Francia aumenta 10% sus gastos en ciencia

The French government announced an increase in the civil research budget for 2005 of 1 billion (US$1.2 billion) last week — a rise of 10% from 2004.In so doing it kept the promise it made in March to a research community angered by job cuts and budget freezes (see Nature 428, 105; 2004). But with no new jobs being created in research-agency labs by the funding, the reaction from many researchers was negative.A third of the money will be used to create a new national research agency; another third will promote development in industry through tax breaks; and the final third will go to public research laboratories.Presenting the budget last Wednesday, research minister François d'Aubert said that the budget increase was only one step towards necessary reform. A forthcoming white paper on science, which will be debated later this year, is expected to lead to a long-awaited overhaul of the French research system.