities affiliated with the government’s ministry of industry and information technology, are also barred from all funding. However, Chinese organizations can still apply for or participate in select research projects related to climate, biodiversity, food and agriculture.
Beatrice Plazzotta, a business analyst for the Europe Commission, which manages the Horizon Europe programme, in Brussels, Belgium, said at a webinar last month: “We are in an economic and geopolitical conjuncture where we have to pay attention to what we do and who we collaborate with.” Plazzotta said the protection of intellectual property (IP) was among the EU’s concerns.
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) did not respond to Nature’s request for comment about the changes to Horizon Europe eligibility.
IP concerns
Governments have raised issues around technology transfer to China before, including the sharing of technology or knowledge that benefits the Chinese military. The United States has accused China of stealing trade secrets and obtaining IP by forcing foreign companies to join Chinese firms to sell in China, allegations the Chinese government has repeatedly denied. In Europe, there have been a handful of controversial cases in which researchers were collaborating with Chinese institutions that have close ties to China’s military.
Horizon Europe documents state that China has initiatives that support the “undesired transfer of IP”. This includes its Made in China 2025 strategy — a ten-year policy aimed at boosting China’s technology and manufacturing in areas such as AI, robotics and biotech — which has the stated goal of encouraging cross-border IP licensing. Another is the country’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy, which encourages the use and sharing of scientific innovations with its military.
Joy Zhang, a sociologist at the University of Kent, UK, says that Horizon Europe’s concerns about IP and information theft are valid, but the response is not. “It sends the wrong signal,” she adds, and does not address the fact that IP theft is more likely to occur among commercial companies, not researchers making cutting-edge discoveries. “I feel this is perhaps a right intention, but a wrong target.”
Stalled negotiations
Horizon Europe began in 2021 and is a successor to the Horizon 2020 programme that ran from 2014 to 2020, which Chinese researchers participated in. Other countries, including the UK and Switzerland, have previously been barred from the programme, owing to political tensions. Both countries can now participate.
A spokesperson for the Europe Commission says that the EU and China have been in negotiations since 2019 about how they would cooperate on research, including new innovations. The goal is to create a “research and innovation ecosystem”, the spokesperson says, and implement conditions for how the EU and China can work together on issues ranging from IP protection to the movement of researchers. In 2023, Chinese organizations were restricted from participating in a subset of Horizon Europe projects, which create products that are close to being ready to market.
