Article written by Stéphane Fiorillo, sales engineer at IESA.
The CIFRE (Convention Industrielle de Formation par la REcherche) scheme was created by the State to enable companies to stand out through innovation. In concrete terms, it brings the public and private spheres closer together by contributing to the financing of the salary of a doctoral student supervised by an academic laboratory on a business problem. For the company, it is a way to access knowledge and scientific and technical skills of the highest international level. For the laboratory, it is an opportunity for real application and validation fields for a finalized research.
Specifically, the ANRT, on behalf of the Ministry of Research, pays the company an annual grant of €14,000 for three years to hire the doctoral student. The employment contract, a 36-month fixed-term contract or a permanent contract, requires a gross annual salary of at least €23,484. The costs remaining at the company's expense may be eligible for the Research Tax Credit (RTC). These costs include the research support paid by the company to the laboratory. The amount is negotiated according to a set of parameters including the supervision rate, intellectual property, accommodation for the doctoral student, etc. It is set out in a collaboration contract. It is fixed in a collaboration contract signed between the company and the public institution.
In practice, the company must be a socio-economic structure established on French territory: start-up, SME, ETI, group, association, local authority, consular chamber, etc. Applications are submitted online on the ANRT website. They include the thesis subject and the identification of the three parties involved: the host laboratory, the company and the prospective doctoral student. Applications are examined by an evaluation and monitoring committee based on the conclusions of two expert reports:
- Socio-economic, entrusted to the regional delegate for research and technology of the company's region, which takes into account the financial soundness of the company, its involvement in the research project, and its capacity to support the candidate's scientific training,
- Scientific, carried out by a public researcher in the field of research, which evaluates the scientific quality of the research subject, the company's commitment to the candidate and the project, and the laboratory's suitability.
For more information on the CIFRE thesis:
http://www.anrt.asso.fr/sites/default/files/cifre-plaquette-2019.pdf
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