US embassy cable - 05PARIS1081

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001081 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLS PASS WHITE HOUSE FOR OSTP/OLSEN 
STATE PASS NSF/INT/GOMBAY 
OES, EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: TSPL, EFIN, KSCA, TPHY, FR, KBIO 
SUBJECT: NEWBORN FRENCH RESEARCH AGENCY AND ITS PAINFUL 
DELIVERY 
 
REF: (A) 04 PARIS 7224 (B) 04 Paris 3248 
 
1. Summary.  France advanced its science agenda with the 
establishment of a National Research Agency (ANR, ref A) 
which held its first meeting on February 15.  This new, 
NSF-style, "agency of means" is part of the government's 
ambitious effort to renovate France's research 
organization and boost science funding in strategic 
areas.  The ANR's legal foundation, structure, and 
working mechanisms remain under discussion. Details are 
expected once the new research bill package is approved, 
possibly next month. In early January, President Chirac 
also announced the creation of a new agency for 
industrial innovation.  The relationship between the 
industrial innovation agency and the ANR remains to be 
defined.  End summary. 
 
ANR sees the light of day 
------------------------- 
 
2.  The ANR's mission is to allocate grants to scientists 
or research teams working in partnership with public 
research establishments on the basis of a competitive, 
merit-based review system.  Projects will be selected 
according to four priority areas set by the GOF: 
energy/sustainable development; health, agriculture, and 
food; information and communication technologies; 
nanosciences and nanotechnologies.  The ANR's 2005 budget- 
-350 million Euros--will be financed by the sale of 
French gold reserves and receipts from the privatization 
of French parastatals.  According to the French Research 
Ministry, the agency's budget will regularly increase to 
reach a significant annual 1.47 billion euros budget by 
2010.  The ANR is described as "slim in structure" with a 
staff of only thirty or so  employees.  The leanness of 
the agency is designed to enhance responsiveness in 
providing research grants.  Calls for proposals will be 
issued in the coming weeks and the first grant will 
reportedly be funded before summer.  The ANR will also 
support research and technology innovation networks and 
assist in funding non-thematic, spontaneous projects 
proposed by the science community. 
 
An "Independent" Agency? 
------------------------ 
 
3.  The ANR's relationships with the Research Ministry 
and public research establishments, its legal status, 
organization and operating modes are to be discussed and 
clarified in the coming weeks.  Two members of the 
Research Ministry will play key roles.  Gilles Bloch, 
current Deputy-Head of Cabinet for Research Minister 
Franois d'Aubert, will head the new agency.  Jean- 
Jacques Gagnepain, Director of the Technology Department 
within the Research Ministry, has been elected as 
President of the sixteen-member administrative board. 
The board includes eight representatives of the 
ministries involved (Research, Education, Industry, 
Health, Budget), one representative of the main public 
research agencies (CNRS, CEA, INRA, INRIA, INSERM - the 
largest publicly-funded scientific instiutions), two 
representatives from the industrial sector and a 
representative from the Association of University 
Presidents. 
 
Bloch - `Polytechicien' 
----------------------- 
 
4.  Gilles Bloch, 43, a doctor of medicine, graduated 
from the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique and holds a PHD 
in biophysics.  He started his research carrier at the 
Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 1989 and became Deputy- 
Director of the life science division in 2000.  He also 
worked as visiting researcher at the Nuclear Magnetic 
Resonance Center at Yale university (1992-93).  Since 
2002, he has served as technical adviser to the Research 
Minister in life sciences, health, and bioethics. 
 
Industrial innovation agency still gestating. 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
5.  President Chirac's announcement in early January 
concerning the creation of an industrial innovation 
agency reportedly took the Research Ministry by surprise. 
This agency, which will be placed under the direct 
supervision of the Prime Minister's office, will 
reportedly receive a two billion euros budget over the 
next three years (500 million euros in 2005).  These 
funds are to be derived from non-budgetary sources 
(receipts from privatizations). The respective roles of 
the ANR and the industrial innovation agency have yet to 
be clarified.  (Note: This new agency was a major 
recommendation of a report for a new French industrial 
policy commissioned by the Raffarin Government and 
released in January 2005.  This report, referred to as 
the "Beffa report," advocates the establishment of an 
industrial innovation agency to focus public-private 
cooperation on big innovative projects.  End Note) 
 
Rough birthing process for the new agencies. 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
6. The creation of these two agencies is part of an 
ambitious effort by the government to rethink its 
research strategy, organization, and funding. It has 
proved to be a painful and lengthy process (ref B).  One 
year after the French researchers took to the streets 
under the movement `Sauvons la Recherche' (Save 
Research), the French science community continues to fear 
the creation of new structures that could favor funding 
of projects to the detriment of funding of labs and 
salaries of public researchers, and favor applied and 
developmental research to the detriment of basic 
research.  The draft of the new research bill which was 
supposed to be released in fall 2004, has filtered 
through the press and the researchers' union website and 
recently brought back several thousand researchers to the 
streets at the end of January.  Confronted with other 
social unrest in the education sector, the GOF announced 
that the draft was obsolete and that consultations with 
researchers will continue in the weeks ahead. 
 
Comment - U.S. angle 
-------------------- 
 
7.  With the status and operating modes of the new ANR to 
be defined and ties with the PM's office and Research 
Ministry still unclear, the GOF continues to look 
carefully at the U.S. model and welcomes opportunities to 
discuss U.S. policy and mechanisms to encourage 
innovative approaches to research. Recently, OSTP's Dr. 
Kathy Olsen met with senior officials at the Research 
Ministry for an exchange of views.  Her presentation of 
the respective roles of OSTP and federal agencies was 
enthusiastically received. 
 
Leach