How to promote the scientific assets of France abroad?

In mid-October, Business France and the CNRS concluded a partnership agreement to promote the scientific attractiveness of France abroad towards foreign companies. This partnership will materialize in the form of a joint actions and events in cutting edge fields and industries. For its part, and in the same spirit, Campus France has just published a new information tool, “Ten good reasons to do research in France”, which highlights the advantages of France for doctoral students and researchers in terms of research, science and innovation.

“Working with the CNRS, which illustrates the excellence of French research worldwide, is to efficiently promote the scientific attractiveness of France with foreign companies”. This is what the CEO of Business France (the French agency for internationalisation of French economy) said in a comment to the conclusion of this joint “collaboration letter”. Indeed, as noted the CEO of the CNRS, France’s largest public scientific research organisation, “enhancing the value of research, strengthening our attractiveness and our sovereignty are at the heart of our strategy by developing our partnerships with companies and creating start-ups from our laboratories”.

For companies, a partnership in five key points

This collaboration between Business France and the CNRS, based on the attractiveness of France towards foreign companies all over the world, relies on five main objectives:

- strengthening the attractiveness of territories and the promotion of the development of scientific projects in France;

- the development of the implementation of foreign companies on the national territory;

- the implementation of a partnership policy to boost the development of scientific employment in France;

- the contribution to the scientific diplomacy of France towards foreign investors;

- support to French companies in their conquest approach of foreign markets thanks to innovative products.
In concrete terms, the partnership engaged between the two institutions plans the implementation of a programme of communication actions focused on attractiveness in France and abroad, and “the production of original contents broadcasted towards the international and the support of projects with strong technological contents”.

For PhD students, a promotion in ten points

Just as the promotion of higher education, the promotion of research towards foreign PhD graduates and scientists was always a mission of Campus France. In this context, Campus France just released a flyer that gives “10 good reasons to do research in France”. This new information tool, available in French, English and Spanish, explains France’s scientific attractiveness in ten points.

The flyer is designed for doctoral students, and insists on the fact that France is a great scientific nation, a country of innovation and a meeting place for researchers from all over the world in a “rich ecosystem” which is essentially deployed in French universities. Tribute was also paid to the CNRS, which, with 32,000 staff in 1,100 laboratories, is the world’s 2^nd largest research organisation in terms of number of publications.

However, the concern for France’s attractiveness to foreign companies is not absent. The flyer stresses that France has a dynamic Research & Development environment, insofar as 2/3 of research in France is carried out by the private sector. In total, 600,000 people work in R&D in companies. And foreign companies even account for 1/5 of private R&D investments in France!

To know more 

- The agreement between Business France, and the CNRS 

- The Campus France flyer “10 good reasons to do research in France”

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