UK's success in robotic surgery will be 'undermined' by Brexit

The UK's success in the field of robotic surgery could be hampered if the country loses its research partnerships with Europe after Brexit, according to a new study. The study's authors said there was a "consensus" that Brexit was likely to "undermine the UK's status as a global leader in science and innovation". Robotic surgery has been touted as one of the technologies that is key to future growth in the UK, according to the Imperial College London study, and international collaboration is key to that success. Dr George Garas, lead author of the study from the department of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London, said: "There is a consensus within the scientific and healthcare communities that Brexit is likely to undermine the UK's status as a global leader in science and innovation. "We need to understand what the impact of losing the existing valuable EU links would be so as to tactically plan the UK's research and innovation strategy after Brexit." The UK currently ranks third in the world for robotic surgery innovation, behind Italy and the US. The best scenario following Brexit would be for the UK to continue its research partnerships with the EU, the study's authors suggested. If this isn't possible, the UK should look to collaborate with the US. But under this scenario the UK's research impact would ultimately suffer unless its new US partners were the top-performing ones in the field, the study found. "Our research shows that in the field of robotic surgery research, replacing EU partners with top US collaborators might maintain or even improve the UK's position," Dr Garas said. "Unfortunately, in the short term this could be difficult and costly.