2010 - A Public-Private partnership (PPP) in research : France is leading Dublin

The Cultural and Scientific Service of the French Embassy, following a request from the organisers of the sustainable city international forum, invited Ms Clarisse Angelier - head of the CIFRE (industrial conventions for training through research) at the ANRT (national association for research and technology) - to take part into the Globe Forum on November 17-18 2010.

Globe Forum Dublin 2010 - 17 et 18 novembre 2010

This international forum took place in the world’s first carbon neutral convention centre – the Convention Centre Dublin- which was inaugurated last September. This conference was following the footpath of the 2009 Forum in Sweden, and the theme selected this year was the sustainable development of the city in its every aspects.

The former President of Ireland and ambassador at the Unesco Mary Robinson, several Irish Ministers, the Minister for businesses in Sweden Maud Olofsson and many multinational business managers (Accenture, Ikea, Intel) were chosen as lecturers.

This forum was co-organised by Dublin city and the Department of Communication, Energy and National Resources, and gathered 650 people (researches, businessmen, financial and political managers). Among these people were 50 leaders of venture-capital businesses and a dozen of journalists for both a national and an international coverage.

Within a workshop on the links between research and innovation called Innovations in Med Tech and Health Information in Ireland, the CIFRE scheme was introduced by Ms Clarisse Angelier and two French businessmen who actually benefited this scheme talked about their experiences :

 Mr Emmanuel Bois, chairman of CEZANNE, a small and medium enterprise created 10 years ago following a French technology ;

Emmanuel Bois

Clarisse Angelier

 Mr Nicolas Abelé, chairman of LEMOPTIX, created in 2009 following a technology developed with the group STmicroelectronics in Grenoble.

The Irish Research Council in Science, Engineering and Technology, one of the most important financing agencies for Irish research, recently launched a program very similar to the French CIFRE called Enterprise Partnership Scheme.

This Irish program was launched in 2004 and works today with 90 enterprises. It allows Ireland-based companies to receive funding in order to carry research programs in Irish-State laboratories –such as a 3 year PHD or a 2 year post-doctorate programs – with an enterprise. The final goal is to develop strong relationships between
Irish academics and engineers or managers of Ireland-based multinational companies currently planning to set-up R&D centres in Ireland