"Thanks to Trump, we are witnessing this talent influx!" said Heinz Faßmann, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Under the pressure of multiple factors including tightened immigration policies and sharp cuts in research funding, the outflow of US scientific talent has become increasingly severe, while Europeans who are "picking up the pieces" are overjoyed.

The latest data obtained on September 29 shows that top US researchers are accelerating their migration to Europe and other regions. The number of US applicants attracted by EU research funding projects increased fivefold in the latest round of bidding, representing a direct response to the Trump administration's cuts to research funding and restrictions on academic freedom.

The report suggests that this emerging wave of interest from US domestic researchers in European research funding is inseparable from the deteriorating academic research environment in the US during the Trump administration.

This trend represents a major victory for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In response to the Trump administration's significant cuts to academic project funding, von der Leyen personally led efforts to attract US researchers. The EU successfully positioned itself as a "safe haven" for researchers by emphasizing academic freedom and increasing financial support for researchers interested in relocating to Europe.

The European Research Council (ERC), a research funding organization established by the EU in 2007, is responsible for funding basic research and frontier technology projects. The organization announced this spring that it would double the additional funding provided to researchers wishing to relocate from the US, from 1 million euros to 2 million euros.

This means these researchers can receive up to 4.5 million euros in total funding over a maximum period of 5 years.

The latest round of application data through the end of August shows this incentive measure has been extremely popular. This round received 114 applications from the US, while the EU program received only 23 applications from US-based applicants in 2024, representing a 400% increase.

However, total applications for the program only increased 1%, from 2,534 to 3,329. Among these, the UK submitted 538 proposals; within the EU, Italy (445) and Spain (240) were the two countries submitting the most applications.

In fact, throughout Europe, countries, regions, universities, and research institutions have all launched related programs, taking advantage of US research funding cuts to attract talent.

In mid-September, EU Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva stated at a Brussels meeting: "There are currently over 70 national and regional initiatives aimed at attracting researchers."

The Austrian Academy of Sciences announced this week that through a new 4-year researcher fellowship scheme launched in June, 25 researchers have already relocated from US research institutions to Austria. The academy stated that this "brain gain" phenomenon stems directly from policies implemented by the Trump administration in academic and research fields.

"They bring new ideas, new perspectives, and international networks, which is a major gain for Austrian research and an important driver for enhancing our research's international visibility," said President Heinz Faßmann in a statement. "Thanks to Trump, we are witnessing this talent influx."

Previous reports noted that as the US government cuts research budgets and tightens immigration policies, China and Europe have launched talent recruitment campaigns, competing to provide funding support and career stability for top researchers to attract talent.

Multiple top US scientists have warned that the Trump administration's combination of policies targeting the US scientific community has triggered serious talent drain, endangering America's long-standing research model and its leading position in related fields.

Analysis cited from Nature magazine indicates that since Trump took office, the number of Chinese and European scholars applying for US graduate or postdoctoral positions has declined sharply, even stagnating; meanwhile, the number of US postdocs and graduate students applying for overseas positions has increased significantly.

Beyond talent loss, Richard Huganir, chair of the neuroscience department at Johns Hopkins University, is also concerned that the US will become increasingly isolated from the international scientific community. Because foreign scientists are unwilling to come to the US, he was forced to cancel an international conference originally planned at Hopkins University; organizers considered moving the conference to Oxford, UK, but later discovered that international students in the US also refused to travel abroad for conferences due to concerns about being unable to return to the US.

Marcia McNutt, President of the US National Academy of Sciences, lamented that China and other countries are providing more stable career development for scientists at the beginning of their research careers, "They will recruit the world's best, brightest, and most experienced talent."