Guidance

UK Science & Innovation Network Country Snapshot - France

Updated 30 May 2023

1. French science and innovation overview

In 2023, the French S&I budget for public research is estimated €25.7 billion ^{[footnote 1]}, an increase of nearly €1.1 billion compared to 2021 and €3.6 billion since 2017. Domestic R&D spending in France amounted to €53.4 billion in 2019 and represents 2.19% of gross domestic product (GDP). France ranks 5th among the six largest OECD countries in terms of volume of gross domestic R&D expenditure, ahead of the United Kingdom (1.76%). For 2020, in the context of a health crisis, gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) is expected to reach €54.2 billion, down by 1% in volume.

France engages in a high level of international collaboration, comparable to that of Germany and the UK. In 2020, the rate of co-publication with at least one institution abroad is 65% for France, slightly lower than that of the United Kingdom (67%) and slightly higher than that of Germany (61%). France’s first partner country is the USA, with more than a quarter of international co-publications. The UK is France’s second largest partner, with a slightly higher share than Germany ^{[footnote 2]}.

France ranks 11th among the 132 economies featured in the 2021 Global Innovation Index ^{[footnote 3]}. In the European Innovation Scoreboard (September 2022), France is a ‘Strong Innovator’ ^{[footnote 4]} out of a four-scale classification of Innovation leaders, Strong innovators, Moderate Innovators and Emerging Innovators with performance at 105.4% of the EU average. Other Strong Innovators are: Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, and Cyprus.

France is home to three of the top 100 universities (PSL, Sorbonne, Polytechnique) in the world and five in the top 200 (PSL, Sorbonne, Polytechnique, Paris-Saclay, Paris Cité) ^{[footnote 5]} .

1.1 French S&I landscape

France has well-developed, structured and funded science and innovation ecosystems. Funding is mostly awarded in the form of grants (60%) from the Inter-Ministerial Mission for Research and Higher Education and through competitive funding calls (25%), awarded through public funding agencies such as the National Research Agency (ANR), the energy transition agency (ADEME), the Public Investment Bank (BPI France), the Caisse des Dépôts and regional authorities ^{[footnote 6]}. Approximately 15% comes from own funds (capital etc).

Public sector research in France is conducted in dedicated research institutes categorised by the French government into ‘science & technology’ establishments and ‘industrial & commercial’ establishments, higher education institutes, ministries and non-profit organisations. A proportion of public R&D spend is allocated competitively via the ANR.

The largest, state-funded research organisations are the CNRS (Centre for Scientific Research conducting basic and multi-disciplinary science), the CEA (Alternative and Atomic Energies Agency), INSERM (Health and Medical Research Institute), INRIA (AI Research Institute) and INRA (Agronomy Institute).

France also hosts international agencies and research organisations such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the European Space Agency (ESA), UNESCO and the OECD, as well as research infrastructures such as the ILL (neutron research), the ESFP (synchrotron radiation) and EMBL (molecular biology).

In 2019, 649,100 people were involved in R&D activity in France, of which two-thirds were researchers and one-third were research support staff. For every ten researchers, on average, six work in companies and four in the public sector^{[footnote 7]}.

1.2 French S&I Strengths

France has S&I strengths across many subjects and sectors. In terms of numbers of publications and field weighted citation index France has particular strengths in medicine; biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology; immunology and microbiology; environmental, agricultural and biological sciences; engineering; physics and astronomy; computer science. France also has strengths in high tech and science-intensive sectors such as cyber, Artificial Intelligence, deeptech, blockchain and IoT.

1.3 French S&I Priorities and Policies

Reforms to fiscal policies have seen significant investment in R&D and innovation and increased international competitiveness through the Future Investments Programme (PIA) with a budget of around €57 billion and covering 2010-2020. Now in its 4th phase with a budget of over €20 billion, the PIA aims to support closer collaboration between higher education and research in order to foster innovation; increase the value of public research through knowledge and technology transfer; and accelerate the modernisation of SMEs and medium-sized companies.

Complementing the PIA, France 2030 is a €54 billion investment plan aiming to sustainably transform the key sectors of the economy (energy, automotive, aeronautics and space) through research, innovation and industrial investment and is managed by the ANR, in tandem with BPI France and ADEME.

The Multi-annual Research Programming Law (LPR) promising €25 billion in additional budgetary programming over 10 years was launched in 2020 to restore budgetary growth to French research, improve the attractiveness of research careers and strengthen France’s place on the international scene. The reform also identifies 5-7 ‘grand societal challenges’ in which France can develop world-leading technological solutions, and provide strategic support for these over 10-15 years: digital technologies, digital health, decarbonisation, responsible agriculture, sustainable mobility, cities of tomorrow, digital education.

In 2017, President Macron announced his intention to give universities more autonomy and allocate additional places for new students. The same year, the President also launched an ambitious programme to fund innovation by protecting the research and innovation tax credit (estimated to cost €6.2 billion per year) and creating a €10 billion disruptive innovation fund from the disposal of state-controlled companies in the competitive sector whose interest (€300 million in one year) could be invested in innovative projects.

1.4 UK and France Science & Innovation Cooperation

Institutional cooperation: The UK research base enjoys strong links with France and continues to identify areas for bilateral and multilateral collaboration in several sectors including emerging technologies, health and energy and climate change.

There are many existing collaborations, such as:  

• CNRS-Imperial International Research Centre for Translational Science and Technology; 
• Institut Pasteur - Oxford University PhD exchange programme focused on AMR 
• Inria London programme on AI 
• Joint UKSA-CNES satellite launches

Other issues of mutual interest include G7 priorities nuclear energy, research security/culture, open & inclusive research, researchers at risk.

Government to government cooperation: In 2018, France and the UK announced a researcher mobility Programme Hubert Curien/Alliance which funds research mobility for early career researchers, strengthening UK-France research collaboration.

1.5 SIN France contacts

Linda Newman

Regional Manager West Europe Science & Innovation Network

Linda.Newman@fcdo.gov.uk

Sarah Vande Velde

Head of Science & Innovation, France

Sarah.VandeVelde2@fcdo.gov.uk

Sara Gill

Science & Innovation Adviser

Sara.Gill@fcdo.gov.uk

1. Le budget 2023 de l’ESR progresse de 1,1 milliard et confirme les ambitions du Gouvernement pour les étudiants et les acteurs de l’ESR ↩

2. https://publication.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/eesr/FR/T033/la_position_scientifique_de_la_france_dans_le_monde_a_travers_ses_publications/ ↩

3. France: the 11th country in terms of innovation - Bpifrance.com ↩

4. ec_rtd_eis-country-profile-fr.pdf (europa.eu) ↩

5. THE World Rankings 2022 ↩

6. Groupe de travail 1 : Financement de la recherche, September 2019, p17 (in French) ↩

7. les moyens humains de la recherche et développement - état de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation en France n°15 (enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr) ↩