To read the words used, it would already be a success. According to a report published this Thursday, March 7 by Hcéres, the high council responsible for evaluating French research structures, the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Inria) is on the right track to defend France against digital perils. Cyberattacks, artificial intelligence, digitalization of public services, computing capacities… The executive has been trying for years to make the public establishment its armed wing on the front of new technologies, and is now asking it to advise the public authorities as well as to guide scientific activity, in addition to purely scientific missions.
Good news ? In appearance only. The smiles were tense, to say the least, at Hcéres headquarters at the announcement of this assessment, delivered on the occasion of the end of the contract which unites the institution and the State. If these new missions are considered crucial, they give rise to strong tensions in the different battalions of the organization, which is divided into research units attached to universities. A sign of the ambient electricity, last year, no less than two petitions supported by more than a third of permanent researchers circulated to “save” the institute, which would be close to “peril”, according to the unions.
Thus, the conclusions of Hcéres were twofold. The report notes a “remarkable” handling of this forced destiny by Inria, which notably recruited and formed dedicated teams. But at the same time underlines a deep unease: “Some of the team personnel remain in a position of reserve, even of distrust”, note the scientific and industrial experts commissioned. The body recommends that management “strengthen support for change”, and “deepen social dialogue”, “taking into account the various analyses”.
A brutal transformation
How to resolve the conflict? Neither the experts nor Bruno Sportisse, the president and CEO of Inria, say so. The unions accuse the latter, a mathematician and former ministerial advisor to Emmanuel Macron, of dictating the transformations, like a “prefect to his civil servants”, without consultation. What the person concerned refutes, citing numerous meetings with staff. “Strategic choices of this magnitude are divisive by nature. Oppositions and concerns are normal. The important thing is to be transparent and to discuss,” he confides to L’Express.
The assessment of Hcéres may well give credence to the critics, but in reality it is considered well “polished” by some of the establishment’s officials, and even within the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, at view of the frictions reported in the press in recent months. “I have been at Inria for 30 years, this is the first time that an internal revolt has been so serious. There has been opposition, but never of this scale,” says Laurence Grimaldi, Sgen-CFDT general secretary. .
Far from being isolated, the current crisis could set the tone for the future of the research reform desired by Emmanuel Macron. Because this new role as an outpost in the scientific wars waged by powers and private actors, other French organizations, such as the CNRS, INSERM, CEA or CNES, will also have to take on it, depending on their favorite themes (respectively ecological transition, health, energy, space). This was one of the recommendations of the Gillet report on the simplification of research, adopted this summer by the government.
Rearming French science
Acted since December 2023, this transformation into a “Program Agency” should make it possible to “rearm” French science, according to the Élysée language. The objective: to make these institutions scientific “strategists”, where the State often lags behind, and to make the environment more fluid. But its contours remain too vague, judge, among others, the Inria unions. Their fear: that the reform will worsen the disorganization of research. In the establishment as in other structures, procedures and committees are already stacked on top of each other.
In the case of Inria, it is precisely this administrative millefeuille which fueled the friction. The Hcéres report indeed notes a “disorderly excitement” and a lack of coordination staff conducive to concerns. “We don’t know who does what,” regrets Jean Chambaz, rapporteur and former university president. How, then, can we avoid stepping on each other’s toes, both internally and also between the different research structures? Hcéres experts write in black and white that exchanges with the CNRS have deteriorated because of the reorganizations.
Research organizations only have 18 months to implement the reform, a timetable set by Emmanuel Macron. An emergency which also accentuated the difficulties. “We are going for it, despite the uncertainty,” illustrates Julien Diaz, FSU elected official. And if the idea of relying more on science to govern is flattering, a taste for constant improvisation is felt. “How will this new role be structured, when the ministry and the National Research Agency have similar prerogatives? We do not know what all these beautiful promises cover,” laments Christine Leininger, CGT representative.
Do more, with less?
At Inria, as at CNRS or INSERM, we are also worried about having to do ever more with even less. Because if the State wants to strengthen research organizations, it has at the same time relieved them of more than 900 million euros, because of the latest budgetary regime initiated by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire. However, even before the cuts, the stated objectives already seemed untenable without additional cash: “Without sustainability of the budgets, there will be difficulties in ensuring that the orientations are implemented effectively”, warned Jean Chambaz this Thursday, by addressing this time directly to the executive.
For example, Inria supported the government during the health crisis, using its skills. The France of the pandemic owes it the Tous anti Covid application, or even algorithm programs for public services (RegalIA). Crucial tasks, yet financed by the establishment itself and not by the sponsors of these tools. A state of affairs which annoys some of its scientists while at the same time, another aspect of the reform pushed by the Elysée requires them to increase the number of contracts with the private sector to finance themselves. Inria, a good student, has passed 10 since 2018. The advantage? Unlike the State, companies end up paying.
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