The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Center for Scientific Research) is a government-funded research organization, under the administrative authority of France's Ministry of Research.
CNRS was founded in 1939 by governmental decree, to fulfill the following missions:
- Evaluate and carry out research capable of advancing knowledge and bringing social, cultural, and economic benefits for society.
- Contribute to the application and promotion of research results.
- Develop scientific information.
- Support research training.
- Participate in the analysis of the national and international scientific climate and its potential for evolution in order to develop a national policy.
As the largest fundamental research organization in Europe, CNRS implements these missions through seven research institutes and two national institutes:
- Institute of Chemistry (INC)
- Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE)
- Institute of Physics (INP)
- Institute of Biological Sciences (INSB)
- Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (INSHS)
- Institute of Mathematical Sciences (INSMI)
- Institute of Information and Engineering Sciences and Technologies (INST2I)
- National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3)
- National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU)
CNRS encourages collaborations between specialists from different disciplines, in particular with universities, thus opening up new fields of investigation to meet social and economic needs. CNRS has developed interdisciplinary programs which bring together various CNRS departments as well as other research institutions and industry.
Interdisciplinary research is undertaken in the following domains:
- Life and its social implications
- Information, communication and knowledge
- Environment, energy and sustainable development
- Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials
- Astroparticles: from particles to the Universe
The
1,100 CNRS laboratories (or research units), of which
90 % are joint research laboratories with universities and industry, are located throughout France and are managed by
19 regional offices to ensure a decentralized direct management. CNRS employs 33,600 specialists of which 26,000 are CNRS tenured employees with 11,600 researchers and 14,400 engineers and support staff. Of these, 1,714 are foreign researchers with 1205 coming from EU countries. In addition, CNRS employs 295 permanent foreign engineers and technicians, and hosts every year about 5000 foreign visiting scientists (Ph.D. students, post-docs, and visiting scholars).
Laboratories are all on renewable four-year contracts, with bi-annual evaluation by the National Center for Scientific Research. There are two types of labs:
- CNRS intramural labs: fully funded and managed by CNRS (called UPR, or unités propres de recherche, in French)
- Joint labs: partnered with universities, other research organizations, or industry (called UMR, or unités mixtes de recherche, in French)
The CNRS's annual budget represents a quarter of French government and public spending on civilian research, corresponding to 3.367 billion Euros for 2007, of which 607 million come from revenues generated by CNRS contracts, primarily from industrial and EU research contracts and royalties on patents, licenses, and services provided. In 2007, CNRS signed 1,680 contracts with industry and has currently 30 agreements with major international industrial groups.
At the international level, CNRS develops a large scope of collaborations through:
- 8 CNRS offices abroad (Beijing, Brussels, Hanoi, Johannesburg, Moscow, Santiago de Chile, Tokyo, Washington)
- 85 exchange agreements (with 60 countries)
- 275 International Programs for Scientific Cooperation (PICS)
- 89 European and International Associated Laboratories (LEA/LIA)
- 90 European and International Research Groups (GDRE/GDRI)
- 18 International Joint Units (UMI)
In recent years, CNRS has intensified its
research cooperation with China in a large range of disciplines. Over 1100 CNRS researchers visit annually China, to collaborate with their Chinese partners or to attend meetings. Some of them are posted in China for long term cooperation.
CNRS has created in partnership with different Chinese research and higher education institutions several joint-laboratories (LIA) and research networks (GDRI) :
11 Joints labs :
- "Centre d'Etudes sur la Chine contemporaine " (UMIFRE CEFC) - 1991
- "Laboratoire sino-français d'informatique, d'automatique et de mathématiques appliquées " (LIAMA) - 1997
- "Laboratoire franco-chinois de catalyse " (LFCC) - 2000
- "Laboratoire pour les applications de supraconducteurs et les matériaux magnétiques " (LAS2M) - 2003
- "Laboratoire franco-chinois de physique des particules " (FCPPL) - 2006
- 2006 : " Modifications post-translationnelles dans le cancer " (LIA PMC) - 2006
- "XiamENS : NanoBioChem " - 2006
- " Functional organophosphorus materials " (LIA FOM) - 2008
- Laboratoire " Origine de la matière et de la vie dans l'Univers " (LIA ORIGINS) - 2008
- "Rôle du calcium dans la détermination et la différentiation des cellules " (LIA ROCADE) - 2008
- "Laboratoire franco-chinois sur les énergies renouvelables " (LIA LSE) - 2009
2 International research networks :
- "Photo-switchable organic molecular systems and devices "(GDRI PHENICS) - 2008
- "Spectroscopie d'absorption de molécules d'intérêt atmosphérique et planétologique " (GDRI SAMIA) - 2008
