30 funding for public research and development

In 2012, budget allocations spent on public research totalled nearly €13 billion and funded 69% of all public research and development (R&D). In 2012, resources contributed by institutions themselves accounted for nearly €6 billion and almost 30% of R&D funding for public research.

Funding for public research comes primarily from budget allocations from the Inter-Ministerial Mission for Research and Higher Education (Mission interministérielle recherche et enseignement supérieur – MIRES). These allocations cover R&D carried out at state institutions, as well as that done in the four other sectors in France and abroad. They include public service subsidies and allocations designed to finance university research, dedicated state research institutions, funding bodies for research projects, various mechanisms for funding and promoting R&D by businesses and research carried out through public-private partnerships. They also include funding for measures that aim to share and promote scientific and technical culture. In 2014, the MIRES allocated a total of €15 billion to research, as compared with €14 billion in 2012 and 2013.

In 2012, resources for all public research (whether carried out internally by institutions or subcontracted to external organisations) totalled €18.7 billion (table 30.01). These came largely from budget allocations (69%), with the remainder made up by the institutions themselves, most often by means of contractual resources. The budget allocations spent came primarily (88%) from the MIRES (chart 30.02), with the remainder provided by contributions from other government departments. The proportion of budget allocations varied depending on the type of institution. It was larger for higher education institutions (76%) than for dedicated research institutions (69%) due to the high number of state-owned industrial and commercial establishments (établissements publics à caractère industriel et commercial – EPIC) in this latter group (chart 30.03), and was very small for the public non-profit sector (13%).

The resources contributed by institutions themselves fell into two distinct categories: ‘contractual resources’ (including contracts, agreements and calls for proposals), which accounted for 22% (€4.1 billion) of funding for public research (table 30.01), and other types of resources provided by institutions themselves (9% of total funding). Contractual funding came primarily from the public sector (€2.4 billion), with dedicated state research institutions linked together by a complex network of research collaboration. More than half of these contracts came from government funding sources such as the French National Research Agency (Agence nationale de la recherche – ANR), the French National Cancer Institute (Institut national du cancer – INCA), Bpifrance and local authorities (chart 30.05). This proportion varied depending on the type of institution: it was a little larger for higher education institutions (55%) and state-owned scientific and technological establishments (établissements publics à caractère scientifique et technologique – EPST; around 51%), than for EPICs (33%) (chart 30.05). The remainder came from collaborations between the various institutions that conduct public research. Public research was also funded through contracts with businesses, which accounted for a total of €0.8 billion. It also received an equivalent amount in contractual funding from abroad, from international organisations and from the European Union. EPICs and higher education institutions were the main beneficiaries of such foreign funding (chart 30.04), with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives – CEA) and the French Government Space Agency (Centre national d’études spatiales – CNES) receiving the lion’s share.

Catherine David