The public sector is increasingly calling on INRAE scientists to address issues that concern the Institute’s research and expertise: preserving and managing common goods such as water, biodiversity and soil, anticipating and managing natural, food and environmental risks, and initiating food and agro-ecological transitions. These demands require strong collaboration at different levels of action, at national, European and international level, as well as at local level, which is an essential link in the chain of action.

The Public Policy Support Division helps to build partnerships with public players to bring science and public policy closer together. This involves coordinating and leading the dialogue between the Institute’s scientific and technical offering and the needs of public players in designing and implementing food, agricultural and environmental policies.

A partnership to support public policy at all geographical levels

Support for public policies involves formalising partnerships with national ministries and public bodies responsible for implementing public policies. Institutional framework agreements with these strategic players structure and organise this partnership, specifying all the areas and methods of collaboration. They are then the subject of specific application agreements. They also set up the governance bodies (steering committee, monitoring committee, etc.) responsible for monitoring and coordinating these partnerships.

These framework agreements are developed with non-academic public partners that are priorities for INRAE, at national, regional and international levels.

This work is one of the missions of INRAE’s Public Policy Support Division and is carried out in close collaboration with the Public Policy Support Division, the Scientific Directors and the Heads of Research Departments. At this stage, INRAE has signed twenty national agreements that cover hundreds of support actions. Agreements have also been signed at regional level (with cities and regions, for example). Many of these agreements are managed by the research centres. A number of European and international partnership agreements (MoUs) are also managed in conjunction with the International Relations Department and the Higher Education, Sites and Europe Department. These include agreements with the JRC, EEA, EFSA, FAO, WMO and IFPRI.

National partnerships in support of public policy

INRAE establishes special partnerships with national public policy players, ministries or public bodies, to contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies in the Institute’s areas of research.

The aim is to develop and target collaborations as part of INRAE’s national strategy in support of public policies: to identify the players, issues and public policies concerned, both current and future.

INRAE’s main partners in public policy support are the ministries and national bodies responsible for implementing public policies in line with the Institute’s aims. The Ministries of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, and of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, INRAE’s supervisory bodies, are central partners. Relations have also been established with the Senate and the National Assembly, the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST) and the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE).

These collaborations involve :

• setting up organised and systematic exchanges with the departments of the ministries responsible for agriculture and the environment, to listen to needs and anticipate actions; these exchanges are currently being structured with the ministry responsible for health,
• the concerted drafting of framework agreements and conventions with public partners to better coordinate the scientific offer and the needs of political action, and to secure actions over the long term and in terms of resources. Projects are promoted jointly to strengthen collaboration and partnership.

Partnership with Ministries

As well as being major beneficiaries of INRAE’s public policy support, ministries are also partners, whether they be general directorates, directorates, departments or inspectorates. The partnership includes participation in councils or committees set up by the ministries, for example as part of the implementation of national strategies or plans.

Support initiatives for public policies are also carried out for local departments and agencies (DDT, DDPP, DRAAF, DREAL, ARS, etc.).

INRAE provides operational support to ministries in terms of developing tools, indicators and decision-making aids. Together with the ministries concerned, it runs and develops long-term systems known as ” permanent public policy support systems “, which have dedicated resources and staff.

These support the implementation of public policies, while at the same time enriching the Institute’s knowledge production and scientific strategy thanks to the data and emerging issues they generate.

A dozen or so permanent projects have been set up with the Ministry of Agriculture, while others are being developed or formalised with the Ministry of the Environment.

Partnerships with national bodies

Numerous national bodies are also important players in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies: funding agencies, scientific and technical bodies, associations, foundations and groupings. As part of its support for public policy, INRAE has partnerships with a large number of organisations with widely varying statuses, missions and relationships with public policy.

These partners may have local departments with varying degrees of programming autonomy.

Partnership in support of local public policy

In the fields of agriculture, food and the environment, the local level is essential for implementing and coordinating public policies. It is where these policies are implemented and where they intersect with a wide range of stakeholders, the most important of which are local and regional authorities.

INRAE’s national positioning and its solid, historic roots in the regions, with its 18 research centres, make it easier to bring together scientific groups, often multidisciplinary, and local public players.

The Public Policy Support Department is committed to strengthening this partnership with local players, an objective set by the Institute in its INRAE 2030 strategy.

Local public policy support partners

The various public policy support activities also have local beneficiaries: decentralised government departments, agencies, operators and public bodies, and local authorities and similar bodies. They are joined by other scientific, socio-economic and associative partners, and even some international players.

Local and regional partners have a variety of expectations of research: new knowledge, data and analysis tools that can be used by local and regional players, insight into a specific issue, or help in developing the technical and scientific skills of their staff.

INRAE’s thematic research offering in line with local authorities’ fields of action

Much of INRAE’s research supports local and regional transitions in the fields of agriculture, food and the environment, reflecting the fields of action and needs of local and regional authorities and their stakeholders.

The forms of partnership are adapted to the context, ranging fromframework agreements to the implementation of specific projects, accompanied by training or the development of platforms.

Partnership in support of European and international public policies