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INRIA's 2006-2009 four-year contract was signed on March 7, 2007. - Short version (html - pdf)
- The press release |
The field of information and communication science and technology (ICST) has profoundly transformed French society and economics. Influencing scientific and technological domains as well as social and economic spheres, ICST plays a central role in the process of innovation and value creation. In the coming years, this field will create new markets. In particular, computer science and modelling will be critical to tomorrow's science and innovation.
Publicly funded research is a pillar of ICST. By helping build a "knowledge economy", such research maintains the productive exchange between far-sighted basic science and more immediate, solution-driven technological development. In this area, INRIA has consistently demonstrated high scientific standards, recruiting its collaborators from the best teams around the world and working to ensure high-quality technology transfer.
To make its mark in an international arena more competitive than ever, INRIA has defined key challenges on which to concentrate its efforts. The Institute's strategic plan – a collaborative effort by its research teams and functional departments – maps out the various scientific challenges and goals for the next five years, in each area of activity. During the previous four-year contract, the Institute reinforced its partnerships with universities and grandes écoles as well as industry groups, both in France and abroad, thereby significantly boosting its impact. These developments are aligned with the recent French legislation concerning research orientation and programming.
As a relatively young institute, INRIA is committed to a growth-oriented approach, in terms of objectives, outcomes and resources. Its development strategy is therefore centred on three new research centre in Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay, which are set to open by the end of 2008. To build on the previous four-year contract and comply with the 2003–2007 strategic plan, INRIA will organise its 2006–2009 activities around four themes:
Based on emerging scientific challenges, INRIA has identified seven priorities in its strategic plan:
INRIA will continually update annual performance indicators and present a yearly report on scientific and technological breakthroughs with their associated transfer projects. INRIA – already recognised for its outcomes – is committed to improving its performance in terms of publications, patents, software, partnerships and transfers. It plans to expand its impact, measured by the number of times its papers are cited, its technologies are used or its collaborations give rise to new industrial partnerships or startups. The global outlook and strategy defined by INRIA's Scientific and Technological Orientation Council will guide its international initiatives, its research incentives and a dozen national actions. INRIA will also increase the number of its research project-teams to around 170.
INRIA will pursue an ambitious policy of software development and distribution by taking a professional, systematic approach to its lab-to-marketplace activities. It will step up its presence and involvement in international standardisation bodies. It will expand its policy of strategic partnerships with industry by continuing to work with competition centres, supporting discussion groups with industrial partners and collaborating with technological enterprises to meet the R&D demands of large industrial groups. It will also continue to support the creation of innovative startups.
While maintaining the quality, stringent requirements and independence of its assessment processes, INRIA will broaden the range of activities assessed. It will amplify its training-through-research programme by welcoming more and more doctoral students, post-docs and young engineers. It will also emphasise communication by striving to promote scientific understanding and awareness amongst young people and other non-specialists.
As provided for by recent French legislation on research, INRIA will work to involve all its academic partners – in France and abroad – in its dynamic initiatives. With its partners, it will participate in developing competition centres. It will coordinate the actions of regional structures and work to enhance the notoriety and attractiveness of these centres of excellence. To achieve this, INRIA will mobilise its regional research centres, each bringing together 500–600 people around increasingly well-defined theme areas. This will ensure the consistency of its national research policies while at the same time allowing for local specialisation. INRIA will round out its geographical deployment in 2008 with three new research centres – in Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay – which are offshoots of the current Futurs centre.
INRIA intends to maintain and develop collaborations with the best teams in the world and open its laboratories to young researchers from other countries. It will help organise the European Research Area (cross-border cooperation, European laboratories) and the various projects of FP7 (7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development). It also plans to play an important role in European competition, which the ERC (European Research Council) is working to invigorate. Moreover, INRIA will take part in launching JTIs (Joint Technology Initiatives) in the telecommunication, software and service industries. In particular, it will help define strategic research agendas.
Outside Europe, INRIA will focus its cooperative actions on two priority zones: Asia (LIAMA in China) and North America (especially its collaboration with the NIH in the United States).
In the area of human resources, INRIA will implement a growth-oriented policy by continually updating its personnel requirements to match its larger goals. It will define its own model of management, encourage mobility and create networks of former collaborators. In addition, it will support initiatives which encourage women to pursue careers in research.
INRIA will continue to modernise its administrative management (improved accounting and internal auditing) by taking advantage of the new budgetary framework. It will deploy and upgrade its new information system and ensure the performance of the IT infrastructure used by research personnel. The Institute will also continue to make its scientific findings available in digital form.
To enable INRIA to reach these objectives, the contract stipulates that the French government will provide the resources necessary for reaching critical mass. Specifically, the government will support the new research centres in Saclay, Bordeaux and Lille by providing for a twofold increase in personnel. The government will also support the goal of doubling the Institute's human resources over the next 10 years, an objective set forth in the previous four-year contract. Public subsidies will increase to €165.7 million in 2009. Compliance with the contract will be ensured by an annual status report as well as updates on each component of the action plan defined by the two parties.
