France failing to leverage research results, claims report
The exploitation of research results has remained stagnant in France, despite measures introduced to boost the country's innovation and research base, according to a report published by the French Ministry for Higher Education and Research. The authors of the report reached their conclusion by comparing and contrasting the structures of French and overseas public and private laboratories and their ability to leverage their research results. On public-private research partnerships - one of the key indicators employed - the study notes that the volume of contracts between public research institutes and industry has not increased since 1992. Of the contracts that are drawn up, the majority of them go to only a small percentage of France's public research institutes. This has resulted in a weakening in France's competitiveness, which the authors of the study say has had a knock-on effect on the country's participation in the EU research framework programme. The situation is similarly stagnant in terms of the value gained by research institutes from their intellectual property. Although the number of patent applications filed increased over the last 10 years, with the number practically doubling since 1996, France has seen very little economic gain as a result. The study argues that the increase in patents is due to a desire to protect inventions, not to exploit them. A second reason for lack of revenue gained could be the fact that many of the patents are shared between research institutes. The study also judges France's ability to leverage it's research by the number of innovative companies created by public research institutes. At first glance, the figures are encouraging, with a total of 90 companies starting up annually at the initiative of public research institutes. But the situation is less encouraging when looking at the growth of these companies. The study estimates that fewer than 1 out of 10 companies reaches a turnover of €1 million after four years. It lists structures that fail to facilitate rapid technology transfer and the non-participation by industry as factors behind this stunted growth. Finally, the study looks at the movement of researchers between public laboratories and industry, which it argues is the most effective way of transferring and exploiting knowledge and research results. Here again there is much room for improvement. In 2004, only 38% of young PhD graduates found employment in industry compared to 62% who found jobs in the public sector. To turn the situation around, the authors of the study call for big changes in the way research is organised and carried out in the public sector. It also recommends the development of mechanisms such as technology transfer offices, which would allow for better collaboration between industry and public research institutes. However, any measures undertaken to increase these linkages should not be at the expense of basic research, say the authors of the study.
Countries
France