Is there a brain drain? What Europe does for its researchers

It is regularly said that Europe has to become the most competitive knowledge-based society in the world. A key element of this is the European Research Area, which regroups all EU support for the better coordination of research activities and the convergence of research and innovation policies, at national and EU levels.

In this way, the EU can bring together its work in this area and build a single market for research and innovation Skilled researchers, ready to move from one country to another whether inside or outside Europe, have an essential role to play in achieving this ambitious objective.

However, acquiring skills, in particular through this mobility, is not always simple and easy: administrative procedures can be long and complicated; salaries can be low; recruitment sometimes appears quite mysterious; a new environment can be difficult to understand and to move in; there can be uncertainty about a career path. Europe, through several recent and less recent initiatives, tries to tackle these obstacles and ease the researchers life and career.