On Jan 1, 2020, INRA and IRSTEA will merge to become INRAE. They will form a new community of more than 10,000 people dedicated to carrying out research in Agriculture, Food & the Environment in France and abroad.
Thanks to the complementarity of the disciplines and skills present within IRSTEA and INRA, the aim of the new institution is to be a future, global public research leader in the fields of agriculture, food and the environment so that it can respond to major societal challenges: food and nutritional security, environment-health, agroecology, the management of natural resources and ecosystems (water, soils, forests, etc.), the erosion of biodiversity, the circular economy and natural risks at a territorial scale.
Practical proposals have been submitted to the Ministers that will underpin the creation of this new EPST*. To respond to global challenges and enhance its attractiveness, the future institution will deploy mission-oriented research that is both fundamental and applied and disciplinary and cross-disciplinary. Its work will support public policies, enabling the conduct of top quality expert reports and the development of projects focused on innovation.
Seven new Divisions comprising IRSTEA-INRA research units will be set up and reinforce research in the following fields:
- The agroecological and digital transition of agriculture,
- Aquatic environments and the control of associated risks,
- The management of sparsely populated continental ecosystems,
- Economic and social evolutions in agriculture, food and the agrifood industries,
- Data sciences and artificial intelligence, robotic technologies and sensors,
- Support for territorial transitions and management,
- The bioeconomy and bioresources.
The synergy of scientific and technological skills and the pooling of research infrastructures and data will enable the generation of scientific knowledge at the highest level of international quality standards and the promotion of open science, implying the dissemination of, and free access to, research results. This new establishment will also be a driver for the regional structuring of research and will participate in the dynamics of French higher education, research and innovation centres.
The report handed to the Ministers proposes an organisation around both scientific, territorial and support services, and it will be discussed with staff representatives during the coming months so that the new establishment will be fully operational on 1st January 2020.
To succeed in this transitional phase and support different teams regarding these changes, the Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation has announced an initial budget of €4 million.
*EPST: Public Scientific and Technical Research Establishment
