INRA: for the Earth and for Man

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INRA for the Earth and for Man

• INRA for the Earth and for Man
• Public mission oriented research
• Sustainable agriculture
• Nutrition and food safety
• Environment and rural areas

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INRA for the Earth and for Man

• A general presentation
• Portrait
• Scientific strategy
• Resources and organisation

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1. Portrait
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1. Portrait

• Set up in 1946
• A public research organisation dedicated to
• Agriculture
• Food, food safety and human nutrition
• Environment and rural development
• A research performing organisation
• 1800 researchers and 2360 engineers
• A budget of 680 M for 2006
• A research funding organisation
• Nearly 50 M in 2005

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1. Portrait

• In term of Scientific publications
• Second organisation worldwide for production of
  science (Web of science, ISI JCR, ESI) for
  agricultural sciences and plant and animal
  sciences
• 8th in the world for microbiology
• 24th in the world for environment/ecology

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1. Portrait

• 1946/1960 
• INRA was one of the principal actors in the
  modernisation
• of farming.
• 1960/1980 
• Through its research and innovation, INRA
  contributedto the development of the French
  agrifood sector.
• 1980/2000 
• The Institute integrated new and fundamental
  technologiesin the life sciences
  (biotechnologies, molecular biology,genetic
  engineering) in response to new
  environmentaland consumer demands.

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1. Portrait

• Since 2001 
• INRA is taking up the scientific challenges of
  the life sciences, helping to accomplish profound
  changes in farming, responding to new demands
  from society (sustainability, food safety and
  quality, ethics, science-society debate, etc.)
• . by strengthening its resources in three major
  fields
• 1. The development of sustainable agriculture
• 2. Nutrition and its effects on human health
• 3. The environment and regional development
• .by integrating them in the construction of the
  European
• Research Area
• .by actively participating in the
  internationalisation of science

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1. Portrait

• Missions 
• 1. To produce and disseminate scientific
  knowledge
• and innovations
• 2. To contribute to training in and through
  research,
• to the dissemination of scientific culture
  and to the
• science/society debate
• 3. Through its expertise, to participate in
  informing the
• decisions made by public and private sector
  actors

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2. Scientific strategy
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2. Scientific strategy

• A new context
• New scientific challenges
• High throughput approaches
• Modelling at different scales
• System biology
• New socio economic conditions
• CAP and WTO
• Evolution of rural areas
• New questions from the society
• New research organisation, European Research Area

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2. Scientific strategy

• Six strategic priorities
• Environment and rural areas
• Nutrition and human health
• Diversifying products and their uses, improving
  their competitiveness
• Basic research
• Sustainable agricultural production systems
• Public policies, strategy and organisation of
  actors

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2. Scientific strategy
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2. Scientific strategy

• An enhanced partnership
• Building a more efficient relation with the
  stakeholders
• Strengthening the links with higher education and
  other research institutions
• Reshaping the relationship with rural development
  organisations
• Improving technology transfer and access to
  knowledge

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2. Scientific strategy

• European partnerships and international
  cooperation
• European commitment as the highest priority
• A special interest for long term cooperation with
  China, India, Brazil and the Mediterranean basin
• A stronger cooperation with other scientific
  organisation

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3. Resources and organisation
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3. Resources and organisation

• A total budget of 680 M for 2006
• 577 M funded by the government
• 103 M on contracts
• 1800 scientists, 2270 research assistants and
  4230 technical staff on permanent positions
• 1000 scientists coming from partner organisations
• 1200 scientists and research assistants on time
  limited contracts
• 1600 PhD students
• 1000 foreign junior scientists on doctoral or
  post doctoral fellowships

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3. Resources and organisation

• 21 regional centres
• 260 research units (including 140 joint units
  with other research institutions)
• 80 experimental units

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3. Resources and organisation

• 5 scientific directorates
• Animal and animal products
• Plant and plant products
• Human nutrition and food safety
• Environment, cultivated and natural ecosystems
• Social sciences

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3. Resources and organisation

• 14 research departments
• 5 national programmes in coordination with the
  National Research Agency (ANR)
• Animal genomics
• Plant genomics
• Food and nutrition
• Agriculture and sustainable development
• GMO

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3. Resources and organisation
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INRA for the Earth and for Man
Thank you for your attention