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Institut de recherche pour le développement
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< Sleeping sickness research /Guinea
Capacity-building,
technology transfer,
dissemination
Capacity-building support for Southern scientific communities
Technology transfer and consulting
Disseminating scientific information
Annual report 2009
33
Capacity-building support for Southern
scientific communities
The existence of an established, recognised scientific
community is a decisive element for a Southern country’s
social and economic development. To help structure
research in these countries and promote their scientists’
integration into international networks is one of the IRD’s
essential missions for overseas development. Its capacitybuilding system is based on training, support for research
teams’ projects and action at the institutional level. Four
programmes under the French government’s Fonds de
Solidarité Prioritaire are designed to pursue this policy:
CORUS, AIRES-Sud, Sud Expert Plantes and RIPIECSA.
The Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs has
appointed the IRD managing agency for these
programmes.
Training:
teaching and individual support
The IRD’s contribution to training includes formal teaching, supervising doctoral students and provision of grants for doctoral students
and fellowships for researchers pursuing in-service training.
IRD scientists’ contribution to academic teaching has been growing
steadily for some years. It now amounts to nearly 7400 hours of
teaching a year, one-third of these in Southern establishments and
mainly for Master’s degree students. Africa accounts for 45% of
teaching hours in the South, and over half of that is in West Africa.
Latin America accounts for 39% and the Asia-Pacific region for 16%.
Most of the teaching in France is at the Île-de-France and Montpellier
centres.
The Institute’s role in training young researchers is increasing. In
2009 IRD scientists supervised 816 doctoral theses. More than 470
of these were from Southern countries and some hundred submitted
their theses. The total number of thesis submissions was up from
100 to 160. Investment in in-service training continues: in 2009 it
amounted to 2270 hours, more than half of this in countries of Africa,
Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
With regard to individual support, 160 Southern scientists
benefitted from the Institute’s two capacity-building programmes
in 2009. Forty-six new thesis grants and 18 new science and
technology exchange fellowships were awarded. The purpose of
these fellowships is to promote continuing education for researchers
and non-research staff from Southern countries by enabling them to
Partnership/Bolivia
Emerging IRD Partner Teams (JEAIs): networking leads the way
A workshop-meeting in Marseille brought together eleven JEAIs (Jeunes Equipes Associées à l’IRD) from Djibouti, Madagascar, Tunisia,
Algeria, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo and Morocco, all working in plant biology.
34
Participants listened to a range of speakers present possible ways of capitalising on their research work (patent applications,
partnerships with manufacturers, etc.), ways to diversify sources of funding, and how to access the scientific and technical information
managed by the IRD. The workshop was also the occasion for some fruitful sharing of experiences and laid the basis for future
collaboration among Southern researchers. Participants greatly appreciated the initiative. Based on a clearly-defined topic, it took as its
model the network developed around date palm farming research.
Institut de recherche pour le développement
work and train in research structures linked to the IRD and located
outside their country of residence. Other recently-qualified Southern
scientists were able to get to know the different facets of a researcher’s
job through a special doctoral training module on the occupational
skills of science research.
Empowering research teams
The Institute helps emerging research teams in the South become
established by granting them funds (up to €60,000 over three years)
to work in partnership with an IRD unit working in the same field.
Three new teams joined this system in 2009, bringing the total
number of Emerging IRD Partner Teams (JEAIs, Jeunes Equipes
Associées à l’IRD) to 25.
The system of joint professorial chairs encourages joint initiatives
by two researchers, one from the North and one from the South,
around a research project geared to development and combined with
Master’s or doctorate level education and/or a practical application
project. The IRD currently funds four such joint chairs, in
environmental data processing (Senegal), modelling in epidemiology
(Cameroon), international migration (South Africa) and physical
Weather station/Brazil
oceanography (Benin). The latter two are pursuing work that began
under two major programmes, ANR Mitrans on transit migration
in Africa and the AMMA multidisciplinary study of the African
monsoon.
Institutional capacity building
The IRD assists its Southern partners in structuring their teaching
and research systems. It lends scientific support for setting up
higher education streams, promotes networking and fosters
institutional recognition of its partners. Theme-based structuring
actions in 2009 were of two kinds. Seven theme-based regional
or international Master’s programmes included one on integrated
management and sustainable development of West African coastal
areas. Eleven theme-based courses or summer schools included one
on mathematical modelling, in Kenya. The Institute also partnered the
Stockholm-based International Foundation for Science to organise
training in Africa for scientific project writing.
Eight West African partners working with the IRD on food security
issues were mobilised to develop a network of research institutions
and university departments, improve the exploitation of research
Emerging team/Cameroon
findings by decision makers and set up programme management
training courses. This project is European-funded to the tune of
€1 million over three years under the EU-ACP (Africa, Caribbean,
Pacific) partnership agreement.
/ Contact: dsf@ird.fr
CORUS(1): French academics in action for Africa
The end purpose of the CORUS programme is to see internationalgrade science centres established in Southern countries. It
aims to promote cooperation between French research teams
in key development-related areas such as health, food security
and sustainable resource management. A first assessment by
the programme’s managers and their partners noted strong
commitment by some thirty French higher education and
research establishments and highlighted the mutual benefit
drawn from this collaborative science work.
Discussions are now under way towards maintaining these
actions over the long term. Future structuring projects might
include the creation of regional or international training streams,
network management, joint thesis supervision, joint publications
and arrangements to encourage mobility among newly-trained
researchers.
(1) Coopération pour la recherche universitaire et scientifique.
/ Contact: corus@ird.fr
Annual report 2009
35
Technology transfer and consulting
Under its remit to pursue value-added applications of
its research for development, the IRD mobilises the
competencies of its teams to transfer technology to
socio-economic actors in North and South. In 2009 this
involved working more closely with the United Nations
Industrial Development Organisation, the African
Organisation of Intellectual Property, the Dakar chamber of commerce and industry and the French-Brazilian
chamber of commerce and industry in São Paulo.
Recognised in developing countries for its competencies, the Institute increased the value-added
applications of its findings through a number of
partnerships. It also continued to help nurture innovative
projects and business creations within its own ranks.
Consulting service for the South
The IRD is regularly called upon for consulting and advisory services,
transferring its knowledge to leadership and decision-making circles.
In 2009 it performed some twenty consultancy missions for NGOs,
companies and public authorities. Private consultancy missions
by individual researchers in their own names are also an important
activity.
Canine leishmaniasis survey/Senegal
IRD opens Africa’s first business incubator
Initiated by Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the French embassy in Senegal and the IRD, West Africa’s first business
incubator opened in Dakar. It involves many of Senegal’s higher education institutions including Gaston Berger University
in Saint-Louis, the Universities of Thiès and Ziguinchor, the Institut de Technologie Alimentaire and the Institut Sénégalais de
Recherches Agricoles. The new structure already accommodates two projects that began life in IRD laboratories. One concerns
improving mushroom farming yields; the other exploits recent results in complex systems modelling to aid decision making in
agricultural and urbanisation policy.
By enhancing professionalisation and research in the higher education system and making the most of the entrepreneurial
potential of students and academics, the incubator is a contribution to Senegal’s social and economic growth.
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Institut de recherche pour le développement
To aid development actors in preparing or revising their strategic
decisions, the IRD proposes a particular form of multi-disciplinary
assessment, the expert group review.
Two expert group reviews were conducted in 2009, concerning:
- e nergy in the development of New Caledonia, for the government
of New Caledonia,
- d isease vector control in France, for the Ministries responsible for
research, health, agriculture, ecology and domestic affairs.
Value-added
from IRD technology
With a portfolio already containing 81 active patents in nine different
fields, the IRD continued its efforts to develop the economic potential
of its research findings.
Measures were taken to raise researchers’ awareness of the
intellectual property issue and they were advised on the various
methods for protecting ownership of their results. Thanks to this
support and an active scan to identify innovations in the Institute’s
laboratories, fifteen new patents were applied for, including more than
half in co-ownership with Southern partners. The use of rosmarinic
acid to treat ciguatera is one example. There were also a number of
innovations in the agro-environment field, including a patent on the
Business incubator opening/Dakar
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For a patent, trade mark or software to create wealth, the holder must
sign a license agreement with a user. The income generated from the
IRD’s 32 active license agreements has been rising steadily for two
years, amounting to over €626,000. In 2009 new license agreements
were signed, for innovations in seismological instrumentation
and hydrological modelling and for a vaccine against canine
leishmaniasis.
Scientific service provision and research collaboration with the
private sector also greatly increased, as witness the 54 contracts
signed, for a total value of €3.23 million. These contracts cover all
the Institute’s fields of study. A clinical study in Africa on the H1N1 flu
gave rise to a contract with the American private foundation PATH.
The IRD continues to participate actively in nine competitiveness hubs. They are Mer-Bretagne (Sea-Nergie) in Brittany;
Q@liMEDiterranée (diet and quality of life in the Mediterranean)
in Languedoc-Roussillon; Pôle Risques (risk management and
vulnerable territories), CAPENERGIE and Mer Sécurité Sureté
5% 5%
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IRD patents
by application field
(sea, safety and sustainable development) in Provence-Alpes-Côte
d’Azur (PACA); Eurobiomed (emerging and orphan diseases) in
Languedoc-Roussillon and PACA; Qualitropic (Agronutrition in
tropical environments) in La Réunion; Aerospace Valley (aerospace
and onboard systems) and Cancer, Bio, Santé in Midi-Pyrénées.
The Institute is also an active partner in creating an “EAU” hub in
Languedoc-Roussillon and a hub in French Polynesia on valueadded from natural resources and eco-innovation.
Expert group review for vector control in France
Enquête sanitaire/Bolivie
Support for maturing innovative
projects and company formation
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use of the plant Amaranthus viridis as a fertiliser. Two patents in the
engineering sciences were for underwater image acquisition and
recording devices.
The IRD encourages individual initiatives by researchers wanting to
develop the economic potential of their work. Support is provided to
enable researchers to mature their projects for innovative technology
applications. In 2009 more than €250,000 was granted to fund twenty such initiatives. One concerns the construction of a greenhouse for
raising minute fly larvae for fish farms in Indonesia. Another involves
the design of a leishmaniasis diagnosis kit and a third the
development of a pharmaceutical compound with soothing and
anti-inflammatory properties.
Thanks to IRD support for company formation, five companies spun
off from the Institute’s laboratories are in business today. Two have
just been created in New Caledonia: Serei No Nengone specialises
in commercial use of natural substances in cosmetology and AEL
performs chemical tests for studying pollution from mines, now a
fast-growing sector.
/ Contact: dev@ird.fr
Underwater video camera /La Réunion
Argusia argentea/New Caledonia
La Lutte Anti-vectorielle en France -- Disease Vector Control in France, published in 2009, is
the report of tenth expert group review conducted by the IRD. It was delivered in Paris before
an audience of 150 representatives of the commissioning ministries and their decentralised
administrations, the health agencies involved in the work and other stakeholders including
commune and department authorities, vector control operators, associations, unions and trade
federations. Its main recommendations are the creation of a national expertise centre on
disease vectors and the vector hazard in human and animal health, and redefinition of the legal
framework governing vector control in France and its overseas territories.
Annual report 2009
37
Disseminating scientific information
For research to truly serve development the knowledge
acquired must be disseminated and used fruitfully;
science must have an influence on society.
each month. There is also an online map library with 18,000 maps
(3000 visitors a month) and an image bank comprising over
43,000 photographs.
The media gave the IRD’s work a high profile in 2009; some 2000
articles about its research appeared in the press, including over
thirty in the highly respected daily Le Monde. The Institute’s scientific
news sheets, posted on the Institute’s website and distributed by IRD
representatives around the world, inform the general public, the media
and its partners about highlights in its research results. In 2009
twenty-seven news sheets were issued, in French, English and
Spanish. The periodic newspaper Sciences au Sud, with article
summaries in English, Spanish and Portuguese, enjoyed a
circulation of 75,000. The IRD’s website was completely overhauled;
it is now better referenced than before and has more content,
particularly interactive content. It is now visited by over four million
Internet users a year.
In 2009 the IRD ran training courses for the South on digitisation,
geographical information systems and the use of scientific
databases. The multimedia resource centre in Burkina Faso is now
a joint document centre; it was inaugurated by the Secretary of
State responsible for forward planning and the development of
the digital economy.
Documentary resources are shared with the scientific community
through the Institute’s archive of 72,000 publications, 40,000 of
which are in digital form. These can be accessed online via the online
Horizons/ Pleins textes database, which receives an average of
4500 visits a month. Six thousand documents are downloaded
It is part of the IRD’s partnership ethics to deliver its research
results to the countries where it operates, and 2009 was no exception. More than thirty books, atlases and CD-ROMs were published,
including the Atlas des pêcheries thonières de l’océan Atlantique on
Atlantic tuna fisheries, Migrants des Suds on Southern migrants, Les
Anophèles on Anapholes mosquitoes, La spatialisation de la
biodiversité on spatial aspects of biodiversity and the CD-ROM
atlas Territories and Urbanisation in South Africa. Ten titles were
co-published, including Clipperton, environnement et biodiversité,
Les langues de Guyane and L’océan gouverne-t-il le climat?, this
latter on the role of the oceans in determining climate.
Ministerial visit/Burkina Faso
Young scientists club/Thailand
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Institut de recherche pour le développement
Raising public awareness of the issues and challenges of research
for the South is also part of the IRD’s mission. In 2009 several films
were successfully screened and televised, on subjects ranging from
soils to malaria and H1N1 flu. A film about the Vanikoro/Lapérouse
expedition was broadcast on the popular TV series Thalassa. Several
exhibitions were produced, mainly on health- and environmentrelated topics. In line with the dissemination policy developed with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some hundred presentations were
given in 28 countries abroad and 39 venues in France. The Sciences
au Sud exhibition achieved a major tour in Central Africa, in
Cameroon and Chad particularly. Visitors greatly enjoyed the
exhibition on the flower-people of Mentawai, jointly produced with
the Bibliothèque Départementale Gaston Defferre in Marseille.
Another exhibition was about malaria.
Foreign and European Affairs. Under that programme, more than
€2 million were spent on 155 projects by associations and
organisations in ten African countries, over a five-year period.
In sharing these resources the IRD fulfils an essential part of its
mission, delivering and publicising its findings and promoting its
work in cultural terms.
/ Contact: dic@ird.fr
Science festivals, debates, film screenings, talks and science cafés
all provided opportunities for the IRD’s scientists to share their
knowledge. They took part in some hundred different events, more
than a half in Southern countries, especially Brazil, where 2009
was ‘French Year’. The international seminar on “Scientific culture
in the South: prospects for Africa” marked the closure of an
ambitious programme coordinated by the IRD for the Ministry of
Science festival/Noumea
New IRD website
Film, Les faucheurs de palu
Annual report 2009
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