The French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is a public basic-research organization that defines its mission as producing knowledge and making it available to society. The CNRS has 25,283 employees (among which 11,349 researchers and 13,934 engineers and technical and administrative staff). Its budget amounts to 2,533 million euros (including VAT) for the year 2002. The 1,256 CNRS service and research units are spread throughout the country and cover all fields of research.
The CNRS is present in all major scientific disciplines
CNRS scientific departments and institutes encompass virtually all fields of knowledge : Nuclear and Particle Physics (PNC), Physical Sciences and Mathematics (SPM), Communication and Information Science and Technology (STIC), Engineering Sciences (SPI), Chemical Sciences (SC), Sciences of the Universe (SDU), Life Sciences (SDV), Humanities and Social Sciences (SHS).
The CNRS strives to develop collaboration between specialists from different fields of expertise. These interdisciplinary programs and actions offer a gateway into new domains of scientific investigation and enable the CNRS to address the needs of society and industry. Some examples of these new fields are: interactions between physics and chemistry of living forms, materials, biotechnologies, environment, urban matters, health, telecommunications and communication.
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Offices all over France
18 regional offices provide a real « hands-on » management and stimulate exchanges between local partners.
The CNRS is open to partnerships
- Over 1,200 CNRS units are operating in conjunction or association with higher education organizations and other French research organizations
- 4,500 patents
- 500 licenses
- 3,000 industrial contracts
- Over 100 start-up enterprises from CNRS laboratories since 1999
- 5,000 foreign interns are working in CNRS labs, around 81 exchange agreements have been signed with over 50 countries, 197 international scientific cooperation programs are in progress, and there are 33 European laboratories associations and twinning agreements.
- The CNRS is represented in Brussels, Peking, Tokyo, Hanoï, Washington, Bonn, Moscow, Tunis, Johannesburg, Santiago (Chile).
