Research in France

The “rentrée littéraire”, an always long-expected event in France, is already in full swing! At the end of August, the race for the major autumn prizes already began. This year, nearly 500 novels, 484 to be exact, are about to be released: 344 novels written in French are being published this season, including 73 debut novels and 140 translations. To help you navigate this multitude of lines and words, here’s our short selection of 10 French and French-language favourites, all of which have a connection to foreign countries and origins, in the broadest sense of the terms. 

Four universities in the Top 100, with one in the world’s Top 20, and eight institutions in the Top 200. A total 27 institutions ranked in the 100 best in the world, two more than in 2024. An 11th position in the world and first in Europe. These are the results for France in the Shanghai ranking 2025, the most expected benchmark ranking. Such results show an international recognition of French research.

Two major players in their respective fields, INRAe for research in agriculture in the broad sense and Bpifrance for public funding, have just concluded a partnership agreement. The agreement seeks to improve support for deeptech startups working in agriculture, food and environment transition, and should eventually increase their number all over France.