Sharing knowledge

In 1982, French legislation regarding research, the loi d’orientation pour la recherché, gave public research agencies the task of disseminating scientific and technical knowledge within civil society.  The national action plan presented in 2004 by the French Ministries of Culture, Education, and Research, which aimed to further the growth of a scientific and technical culture, called for the mobilization of the entire scientific community.  Moreover, a 2005 UNESCO report, “Towards Knowledge Societies”, noted that a scientific culture should give each individual the capacity to grasp the main issues involved in major scientific fields.

It was within this framework, and in adherence with its own mandate, that CIRAD created SAVOIRS (Service d’Appui à la Valorisation Opérationnelle de l’Information sur la Recherche Scientifique) in 1998.  This science media unit has been attached to the DRLR (Direction Régionale Languedoc-Roussillon) in Montpellier since 2007.