# The ANR's Focus. 15 years of Franco-Taiwanese Cooperation (2007-2022)

Thierry Damerval

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## To cite this version:

Thierry Damerval. The ANR's Focus. 15 years of Franco-Taiwanese Cooperation (2007-2022). ANR. 2023. hal-04160147

HAL Id: hal-04160147

https://hal.science/hal-04160147

Submitted on 12 Jul 2023

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.

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RÉPUBLIQUE
FRANÇAISE

Liberté
Égalité
Fraternité

anr
agence nationale
de la recherche

## THE ANR'S FOCUS

# 15 years of Franco-Taiwanese cooperation
## 2007-2022

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# 15 Years of Franco-Taiwanese Cooperation

## 2007-2022
# The ANR's focus

This new collection of brochures, entitled The ANR's focus, aims to introduce the analyses produced by the French National Research Agency (ANR) regarding its actions and funding instruments. These studies, which we regularly publish, are based on several approaches combining surveys, data analysis and bibliometrics.

Each issue of this collection evaluates an action over a certain period, by describing various indicators (aid or funding amounts, scientific fields, partners, bibliography, etc.) and by providing an overview of the research projects funded and their outcomes.

These brochures are primarily intended for policy-makers, institutional partners and research funding stakeholders in France and abroad. They include summaries and assessments of the ANR's funding impact and decision-support tools.
They will be uploaded on the ANR website.

Thierry Damerval
Président and CEO of the ANR

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By developing transnational cooperation with funding agencies in various countries, the ANR provides French researchers with the opportunity to set up or expand their collaborations with scientists from other countries, to create European and international teams of excellence.

These partnerships aim to fund innovative binational projects, demonstrating a strong synergy among teams of each country and a real integration of joint researches. Since 2007, the bilateral agreement between the ANR and the Taiwanese Funding Agency has facilitated the set up and completion of nearly one hundred scientific projects, submitted jointly by French and Taiwanese teams.

This document reviews 15 years of fruitful cooperation between the ANR and the current NSTC (National Science and Technology Council).

# Contents

4

Context

5

Key figures

6

Partners

8

Research areas

9

Publications

10

Outreach

11

Feedback

12

Scientific projects - examples

The data and analyses presented are derived from the ANR's internal review conducted in 2022 by the Scientific Operations Direction and the Digital Strategy and Data Direction.

**General Director**
Thierry Damerval

**Executive Director**
Fabrice Impériali

**Editorial coordination**
Honorata Plewinska, Nathalie Mamosa
Éléa Decostaire
in collaboration with the Review Studies and Impact Unit
of the Digital Strategy and Data Direction.

**Graphic design**
Romuald Maurel

**Printing**
Dynaprint
## Context

Since 2007, more than a hundred projects have been co-funded by the ANR and the Taiwanese NSTC (National Science and Technology Council) in the framework of bilateral and multilateral collaborations.

87 projects have been launched in the framework of the bilateral cooperation between both agencies, each project being coordinated both in France by at least one ANR-funded partner, and in Taiwan by at least one NSTC-funded partner.

The other Franco-Taiwanese collaborations were integrated in multilateral projects (including the ANR, NSTC and other foreign funding agencies),

funded under initiatives such as the Belmont Forum, ERA-NETs, Euronamed and CHIST-ERA, or EJP SOILS.

The ANR has funded around 3.000 international research projects since 2005, in collaboration with European and international funding agencies.

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2007

Beginning of the collaboration between the ANR and the Taiwanese NSTC funding agency (National Science and Technology Council).

### First bilateral agreement established

- between the ANR and a funding agency outside Europe¹

- between the NSTC and a European agency

NSTC History over the 2007-2022 period

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2014

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2022

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<footnote>[1] Europe: Beneficiaries and members associated with the Horizon Europe programme of the European Commission</footnote>
## Key figures

2007-2022

The Franco-Taiwanese cooperation
led to

**87**
bilateral
projects

Aid granted

**ANR**
**€24,9 million**

**NSTC**
**€17,7 million²**

**289**
**scientific**
**partners**

with an ANR or NSTC funding
agreement, under bilateral projects.

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[2] NT$ 568.7 million - November 2022 Exchange Rate

[3] NT$ 6.5 million - November 2022 Exchange Rate
# The Bilateral ANR - NSTC Cooperation

## Partners

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /><figcaption>The ten most involved institutions by number of partners</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /><figcaption>Le genre dans les projets bilatéraux ANR - NSTC</figcaption></figure>

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20 %
French female
coordinators

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80 %
French male
coordinators

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15 %
Taiwanese female
coordinators

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85 %
Taiwanese male
coordinators

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## French partners

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /><figcaption>### Deviation from the national average⁵ in breaking down French partners involved in ANR-NSTC bilateral projects</figcaption></figure>

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<footnote>[4] One partner is attached to the CNRS: Regional delegation of Brittany and Pays de la Loire, and thus counts for both regions.</footnote>

<footnote>[5] Source: Mesri-Sies (semi-finalized data, 2017)
https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/5039895?sommaire=5040030#graphique-figure3</footnote>
## Research areas

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The scientific fields to which the funded projects are attached, are based on the European Research Council's (ERC) code repository. Data from ERC codes comes from the information provided when coordinators submitted their projects⁶, and were updated in September 2022 through a questionnaire sent to French coordinators.

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<footnote>[6] Editions prior to 2014 do not have any ERC code available</footnote>
## Publications

The results of these bilateral projects resulted in

454

scientific publications
identified by project references⁷ on the HAL archive and the Web of Science.

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Number of occurrences
of the main countries
represented among
co-authors of publications

The main co-authors of these publications are mostly affiliated to France and Taiwan. However, the study also shows that other co-authors from

**53 countries**
are involved, primarily the USA, Brazil, Austria, Germany and Spain.

Main scientific fields
represented in publications

27,7 % Life Sciences

21,4 % Physics

13,8 % Computer Science

11,7 % Chemistry

10,7 % Engineering Sciences

7,7 % Mathematics

3,7 % Social Sciences and Humanities

2,2 % Earth and Universe

0,4 % Cognitive sciences

0,3 % Statistics

0,1 % Environmental Sciences

Main scientific sub-areas
represented in publications

12 % Condensed Matter Physics

7 % Biomedical Engineering

7 % Animal Biology

6 % Biochemistry, Molecular biology

5 % Computers and Society

4 % Biotechnology

3 % Combinatorics

3 % Optics

3 % Polymer chemistry

2 % Ecology, Environment

2 % Mechanics

2 % Discrete Mathematics

2 % Algorithms and data structure

2 % Human medicine and pathology

2 % Astrophysics

These publications cover a broad range of scientific fields⁸, mainly Life Sciences (28%) and Physical Sciences (21%).

70 % of the publications are referenced more precisely by associating a sub-area, the most important of which are "Condensed Matter Physics"

(12%), "Biomedical Engineering" (7%) and "Animal Biology" (7%). Within the subsection of 389 publications with a DOI (unique identifier), **64%** are in open access⁹ and **28%** are referenced in an **HAL-ANR portal**.

<footnote>[7] Acronym of the ANR or NSTC project</footnote>

<footnote>[8] Qualification based on HAL and Web of Science level 1 repositories</footnote>

<footnote>[9] Source unaywall.org - January 2023 export</footnote>
## Outreach

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### Examples

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23 patents

At least 10 projects resulted in French or international patent applications. The Angio-ANR_NSC¹⁰, 3DXIR-Pathology¹¹ and BIOPSY¹² projects have each declared at least 4 patent applications.

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5 softwares

5 softwares have also been developed. For instance, the SafEE¹³ project helped set up an interface that nursing homes can use to monitor their activities, and a cognitive simulation software (Solar Games).

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5 new businesses

The Franco-Taiwanese cooperation has also contributed to the creation of companies, such as the start-up CAVISKILLS, linked to the SonInCaRe project¹⁴, which specialises in ultrasounds for targeted drug delivery.

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<footnote>[10] ANR-07-BLAN-0003</footnote>

<footnote>[11] ANR-13-TECS-0001</footnote>

<footnote>[13] ANR-13-TECS-0002</footnote>

<footnote>[12] ANR-16-CE18-0029</footnote>

<footnote>[14] ANR-10-TECS-0003</footnote>
## Feedback from French partners

In September 2022, a questionnaire was sent to the French coordinators to receive their feedback. It addressed various aspects of this collaboration, such as its origin, development, and future.

### Origin & development of the project

**76%**

of respondents stated that they already knew their Taiwanese partner well or quite well before the project began.

**40%**

of respondents had already collaborated with their Taiwanese partner in an ANR and/or other funding organisation/agency-funded project.

For **76%**

of respondents, the project's set up process was smooth and easy.

**52%**

of respondents mentioned that the partner's reputation was a determining factor at the start of the project. 29% also mentioned the importance of the partner's infrastructures.

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### Reasons to collaborate

**27%**

of respondents were interested in the Taiwanese team's international recognition and the importance of its area of expertise for their research.

**25%**

of respondents consider that the collaboration was motivated by the international reputation of their respective teams and the importance of their areas of expertise.

**18%**

of respondents were interested in an infrastructure/platform/ technology implemented by the Taiwanese team and considered as useful for their research.

**16%**

of the respondents stated that they were already conducting joint research and wished to further their collaboration.

**11%**

of respondents stated having useful infrastructures/platforms/ technology for the Taiwanese team's research.

Questionnaire sent in September 2022 to the French coordinators of the 87 projects co-funded by the ANR and NSTC between 2007 and 2021.

40% participation rate

### Added value of the collaboration

**58%**

of respondents declared that the project facilitated the mobility of persons¹⁵ between the two countries during its implementation.

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### Future of the project & collaboration

**79%**

of respondents, there would have been no collaboration without this funding.

**73%**

of respondents, the collaboration continues or is expected to continue beyond the project.

**61%**

of respondents, the collaboration strongly contributed to the international visibility of their research.

<footnote>[15] Students, post-docs, guest researchers, etc.</footnote>
## Scientific projects - examples

**ADAMANTIUS**¹⁶

Automatic detection and characterisation of residual masses in patients with lymphomas, through fusion of whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI on 3T and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT

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**Duration**
36 Months

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**Coordination**

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**Grant amount**

ANR: €225k
NSTC: €218k¹⁷

**Alain RAHMOUNI**

Henri Mondor
University Hospitals

**Tzu-Chen YEN**

Chang-Gung
Memorial Hospital

Public bodies and a private partner were involved in this basic research project. It helped establish a "whole body" MRI protocol and an image analysis software for objective and non-invasive quantitative measuring. The achieved results could have a significant clinical impact on caring for patients with lymphoma. This project was the subject of several articles and patent applications.

**TYSOMIN** is the successor to DIAMIN, a project funded during the ANR's Programme BLANC 2008 edition. This is the first large-scale research on linguistic typology and diachronic syntax in a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin: Southern Min.

This sinitic language - or Chinese dialect - is spoken by more than 40 million people in the southern part of the Fujian province and by 73% of the Taiwanese population (around 18 million inhabitants). Southern Min is considered to be one of the Sinitic languages that has retained many features of Archaic Chinese and Medieval Chinese. This project was the subject of 50 articles and a collective book published in 2020.

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**Duration**
36 Months

**TYSOMIN**¹⁸

Typologization of synchronic and diachronic processes in Southern Min (a Sinitic language)

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**Grant amount**

ANR: €271k
NSTC: €212k¹⁹

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**Coordination**

**Hilary Chappell**

Collegium de Lyon

**Chinfa Lien**

National Tsing Hua
University

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<footnote>[16] ANR-11-ISV5-0002</footnote>

<footnote>[17] around NT$ 7,000,000 - November 2022 Exchange Rate</footnote>

<footnote>[18] ANR-11-ISH2-0001</footnote>

<footnote>[19] around NT$ 6,795,000 - November 2022 Exchange Rate</footnote>
Scientific projects - examples

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This basic research project relies on a Taiwanese team, expert in nanocluster chemistry, to carry out the experimental part, and a French team in charge of theoretical rationalization, modelling, orientation and prediction of syntheses and properties. It aims to develop new stable nanoclusters of exact composition whose metal core, stabilised by dichalcogenolate ligands, consists of at least two different types of metals (nanoalloys).

Theoretical approaches helped describe these new compounds as superatoms whose composition and emissive properties can be adjusted under certain conditions.

In this context, the research also contributed to the development of a supermolecule concept, by characterising a first system consisting of three condensed superatoms equivalent (isolobal) to the molecular ion 13-. The joint work led to 15 publications and the organisation of a mini-symposium²⁵ on "Clusters, nanoclusters and nanoparticles" in January 2022.

NANOALLOYS²³

Structurally Precise
Silver- and Copper-Rich
Superatomic Alloys

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Grant amount

ANR: €203k
NSTC: €367k²⁴

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Coordination

Jean-Yves Saillard
Institute of Chemical
Sciences, Rennes

Chen-Wei Liu
National Dong Hwa
University

<footnote>[20] ANR-14-CE01-0018</footnote>

<footnote>[21] Around NT$ 9,136,000 - November 2022 Exchange Rate</footnote>

<footnote>[22] https://byjoydesign.com/igem</footnote>

<footnote>[23] ANR-18-CE09-0037</footnote>

<footnote>[24] around NT$ 11,755,000 - November 2022 Exchange Rate</footnote>

<footnote>[25] This event brought together more than 80 participants across three continents</footnote>
Scientific projects - examples

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<footnote>[26] ANR-18-CE24-0028</footnote>

<footnote>[27] around NT$ 3,450,000– November 2022 Exchange Rate</footnote>

<footnote>[28] ANR-14-CE26-0039</footnote>

<footnote>[29] Metal Oxo-clusters as versatile building blocks for low-temperature preparation of semi-conductive and conductive direct write micro-nano patterning</footnote>
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**The French National Research Agency (ANR) funds project-based research in France.** A public institution under the authority of the French Ministry of Research, the Agency's mission is to fund and promote the development of basic and applied research, technical innovation and technology transfer, as well as national, European and international partnerships between research teams from the public and private sectors. The ANR is also the main operator of the France 2030 Investment Plan in the field of higher education and research, for which it selects, funds and monitors projects in connection with initiatives of excellence, research infrastructure and support for the advancement and technology transfer of research. The ANR is ISO 9001 certified for all of its "project selection" processes.
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