Question 17588 — research and innovation

Summary

Mr. Hadrien Clouet draws the attention of the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Space to the project to absorb the Research Institute for Development (IRD) by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) as part of the “Effective State” program, carried out in complete opacity. The IRD is the only French public research establishment on development, public health and environmental sciences. It aims to provide answers to the major challenges faced not only by countries in the intertropical and Mediterranean zones, but also by French overseas territories and mainland France: pandemics, forced migrations, armed conflicts, deforestation, state repression, etc. In addition, the IRD is perfectly integrated into the national scientific community, as evidenced by its presence on more than twenty sites. French and overseas academics, with more than 5,000 scientists. In existence for more than eighty years, the IRD capitalizes on its experience and is not a simple cooperation organization focused on the countries of the South. For example, studies on the biology and ecology of tiger mosquitoes, native to South-East Asia and now widespread over almost the entire French territory, have made it possible to develop particularly effective control methods. The research carried out by the institute in the management of natural disasters makes it possible to apply by comparison certain practices observed internationally in order to support disaster-stricken communities. Its scientific influence is exceptional and its reputation worldwide. However, these conclusions require long-term research capable of articulating the biological, ecological, economic, social and political dimensions of the phenomena studied, while working with those who experience them. Research and international collaboration cannot be decreed, but are built on relationships of trust and reciprocity between scientists. The countries with which the IRD works are places where new knowledge, new practices and new solutions. Thus, to sacrifice it by absorbing it within a juggernaut such as the CNRS, the largest research organization in Europe, is to sacrifice one of the pillars of French diplomacy. The disappearance of the IRD, particularly because of its seniority and its roots within the international scientific community, will be badly received by France's partners. At a time when the geopolitical environment is more unstable every day, scientific collaborations remain the means of ensuring continuity and international mutual assistance. Finally, the scientific members of the IRD, including management, stressed that the integration project is not based on any demonstration of future financial savings, or worse yet, of benefits for French and international research. He asks him if the Government intends to listen to the scientific word or carry out its reform in force against the opinion of the scholarly communities - while nearly 2,000 IRD workers publicly oppose the reform envisaged through a forum -, if the specificity of the IRD would be maintained within the CNRS, what would be the consequences for the budget of the institute, its autonomy and its specific know-how, what would happen to the 250 fixed-term contracts of the IRD while the CNRS has frozen its own recruitment of fixed-term contract, and finally if the effectiveness of the State must be based exclusively on fantasies of economic performance by artificially disconnecting them from the diplomatic relations it maintains with its partners.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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