The Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, alongside Sylvie Retailleau, French Minister of Higher Education and Research, announced the creation of a joint committee between Canada and France to help strengthen the long-standing partnership between Canada and France in science, technology and innovation (STI).
"Canada and France will continue to foster greater collaboration in science, technology and innovation through the work of the new joint committee. Together, our two countries are helping create more opportunities for researchers, innovators and businesses to partner on projects that will shape the economy of the future,” said Minister Champagne.
The committee will promote new opportunities for Canadian and French researchers and innovators to work together to find evidence-based solutions to global challenges.
Co-chaired by Dr. Mona Nemer, Canada's chief science advisor, and Dr. Claire Giry, director general of research and innovation at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the joint committee held its first meeting to officially launch its activities.
"The first meeting of this joint Science, Technology and Innovation Committee enables us to strengthen our cooperation in strategic areas such as quantum science and artificial intelligence. I would like to thank Minister Champagne, Global Affairs Canada and the two co-chairs' teams of this joint committee, Dr. Mona Nemer and Dr. Claire Giry, who have piloted the committee's preparatory work and who will preside over its future developments in areas of global health, energy and oceans,” noted Minister Retailleau.
The joint committee includes a strategic council that aims to meet every six months to discuss priorities and opportunities for research collaboration.
To help facilitate increased collaboration, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the French National Research Agency (ANR) also formed a partnership to create a framework to support new and existing collaborations between researchers in both countries, which will allow them to launch joint calls for proposals in the priority fields identified by the committee. NSERC and ANR expect to issue their first call for proposals in the coming year.
