Research Federation Condorect

Présentation

The CNRS RF 3417 is leaded from his birth on 1st january 2012 by the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne and by the University of Picardie Jules Verne. The ambition of the federation is to be recognized by Europe as a reference European research center on plant based bioeconomy. Both basic and applied research is performed in the federation.

To reach the ambition, the federation aims at synergizing competencies and mutualizing research staffs that are available in public and private labs whose activities focus on plant based bioeconomy. The Condorcet RF includes 700 scientists from 30 labs and 15 technical and biotechnological platforms. Labs from partner Universities in the north of France (such as Compiègne, Calais, Beauvais, Lille, CentraleSupélec, AgroParisTech) and Belgium (University of Liège, Gembloux AgroBioTech) also participate in the Condorcet RF.

This research federation strategy relies on a strong economic development in these regions and perfectly fits with the policy of local (metropoles, regions), national (Ministry of Agriculture) and European (S3 : smart specialisation strategies) instances.

Staff

30 laboratories, 15 technical and technological platforms, 700 scientists

Key words

Sustainable production of plant biomass, biomass transformation and valorization, socio-economic aspects of plant bioeconomy

Research topics

The whole scientific activity can be decomposed following 4 axes organized according to the value chain:

• axis 1: sustainable production of plant biomass;
• axis 2: biomass transformation and processes;
• axis 3: innovative agro-sourced products and materials;
• axis 4: conditions of emergence of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Main equipment

Available equipments are those from the lab members of the RF Condorcet. For further information, visit the website of Condorcet (http://www.sfr-condorcet.fr)

Partnerships

Apart from the federation, main partners are:

• those of member labs for academic purposes;
• the members of the competitiveness cluster Industries and Agro-Ressources (IAR cluster) for industrial developments.

Specificities

The federation is focused on the scientific animation and communication but also on the elaboration of projects. The “Condorcet days” and the “Young Scientists Condorcet Days” are annual events of the federation and help scientists to meet at least twice a year. Moreover a special trait of the federation consists in supporting exploratory projects. These one year projects are selected by the scientific council of the federation and aim at giving scientists the opportunity to test a new hypothesis and to make the proof of concept that will encourage them to develop new collaborations and to submit national or international significant projects.

The research projects developed within the federation are directly connected to industrial duties. For this reason, the Condorcet FR is an active member of the IAR competitiveness cluster, member of the “IAR do Brazil club” and member of the Bio-Based Industries Consortium (BIC), which greatly facilitates the development of R&D activities.