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France
ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH IN FRANCE
The organisation of public research in France is structured around two main groups of bodies and institutions:
Research bodies including public institutions of a scientific and technical character (EPST), the per¬sonnel of which are civil servants. Some examples are CNRS for basic science (employing 26,000 people in 1,200 research units, mainly joint laboratories with universities, and an annual budget of € 3.1 billion); National Health and Medical Research Institute (INSERM) for health; and National Agronomic Research Institute (INRA) for agronomy. They also include public institutions of an industrial character (EPIC), the personnel of which are employees under private law, such as Com¬missariat for Atomic Energy (CEA) for atomic energy and National Space Research Centre (CNES) for space. The French research system is characterized by these large organizations, of a general or specialized nature and highly visible internationally.
Institutions of higher education have the exclusive right to award doctoral degrees. They include the country's 86 universities, the College de France, the Institutes of Political Studies, the elite Ecoles Normales superieures, the Ecoles francaises d'archeologie a 1'etranger. Nearly 3,000 teams or research laboratories are attached to them, including 1,500 shared by research bodies in the form of mixed units or federative research institutes.
Beside these public institutes, -56% of all R&D human resources work in the private sector. Thus, private companies are responsible for -60% of French GERD (Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D). Total GERD amounted to € 36.4 billion 2005 - about 2.12% of GDP, of which 0.98 % is public and 1.14 % is private.
The creation in 2005 of a National Agency for Research (ANR) confirms a worldwide trend: financing of R&D is now granted in primarily to large projects, and not institutions. In 2007, ANR will be able to grant € 825 million. The Ministry for Research and Higher Education supervises all these research institutions and agencies, but can share this supervision with one or several other ministries. A reform of research policy was adopted in April 2006. Its main objectives are:
To reinforce the strategic orientation of R&D, through the creation of a High Council for Science and Technology (HCST) with 20 scientific personalities;
To introduce a consistent system of evaluation through a new independent Agency for Evaluation of Research and High Education (AERES);
To increase cooperation between existing research units, and to reach excellence in 13 thematic poles which will receive international visibility (RRTA: thematic networks for advanced research);
To develop the attractiveness of scientific careers;
To develop links between public and private research, and support innovation through appropriate measures, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry.
SUMMARY REVIEW OF SCIENCE & RESEARCH COOPERATION WITH BELARUS
The Agreement on Mutual Understanding and Cooperation, concluded by France and Belarus in 1996, constitutes the legal basis for S&T cooperation between two countries.
Based on this Agreement, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) in 2003 concluded Agreement on scientific cooperation. In 2006 the Agreement on scientific cooperation between CNRS and Belarusian Republican Fund on Fundamental Research (BRFFR) was signed. CNRS-NASB Joint Commission, that takes decisions on all questions of cooperation, including joint Calls conduction, was created. Bilaterial CNRS-NASB Joint Calls have been conducted since 2004 (by 2010 3 Joint Calls of 2-years realization projects have been conducted), in their frame 34 Belarus-France research projects bilaterally financed have been and are being fulfilled.
Besides the Joint Calls of projects the Agreements of NASB and BRFFR with CNRS includes the mechanisms of Joint Calls of International scientific cooperation programs (PICS) and NASB-CNRS Scientific Seminars Joint Calls.
CNRS, NASB and BRFFR give rapt attantion to the questions of innovational development, of creation of new science intensive technologies, materials, devices and services. Basing of this the projects that include finishing fundamental elaborations up to joint application in industry are considered as a priority-driven. The process of 3 Joint projects Calls conducting displayed that interests of French and Belarusian scientist are showed first of all to such fields as physics&mathematics, engineering sciences and informatics.
Through the other calls of Belarusian Republican Fund on Fundamental Research (BRFFR) since 2001 30 Belarus-France research projects bilaterally financed have been and are being fulfilled.
In 2009 the agreement was reached to start the joint financing of the activities in the frame of international scientific net “Lasers, Optics, Information Technologies, Nanotechnologies”, the participants of which are scientific organizations of CNRS, NASB and Russian Academy of Sciences.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENCE & RESEARCH COOPERATION FRANCE - BELARUS
Several bilateral tools exist to support cooperation. They can be divided into two main categories: Short-term support to initiate links between French and Russian teams, through calls for proposals launched mainly by Ministries and CNRS;
Long-term support for structured cooperation with specific long-term agreements between partners (International laboratory (UMI), virtual laboratories (LEA), research networks (GDRE) according to the scientific policy of research institutes, or political involvement of French regions).
Most of these tools should be proposed through the French partners.
French Ministry of Research
The French Ministry for Research has developed three programmes to foster scientific cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe - including the Newly Independent States (NIS):
Programme PARCECO supports travel expenses for French researchers to participate in summer schools taking place in a country of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA);
Programme ACCES financially supports residents of EECA to participate in conferences taking place in France;
Programme PECO-NEI funds education-research thematic networks, including at least 2 French institutes and 2 institutes from an EECA country, for 2-3 years. The calls are issued every three years.
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports French-Russian cooperation through three main
channels:
The programme ECONET is directed towards EECA countries: proposals should include at least 2 partners from EECA and 1 French laboratory. Applications are for a maximum of 2 years and cover travel expenses (max. € 20,000 a year).
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research -CNRS) and other research institutes
Each research institute has its own strategy for the development of international cooperation. CNRS has an office in Moscow that coordinates CNRS cooperation with CIS countries and is active to identify and support opportunities for the creation of joint structures, associated laboratories or networks.
The programme ARCUS, initiated in 2005, aims at developing cooperation between French regions and certain targeted countries, including Russia. Three French regions have already initiated cooperation with Russia:
0 Lorraine, on new materials and environment,
0 Alsace, on supramolecular chemistry and biotechnologies,
0 Bourgogne, on «green chemistry» (separation of effluents).
The duration of the programme is three years, with a typical budget of € 500,000 from the French side, co-financed by the region and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More information is available at http://www.ambafrance.ru
Involvement of the French Regions in scientific cooperation
French Regions are more and more involved in international R&D cooperation. The programme ARCUS can be used when cooperation has been ongoing for some time and has reached a certain «critical mass». Other grants enable new projects to start up. Grants for doctoral and post-doctoral studies are offered equally to French and foreign candidates (for instance, foreign candidates receive -30% of all grants allocated by the Ile-de-France region). The procedure differs slightly depending on the region, but usually the proposal (application) is to be submitted by the French partner, either in response to an annual call or directly. Information and contacts are available on the Re¬gions' websites. The City of Paris carries out a specific call for foreigner scientists (http://www. education.paris.fr) which usually ends in April.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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