Accelerating R&D to master the future

Despite France’s commitment to the “knowledge economy”, the absence of French vaccines has surprised and resonated as a symbol of the downgrading of French R&D. There is a consensus that research is key to creating today’s inventions and tomorrow’s innovations. However, the debates revolve around three issues. The first concerns the financing of R&D: is it satisfactory, both in terms of volume and structure, and in its distribution between public support and private financing? The second issue is to link R&D funding to other public policies in order to create a context favourable to creative destruction: educational, industrial and regional planning policies, competition policy, tax policy, the fight against inequalities, etc. The third issue concerns the objective itself of increasing technological progress. How can we master the future without falling into bellicose sovereignty and without guaranteeing the protection of the environment?