L@B Brief - June 2025
Brains down your drain?
Scientists in the United States have commented that the country is on the edge of a historic brain drain. The result for laboratory equipment suppliers is that the global map of scientific leadership is shifting fast.
President Trump’s deep cuts to federal research grants have created a hostile environment for many scientists, especially those working in public health, climate science, and research that touches on diversity or global equity. Thousands of grants have been terminated since January, pushing early-career researchers to ask whether they can still pursue their life-saving work on American soil.
Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It runs on ideas, talent, and yes, instruments. When funding collapses and researchers are forced to abandon their work or flee to more supportive countries, lab equipment sits idle, orders shrink, and the entire supply chain suffers. The cancellation of 2,400 NIH grants in just the first half of 2025 isn’t a bureaucratic hiccup. It’s a dismantling of scientific infrastructure that took decades to build. The chilling effect is real: a Nature survey in March found that 75% of U.S. scientists have considered leaving the country.
And while the U.S. is pulling back, others are rolling out the red carpet. The EU’s new Choose Europe for Science initiative offers €500 million in research grants to American scientists—an open invitation to relocate and continue their work without political interference. Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany are also aggressively courting displaced talent. And in the UK we have had some really significant announcements about funding for science.
For lab supp liers, this shift represents an opportunity.
The global demand for scientific equipment isn’t shrinking—it’s migrating. Countries investing in their research base, from Western Europe to parts of Asia and even some African nations, will require more lab infrastructure, not less.
Of course US based suppliers will also be realigning their sales strategies and channels to emerging research hubs, not least the UK but we have an advantage – time to pursue it before others step in.
Toodle pip!
Jacqueline
INSIDE this ISSUE
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