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Investissements d’Avenir "Laboratories of Excellence": official opening of Labex Agro
20/10/2011 - Press release
Labex Agro was officially opened on 20 October 2011, at Agropolis International, Montpellier. The laboratory is coordinated by Agropolis Fondation, and has been granted 25 million euros* of State funding within the framework of the Investissements d’avenir** programme's Laboratories of Excellence (Labex) call for submissions. It was graded A+ and ranked jointfirst by the international Labex evaluation panel and is one of the seven Labex selected in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
Labex Agro
centres on plants of agronomic interest. It associates some thirty research units and more than 1000 scientists, making a continuum of multidisciplinary knowledge (biological sciences, engineering sciences, human and social sciences) from the study of genes to the end use of plants, and having a recognized expertise over numerous plant species from temperate, Mediterranean and tropical areas.
Research units from the following research institutes are involved: CIRAD, the CNRS, CEMAGREF, CIHEAM-IAMM, INRA, the IRD, Montpellier SupAgro, the University of Montpellier 1, the University of Montpellier 2, the University of Perpignan and the University of Réunion.
The project is part of the drive to structure and empower agricultural research in Montpellier, which was recently recognized through the choice of Montpellier for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) HQ.
A press conference is to be held at 1 pm at Agropolis International (Montpellier), in the presence of René Ricol, Commissioner General for Investment.
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Labex Agro is intended to make up a critical mass of scientific expertise without equal on a national and international level, to make Montpellier a hub of research on plants of agronomic interest, both by generating advanced knowledge and using that knowledge to innovate, in response to the issues surrounding plant adaptation to climate change, demand for plants for food and non-food uses, risk management (bio-invasions, pests and diseases, scarcity of resources and biodiversity erosion, etc) and sustainable development.
The event will bring together scientists from the Labex, representatives of the eleven parent organizations of the research units concerned, and national and international public- and private-sector partners (territorial collectivities, firms, foundations).
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*: This funding places Labex Agro in the top three on a national level.
** Following the Juppe-Rocard Commission's work, the Investissements d'avenir programme was granted an overall budget of 35 billion euros, to place France at the forefront of innovation. Of the calls for submissions launched by the government, the Labex call was intended to provide those laboratories with international visibility with significant resources, to enable them to compete on a level playing field with their overseas peers, attract internationally renowned researchers and teacher-researchers, and build a top-level integrated research, teaching and promotion policy.
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