International action

The role of the ANR includes increasing the scientific outreach of French research, intensifying transnational collaborations with European and international partners, promoting the access of French scientific communities to international bodies, venues and debates, and establishing special relations with the major foreign funding agencies in order to co-fund transnational projects. The ANR thus places the development of European and international collaboration among its priorities.

In order to better respond to the major environmental and societal issues (global crisis, climate change), and make faster progress in the major challenges to knowledge, it is vital to join forces and pool resources. International collaborations can be a vector for enhanced effectiveness, by enabling a critical mass to be reached in areas where national resources are in short supply, and by providing access to new know-how and data.

By speeding up and increasing the depth of the collaborations initiated by the French researchers and research organisations, ANR's international policy aims more particularly at optimising the position of French research teams in the global competition.

Under its transnational policy, the ANR naturally turns towards Europe: it contributes actively to the development of the European research area by creating close ties with the European commission and the European research funding agencies. It takes part in the EU initiatives, such as the ERA-NETs, and is a driving force in the European joint programming initiatives. Internationally, it undertakes to develop lasting relations with the emerging countries on the scientific scene, such as China, India and Brazil. It endeavours to make ties with leading countries in certain key domains.

To do this, the ANR creates strategic bilateral or multilateral partnerships with its foreign counterparts, and funds true collaborative transnational projects concerning subjects in which the countries have a shared interest.

Key figures (2011)