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The CNRS Office in Washington acts as a bridge linking CNRS with North American universities, research organizations and associations and, generally, as a facilitator for collaboration in basic research between France and the United States.

As of October 2004, this regional branch of the Office of European and International Relations (DREI) also represents CNRS in Canada.

Missions of the CNRS Office in Washington:

• To develop and strengthen relations between CNRS and the research organizations and institutes of this geographical sector;
• To inform the Office of European and International Relations, thanks to an exploration in the field, about the possibilities for starting new partnerships and for signing new cooperative agreements;
• To assist CNRS in establishing links with industrial research and development areas and with centers of high-level research;
• To support the application of cooperative actions initiated by CNRS with its foreign partners, in particular with respect to intellectual property rights;
• To follow the current cooperations in dialogue with the DREI and the scientific departments of CNRS (who also evaluate these cooperations);
• To monitor science and technology and to regularly write informational memos, reports on scientific policy and reports on the state of research in the countries covered for CNRS. To provide information about the fields of research taking priority in the concerned geographical zone and to find the centers of excellence;
• To inform the scientific community about research carried out at CNRS laboratories and to promote French research.
• To stimulate the mobility of researchers (particularly young ones) towards CNRS and vice versa;
• To organize visits for scientific directors of CNRS and representatives of French research.

The Washington Office Director also acts in collaboration with the Office of Science and Technology of the Embassy of France.

The CNRS Office in Washington, in cooperation with the Inserm Office in the USA, sends out a weekly newsletter, le Fil de Marianne. The latter’s aim is to maintain simple and periodic contact with the French scientists currently in North America in order to send out pertinent information on research in French (current events, reforms, job offers, grants, calls for proposals, etc.) For more information or to sign up, please contact the office.