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The argument about France's strength at the end of the article is anecdotal (and not argued at all), and the title is misleading. (and as a French CS student w
by GuiA 15y ago
The argument about France's strength at the end of the article is anecdotal (and not argued at all), and the title is misleading.
(and as a French CS student who did his undergrad in France and started a PhD in the US (and have many friends in PhD tracks in both systems), I'd actually argue that France is better at "pure/abstract research" rather than R&D. Inria is a very unusual organization, not representative of research in France at all)
- agravier 15y agoSome data: Inria is (AFAIK) one of the 3 major public research institutions in France: CNRS (the largest, multiple scientific fields, 26k people), Inria (CS, 4k people), INSERM (Medical, 6k people). There are others, but they are much less staffed. Anecdotally, I worked in a CNRS lab and I can tell you that it was very much applied. But applied research was the stated goal of the lab, and I can't say about the rest of the CNRS.
- kleim 15y agoYou forgot CEA (nuclear and renewable energy, microelectronics, defense,... 16k people).
- agravier 15y agoYou are right but it seems that the CEA is an établissement public à caractère industriel, while the ones I cite are établissements publics à caractère scientifique. However, you are right, this distinction seems pretty arbitrary to me, as the ONERA (aerospace) too is classified as "industrial" and not "scientific" research establishment.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]