Science is not just a means of knowledge. It is an instrument of influence, a tool of cooperation, a factor of attractiveness, and a matter of sovereignty. At a time when climate, digital, health, and energy transitions are reshaping international balances, a country’s ability to establish, structure, and secure scientific partnerships is a central element of its projection and strategic autonomy.
At the same time, scientific diplomacy is gradually becoming a priority at the European level. The European Union is developing a more structured reflection on the role of science in its international relations, particularly through initiatives led by the European Commission aimed at developing a European framework for scientific diplomacy, with the first recommendations being published in 2025.
The ministerial strategy of scientific diplomacy fully integrates research and innovation into France’s foreign policy. It is based on a simple belief: science helps to build bridges where other channels of dialogue may weaken. It promotes the circulation of knowledge, supports talent development, and contributes to the collective resolution of global challenges. This strategy has a dual objective: to accompany France’s security and sovereignty interests by ensuring the protection of knowledge, sensitive technologies, and strategic infrastructures, and to strengthen the internationalization of research, support the attractiveness of higher education, and promote the universal values of science: academic freedom, scientific integrity, cooperation based on reciprocity.
It relies on a global diplomatic network, closely linked to research organizations, institutions of higher education, operators, and international partners. It mobilizes all instruments of France’s external action to make scientific cooperation a vector of dialogue, stability, and shared innovation. Through this strategy, France affirms a clear ambition: to contribute to structuring an open, demanding, and responsible international scientific space in the service of common progress, while fully participating in European dynamics aimed at strengthening the role of science in international relations.
Consult the scientific diplomacy strategy of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs
