The EU Needs the UK in Hi-Tech, and vice-Versa

The Brexit negotiations are tough. We may end up with no agreement, a lose-lose situation that the EU and the UK need to prevent. I particularly worry that Brexit will reduce cooperation between the UK and the EU in research and investments in hi-tech. We need the opposite. Europe must stand together to face competition from the US and China.

The UK is an academic powerhouse. It attracts most VC investments amongst all European countries. It is leading in bio-technology and artificial intelligence. An EU strategy to catch up with the leading countries in AI must include the UK.

he annual ‘technation’ report puts together some interesting facts that triggered this blog. For instance, the UK is number three in the world for tech unicorns, with 77 valued higher than 1billion $, VC investments in 2018 amounted to 10.7 billion £, London and Cambridge are amongst the top 10 European cities for tech investments.

https://technation.io/report2020/

Thus, I hope that the negotiators put technology, science, and industry cooperation high on the priority list.