France looks set to establish its own dedicated funder for disruptive research after a government-backed report endorsed the creation of an innovation body based on America’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa).
Although an official announcement is yet to take place, senior ministers in Emmanuel Macron’s government have publicly backed the recommendations in a joint task force’s report, published on 18 June, which calls for the creation of a “dedicated ARPA-like entity” for France.
The agency should work closely with Germany’s innovation agency Sprind, established in 2019, to leverage the scientific and industrial strengths of Europe’s largest economies, advises the report, which was commissioned by France’s finance ministry and Germany’s research ministry.
Speaking at Vivatech, Europe’s largest tech conference, French finance minister Roland Lescure said the proposed agency would help retain an abundance of world-class scientific talent “found on both sides of the Rhine” that often left for US laboratories.
“To keep them here, we have to give them the ways and means to do [their research],” said Lescure, welcoming the report’s call for greater Franco-German collaboration on research and innovation.
