Private investment
In a report* published in 2019 as part of the Multiannual Programming Law for Research Funding, the commission identifies several shortcomings in this area.
These shortcomings give rise to what we might call a "lack of creativity" in the world of research. What, you may ask, does creativity do in an environment as precise and specialized as scientific research? To do so, we're going to compare two seemingly opposing fields, art and research. Creativity in the world of art knows no bounds other than those of the imagination, whereas research is confined to the real world and attempts to explain it. There is, however, a form of creativity in research which is similar to that of art, and which comes into play in the way things are explained, in the hypotheses put forward to describe them, and this is where action is needed.
Current situation
The point to be made is that funding for research topics is so low that they are framed, oriented and hierarchical, which in a way stifles researchers' creativity. The report cites the following figures: "In 20162 , France invested €42.6 billion less in R&D than Germany. France's level of research funding is falling steadily, from 2.28% of GDP in 2014 to an estimated 2.19% in 2017, far behind countries such as Korea, Japan, Germany and the United States". Investment is therefore on the decline, and it's not getting any better as the years go by, so we need to take action. Most of this investment comes from public funds, which means that research does not meet the same objectives, since it is very tightly focused and often invested in research that is either already underway and therefore leaves no room for other avenues, or is used for projects that have no immediate industrial applications. Private investment is very low compared with other leading countries in research, and the report explains this as follows: "France has lost ground, and the level of public and private funding for research remains far below what it should be.
In 2016, R&D spending in France amounted to 49.5 billion euros, or 2.22% of national wealth: lower than the OECD average, and far from the 3% target set by the Lisbon Strategy at the start of the 21st century. This gap is due to two factors that need to be addressed simultaneously: the low level of public R&D spending (DIRDA), barely at the OECD average and far from France's ambitions, and the excessively low level of private R&D spending (DIRDE). Over the comparison period 2011-2016, GERD stagnated in France, while it increased in most of the leading countries (Germany, South Korea, Israel, Scandinavia, etc.)".
What instruments are needed to make up for the lack of investment?
We can therefore see that public and private investment is below the threshold that would enable France to remain a leader in this field. We therefore need to invest much more, and in a more diversified way, in order to increase the share of private investment. One way of doing this would be to encourage private players to invest in R&D entities within their own structures, and to create partnerships with laboratories and universities. There are schemes for exempting a portion of corporate taxes on funds dedicated to research, but we need to go further. French research remains excellent and of a very high standard, but the lack of funding, the orientation of laboratories and the low salaries of researchers and teacher-researchers are leading to a decline in scientific publications and a loss of momentum in this field. How many discoveries have we seen escape France? How many brain drains have we suffered? How many industrial applications have we lost to other nations?
The emulation and creativity that can be created by environments such as those offered by companies and their R&D units, would enable France to regain its place among the leading nations, and this is entirely feasible. It's not a question of creating an American-style system, where most labs are financed by companies, but rather of encouraging companies to create places where creativity is not restricted, but encouraged with short-term objectives and possible industrial applications in mind. We need to support initiatives such as the one quoted in the report: "It is of the utmost importance to support the 'cultural' basis of our knowledge and curiosity-driven, creativity-driven research ('Blue Sky Research') through core funding of laboratories, as it is from these that the paradigm shifts necessary for the advancement of science and society emanate, as well as our society's overall influence in global affairs".
In conclusion, private investment would breathe new life into research in France, and would also involve emulation between research fields, without suffering too much from the disadvantages of public laboratories, even if companies will also have more pragmatic, short-term orientations.