FRANCE RESTRUCTURES RESEARCH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007012

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OES, EUR/RPE, EUR/WE
WHITE HOUSE FOR OSTP
DEPT OF ENERGY FOR OFFICE OF SCIENCE
DEPT PASS NSF/INT/GOMBAY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL KSCA TPHY FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE RESTRUCTURES RESEARCH

REF: (A) 04 Paris 548 (B) 04 Paris 1452 (C) 04 Paris 1990 (D) 04
Paris 3248 (E) Paris 6874 (F) Paris 1081


1. Summary: To introduce "structural solutions" into France's
traditional scientific system (refs A-D),Prime Minister de
Villepin announced on October 5 the long-awaited Research
and Innovation Bill (RIB). Advocating a new approach to
funding and orienting research based on projects, the RIB
will be debated in Parliament before the end of 2005. It
also encourages partnerships between public research
agencies and universities within the framework of poles of
competitiveness. Cooperation between the public and private
sector will be enhanced through the development of the
"campus de recherche" (CDR, advanced research centers)
system. Moreover, the French government has created a High
Council for Science and Technology (HCST) to advise on
research priorities. End summary.

Painful (and Slow) Delivery.
--------------


2. After 18 months of discussions and postponed decisions, the
GOF released on October 5 the draft of the new Research and
Innovation Bill (RIB) promised by President Chirac in early

2004. The new legislation should be approved by the Council
of Ministers in mid-November and discussed in Parliament
before the end of 2005 for a final vote in early 2006. A
number of measures and structures described in the Bill have
already been rolled out, e.g. the National Research Agency
(NRA, ref F). The proposed legislation, heralded by de
Villepin as a "real pact for research" addresses two
acknowledged weaknesses of France's research system:
insufficient technology transfer to the industrial sector,
and the opacity of a research system made up of many public
research agencies, grandes ecoles, and universities.

Universities to gain under the proposed legislation
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3. According to a recently released study by the French GAO
(Cour des Comptes),the organization, decision processes and
management tools in the higher education sector are "far
from being adapted to their role and responsibilities in the
research sector." University "poles" are too small to be
visible at the international level and to attract the best
teachers-researchers and students. According to a recent
evaluation of universities internationally, the first French
university ranks 46th and only four universities in France
are ranked among the first one hundred worldwide. To these
"organizational problems," the RIB seeks to bring
"structural solutions."


Five objectives - and as many structures
--------------


4. The new RIB claims five main objectives:

-- Reinforcing France's strategic orientation capacities: Under
the direct supervision of the President, the HCST will be
responsible for making recommendations on France's research
priorities. After the establishment of the NRA in 2005, the
arrival of this new structure confirms the leading role the
state intends to play in "steering research."

-- Implementation of a "more universal, homogeneous and
transparent" evaluation system: A new National Evaluation
Agency will replace existing and scattered evaluation
committees and evaluate all public research operators,
including the NRA.

-- Increasing the international competitiveness of research
labs: Several measures have been taken to simplify the
complex administration of public agencies. Cooperation
between various public research actors will be favored by
the creation of Research and Higher Education Poles (RHEP)
and the development of "more visible" CDRs (see para 5).

-- Restoring the prestige of scientific jobs/attracting junior
researchers (ref E): besides the 3000 new permanent research
positions to be created in 2006, the GOF plans a 16 percent
increase of PHD/postdoc research grants over the next two
years. Incentives to encourage the industrial sector to hire
young researchers will also be significantly increased. New
grants, known as `Descartes grants,' representing a 60
percent increase of basic salary, will be allocated to a
number of researchers every year for a five-year period to
encourage individual initiatives. Mandatory teaching hours
for young teachers-researchers at university level will be
reduced to provide more time for research.

-- Reinforcing public/private partnerships: State aid,
including new fiscal mechanisms, will encourage cross-
fertilization between public an private research notably in
the framework of newly designated "competitiveness
clusters." (Note: Sixty-seven such clusters were selected
in mid-2005 following a GOF's invitation to tender project
proposals.)

Poles and Centers
--------------


5. The `Research and Higher Education Poles' (RHEP) are
designed to provide universities and public research
establishments an opportunity to gather around common
research themes at a regional level. `Campuses de (of)
Research' (CDR's) will be granted status as foundations.
Their goal is to facilitate the gathering of experts on a
specific research theme. After the release of the 2006
research budget (ref E),the GOF has decided to earmark an
additional 300 million euros to speed up the launch of these
two types of entities. Between five and ten CDR's are
reportedly in the pipes, among them Strasburg (medical
research),Grenoble (nanotech),and Saclay (Paris area,
neurosciences). In certain cases, these centers - devoted
to basic research - will be associated with competitiveness
clusters.

Funding: The Post-2007 Worrisome Variable
--------------


6. The RIB confirms the GOF's commitment to increase the
research budget by an additional one billion euros per annum
during the period 2005-2007. If the bill is passed, the GOF
will also commit to increase the public effort in favor of
research to 24 billion by 2010 (a 27 percent increase over
2004). However, by law, the allocation of additional means
after 2007 (the end of the current legislative term) will
depend both on the then economic situation and priorities of
the (post-2007) successor government and on the results of a
progress report at the end of 2007.

Can't Please Everyone.
--------------


7. A number of researchers have found the RIB a "huge
disappointment," desiring a more visible and longer
commitment to research. There are also those who continue
to fear the transformation of the main public research
establishments such as the National Center for Scientific
Research (CNRS) into agencies of means responsible for
"providing funding, evaluation, but with little management
power." Researchers' unions demand the dissolution of the
NRA, accusing it of using funds meant for basic research at
public research agencies. Others acknowledge the positive -
jobs, money, better evaluation procedures, measures in favor
of young researchers - but also note that efforts to
increase research grants (plus 16 percent over the next two
years) and salaries remain insufficient to make scientific
careers attractive compared with those in, for example, the
U.S. Some see the success of the new bill as a function of
the ability of the various new structures - the HCSP, NRA,
ERA, CDR, RHEP, competitiveness clusters, and the Agency for
Industrial Innovation - to interact. It is unclear whether
these new entities will replace, absorb, or coexist with
current structures. Relative to the research sector,
universities appear more satisfied with the bill which will
provide them with more autonomy to conduct research.


8. Comment: The French have long realized they needed to take
major steps to energize the traditional civil service-
oriented research system. While the "pact" announced by de
Villepin provides for significant changes, they are far from
revolutionary. For example, even though the new legislation
enhances the role of the private sector in research, it does
not materially degrade the primacy of the public research
establishment. Of note is the extent to which the U.S.
scientific system has been held up in France as the model
for change. The new National Research Agency (Agence
Nationale de la Recherche) aspires to embody NSF
characteristics. End Comment.
STAPLETON