France: The Blame Game

doi:10.1126/science.315.5813.749b

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PARIS--A new government report blames badly managed public research for historically poor commercial payoffs and calls for funding projects rather than institutions. "Despite measures taken since the 1999 innovation and research law, the commercialization of research has not progressed in France for 15 years," the report says.

Bertrand Monthubert, president of the advocacy group Sauvons La Recherche, says the 250-page report "takes no account of the size of labs or the fact that most public contracts are awarded for priority research areas, such as nanotechnologies or energy." Monthubert says industry is to blame and that companies should hire more of the 10,000 Ph.D. students who graduate French schools each year. Research unions are citing the report in a call to scientists to join civil servants in street protests this week.