French National Research Agency
Funds French project-based science through competitive calls, public-private partnerships, and national strategic innovation missions.
French National Research Agency (ANR) is France's national funding agency for project-based research. Created in 2005 and overseen by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, it funds public laboratories and public-private partnerships across all disciplines. It also operates France 2030 calls and supports several European Partnership and bilateral programmes.
ANR's main route is the Generic Call for Proposals, alongside thematic, partnership, defence, and international-cooperation instruments such as Chaires industrielles, LabCom, CARNOT, PEPR, JCJC, ASTRID, Access ERC, THCS, EP PerMed, ORA, France 2030, and Make Our Planet Great Again. Awards in the current portfolio range from EUR 75,000 for JCJC Breakthrough to EUR 53.5 million for PEPR, with several programmes sitting in the mid six-figure and low seven-figure range. Its sectors cover AI, cyber hardware, defence, energy, materials, photonics, robotics, and medtech.
Applications are peer reviewed, and some calls use a two-stage selection process. ANR is especially relevant for universities, public research bodies, and companies established in France that can join a competitive call, often with partners and a strong scientific case. From late March 2026, several instruments moved to lump-sum funding, which simplified the financial side of some applications without changing the underlying competition.