US embassy cable - 05PARIS7012

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 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
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