on January 19, 2017
Hauts-de-France is not Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Sophia Antipolis or Saclay. Historically, the ratios of regional wealth devoted to research have been particularly low. They have improved mathematically with the merger with Picardy, but still do not exceed 1.1% of our GDP. The reasons for this are well known: a border area, a region of mass wage-earning for decades, and low public investment in this sector. A certain amount of catching-up has taken place, with the establishment of major centers such as Inria, and the birth of competitiveness clusters, opening up new bridges between the once-tight world of researchers and that of business. And a number of clusters of excellence are now enjoying undeniable recognition, a fact underlined in successive bids for the Idex project: medical, notably around diabetes and cardio-metabolic diseases, green chemistry and digital.
But behind the figures and the institutional arguments, researchers are also exceptional men and women who contribute, often discreetly, to the international reputation of our region. In this issue, Eco121 pays tribute to these champions of our labs. Polymer specialists, pioneers of new cancer therapies, explorers of the earth’s crust, inventors of the face transplant… The profiles are very varied and, like all lists, ours is non-exhaustive and arbitrary, based on international influence and publications. And we’re not forgetting the hundreds of discreet researchers who, behind their lab benches and under often meagre conditions, are also preparing tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
Focus on our “nobelists” of regional science.
Edito n° 67 - December 2016 and January 2017.
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