According to Jochen Pierk, Assistant Professor Financial Accounting at Erasmus School of Economics, International collaboration by British businesses under the EU’s flagship research grant scheme Horizon 2020 have almost halved since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
In an article in the Financial Times, he states that his findings provide a worrying insight into the impact of Brexit on the ability of UK companies to work with international partners.
According to Pierk, it is a good proxy, because Horizon 2020 is by far the biggest research programme in the EU. ‘What is concerning is that in all other countries the number of international collaborations went up — except in the UK — and that is problematic.’ This sharp decline is the consequence of companies in both the UK and outside of the UK being less willing to work together, even though the EU rules and regulations have not been changed and remain unchanged until the 31st of December. This is probably due to the concerns about the end of free movement of people between the EU and the UK, and the setting up of different regulatory regimes.