French Competiveness Clusters: A Multipurpose Policy Instrument - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 185

researchers toward private enterprises, for instance through the authorization for
public researchers to participate in an innovative firm start-up without losing their
civil service status for 6 years, or the possibility for public researchers to engage in
consulting activities or in private firms' boards of directors; (ii) increasing public-
private research collaboration, for instance via incubators in universities and public
research organizations, the introduction of industrial and commercial service
activities in public research organizations, and simplified administrative procedures;
(iii) providing fiscal break measures for innovating firms; and (iv) a providing a legal
framework for innovating firms: granting the extension of the simplified status of the
joint stock company to all innovative firms (Muller et al. 2009 ).
Second, the French Innovation Plan of 2003 was produced jointly by the
Ministry of Research and the former Ministry of Industry. The main lines of this
document concern the diffusion of research results and the facilitation of inno-
vation. Its focus is on publicly funded research and its exploitation for innovation,
including providing support for young innovating companies, research funding,
industrial strategic research, etc. Research has not only attributed an important role
at the national, but also at the international level. Precise measures elaborated in
this plan after national consultations, include (i) the status of business angels; (ii)
support for projects of Jeunes Entreprises Innovantes; (iii) further new instruments
to foster innovation, including tax reductions; (iv) simplified access to public
funding through attributing a central role to ANVAR (now OSEO); (v) better
exploitation of research results for enterprises; (vi) the attribution of a central role
to innovation in a national and European perspective; and (vii) the support of
industrial strategic research (Muller et al. 2009 ).
Third, the Research Pact, promulgated in October 2005, pursues the aim of
modifying the existing national research and innovation system that had evolved
comparatively little in the preceding period. This fact is based on three axes: (i) the
balanced development of the three basic components of the research system (basic
research, research with societal and economic implications); (ii) the development of
interfaces and cooperation between actors of the research landscape; and (iii) the
introduction of a global and long-term strategy that aims to increase confidence
between research and society (Muller et al. 2009 ). The Research Pact introduces a
rationale offinancing for specific research projects instead of regular financial support
for the research institutions, promotes cooperation among public research institu-
tions, reinforces the public and private actors (P ˆ les de Compétitivité, Carnot Label).
The collaborative R&D projects are basically the core of the activity of the
competitiveness clusters. The call for the collaborative projects, launched twice a
year, is the main tool to promote public and private partnerships in R&D. The
selection process is operated in three steps: first, a regional evaluation is conducted
under the aegis of the regional prefecture; second, an evaluation is performed by
an interministerial working group (GTI); and finally an independent audit is car-
ried out by a group of qualified persons (GPQ) in the fields of business, research
and higher education. During the period 2005-2011, around €4.3 billion were
allocated to support approximately 5,750 R&D projects, which consist of col-
laborative projects and non-collaborative projects that were supported by the