Our missions
Single point of entry for French and foreign institutional partners with regard to the organisation’s international initiatives, it performs the following missions:
- Selecting thematic and geographical priorities, setting up win-win cooperation and structuring partnerships;
- Improving international cooperation monitoring tools and developing a decision-making ideology relying on suitable performance indicators;
- Facilitating the research network between the CNRS and its national and international partners – universities, academies;
- Welcoming, informing and guiding foreign delegations from research organisations, universities and/or research institutions in order to develop new partnerships;
- Making international dialogue an essential tool to enhance French research attractiveness and visibility abroad;
- Coordinating initiatives at the European and international level with foreign institutions.
CNRS in Brussels
With laboratories that actively participate in EU research and development programmes, the CNRS positions itself as a research leader in Europe.
The Brussels office liaises between EU institutions and CNRS Institutes and departments. It relays the institution’s decisions to the Commission, Parliament, and European research organisations represented in Brussels. It also relies on the European project engineers (IPE) to help researchers take part in European projects.
Bilateral Europe
The bilateral Europe sector coordinates bilateral and multilateral relationships between the CNRS and its partners on the European continent, including Russia and the New Independent States.
Geographical proximity makes it possible to maintain long-standing relationships. As a result, framework agreements have been signed, leading to numerous collaborations between research organisations, universities or academies.
of co-publications with foreign partners are in collaboration with the European Research Area (ERA)
among the 15 leading co-publishers with the CNRS are from the Bilateral Europe sector
of the 25 highest-ranking co-publication partner institutions are in Europe
France’s neighbouring countries are the CNRS’s main partners, especially Germany and the United Kingdom, world leaders for science and innovation, as well as Italy and Spain. The CNRS also has strong connections with smaller countries with an excellent research and innovation record. Cooperation with “UE 13” member states is also part of the CNRS’s commitment towards a stronger and always more inclusive ERA.
Asian / oceanian sector
Collaborations in the Asian sector reflect the region’s diversity, with countries that are economically and culturally heterogeneous.The Asian sector comprises two regions and integrates the Executive Secretariat of the European Interest Group (EIG) Concert Japan programme.
The first region covers Korea – Japan – Singapore – Taiwan, with which the CNRS maintains close and long-lasting relationships. Mainly based on innovation, the economic weight of these industrialised countries makes them influential actors of global scientific research.
The second region includes China, which, in light of its exceptional scientific and technologic development, has become a valuable partner for the CNRS. More generally, the area covers South East Asia – especially Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, which enjoys significant scientific and human potential.
Beijing office (China)
The CNRS is fully involved in scientific research with China since the 1970s. Increasing cooperation between Chinese research teams and CNRS researchers led to the opening of the Beijing office in 1995.
Tokyo office (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan)
The CNRS regional office in north Asia is located in Tokyo. It liaises between the CNRS – and French research in general – and research institutions in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Singapore office (South-East Asia, Oceania))
The ASEAN Office opened in Singapore in 2014 and represents the CNRS with the different research stakeholders in Southeast Asia (Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and in Oceania.
Melbourne office
The Melbourne office, which opened in 2022, represents the CNRS among the various research players in Oceania, an area with many scientific collaborations and strong themes such as polar research, coral reefs and radio astronomy.
African / Middle Eastern / Indian sector
This sector covers countries with very different positions in the scientific landscape. India of course, but also South Africa, Israel, Iran and Turkey are characterised by their training and research capacity as well as by their scientific production. Northern African and Middle Eastern countries – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon – also collaborate closely with CNRS research teams. In sub-Saharan Africa, scientific research is not homogeneous, despite opportunities for efficient cooperation. Kenya and Nigeria are the most important scientific stakeholders, but CNRS collaborations are centered around francophone Africa, especially Senegal.
Pretoria office (Southern Africa)
Since 2011, the IRD and the CNRS have run a joint office in South Africa, to monitor scientific cooperation in the following countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
New Delhi office (India)
In 2011, the Delhi office saw the light of day to represent the CNRS with Indian research players. This office also works closely with other countries on the Indian subcontinent, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
American sector
North America is the world leader in research. Some of the largest countries in South America – such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, play an essential regional role even though their economies can be unstable.
Washington office (United-States and Mexico)
The Washington office represents CNRS in the United States and Mexico. The actions undertaken are in line with the priorities defined by the CNRS strategic plan and by the organization’s ten thematic institutes.
Sao Paulo office (South America)
Since 2010, the office in Rio de Janeiro has been the CNRS’s permanent representation in South-America. Its main objective is to facilitate scientific cooperation between the CNRS and its South American partners: Brazil, Argentina, Chili and Uruguay.
Ottawa office (Canada)
The Ottawa office was inaugurated in 2022 to strengthen and expand scientific cooperation and innovation networks with Canada, one of CNRS’s key partners.
