CNRS: a wellspring of innovation Innovation, research promotion technology transfer – in 2012, these CNRS priorities benefitted from the creation of Strategic Pillars of Innovation (ASIs) and the emergence of new players in innovation ecosystems. W ith a patent portfolio exceeding 4,500 patent families, including 58 674 published in 2012 alone, CNRS is a key player in scientific innovation. Eighteen Nobel prizes, eleven Fields medals… the organization draws on world-class researchers and boasts a unique advantage: multidisciplinarity. This tradition of research into novel areas is part of its DNA, driving the effective transfer of knowledge to the economic sphere. “The orientations we defined in 2011 came to fruition in 2012,” says Pierre Gohar, Director of the CNRS Innovation and Business Relations Department (DIRE). “We identified and set up sixteen Strategic Pillars of Innovation (ASIs) within the organization, and were closely involved in new innovation ecosystems outside.” The other highlight of the year was the creation of five Theme-Based Technology Transfer Consortiums (CVTs) and nine Technology Transfer Companies (SATTs), with which CNRS is closely associated. A proactive innovation policy “ASIs are the backbone of our policy, and will be the source of our breakthrough innovations in the coming decades. Since the gestation and maturation periods for a patent often exceed ten years, we take a forward-looking approach,” says Pierre Gohar. The sixteen ASIs were defined with the ten CNRS Institutes and the FIST SA subsidiary, which manages nearly half the organization’s patent portfolio. The DIRE identified research areas where CNRS has high-level human, material, and non-material resources, and matched them with existing economic and social needs. It is essential for CNRS to focus on emerging or fast-growing markets. “We encourage both research and innovation. This considerably improves our visibility as an innovative organization and hence our capacity to develop industrial partnerships,” notes Pierre Gohar. “By setting up ‘strategic’ patent clusters, we improve the management of our patent portfolio.” The creation of ASIs means closer collaboration with the laboratories working in these fields, which can benefit from tailor-made services. Researchers involved in a given strategic pillar are invited to closely cooperate with businesses likely to market their innovations. For this purpose, the DIRE organizes six “ASI Meetings” each year. Hand-in-hand with business ASIs help to renew the dialog between CNRS and the economic sphere, establish new types of cooperation, and reinforce the organization’s historic ties with small-to-medium-sized companies. New rules concerning intellectual property and royalties have been defined that considerably simplify the preparation of framework agreements with industrial firms. Furthermore, innovation is no longer considered to be a linear process from discovery to industrial applications, but rather an iterative process involving industry from an early stage, responding to the need for CNRS to go beyond fundamental research. The organization averages 3-4 according to the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), which measures the technological maturity of research on a scale of 1 to 9. With no fewer than 146 joint ownership agreements with industry and 618 with other research bodies, 25 framework agreements with companies listed on the French CAC 40 index, 120 laboratories involved in Carnot Institutes, and 397 laboratories in competitiveness clusters, CNRS continuously develops new types of cooperation with the economic sector. Few research organizations have done as much to promote knowledge transfer. Although licensing is often cited as a reference, it is just one of many CNRS endeavors. These include collaborative research, based on joint thesis supervision, and the creation of joint laboratories – a form of cooperation highly valued by industry – which encourages and facilitates researchers’ invol- In the field ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The viewpoint of Marjorie Nanteuil, Head of Innovation and Research Partnerships at the CNRS Institute of Physics (INP) “The transfer of research and researchers’ expertise is multifaceted. It may involve filing and using patents, improving a business partnership, creating a start-up, or consulting for a public or private organization. I help implement innovation in the Institute of Physics (INP) laboratories, monitor the strategic consistency of local and national projects, and verify their economic viability. I work with the DIRE to negotiate framework agreements between CNRS and large corporations. Physics is attractive to industry because it drives innovation in several fields. Companies contact the INP to set up joint laboratories. I also help steer projects with a strategic interest and international scope such as the development of large instruments in the field of intense lasers, or the European Graphene initiative.” A year at CNRS 2012
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