Writing in The Times this morning, the Minister for Science and Universities Jo Johnson MP praised the strengths of the UK’s science base and highlighted why the upcoming EU referendum is important to Britain’s future ‘as a knowledge economy’.

The UK has a proud history of engineering and inventing, with our engineers producing some of the world’s most iconic inventions from the telephone to the jet engine. However, Johnson is right to point out that research projects today can often be international rather than national in scale.

European funding for UK R&D was one of the key benefits of EU membership highlighted in a recent report by ADS and KPMG. In 2013, for example, the UK’s aerospace, security and space sectors won around £100m in EU R&D funding. This investment strengthens our global competitiveness, generates skilled jobs and helps to develop high-tech exports.

While there is scope for applying for funds to be made simpler in the UK, the UK is in fact the second highest recipient of the Horizon 2020 research programme, securing 15.4% of funds. The programme is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly ‎€80bn of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020) and promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.

Similarly, the UK is the top recipient of funding from Clean Sky, a successful partnership between the European Commission and industry that funds research programmes looking at reducing environmental and noise outputs of aircraft. To date, UK companies, SMEs and large manufacturers alike, have received €36m-worth of Clean Sky funding.

The UK’s membership of the EU also positively influences science, research and innovation by bolstering national programmes and providing companies with the opportunity to collaborate and raise their profile. Having a government that is listened to on European regulations and standards is a further advantage for UK industry in the design of global products and technologies.

Jo Johnson closes his article in writing ‘as science becomes more international, we should nurture partnerships’, which is why EU membership matters for the UK’s science base. ADS wants government and industry to work proactively within the EU to secure investment and maintain global influence.