EFRARD is an acronym for the abbreviated French name "Espace Francophone pour la Recherche, le Développement et l'Innovation": (in English this is: Francophone Area for Research, Development and Innovation). The new initiative it proposes namely EFRARD marks a change in Francophone research cooperation. EFRARD project offers a voluntary process for a revitalised partnership between francophone's actors in the field of research and development.The emergence of shared knowledge and the capacity of organizations to promote and disseminate scientific and academic information have increasingly fundamental become determinants of their prosperity. In a context of financial crisis, this project aims to analyse the determinants of R&D collaboration for making better use of R&D funds and reduce collaboration-related costs. We applied an action research approach of allowing scientists that are geographically, socially and culturally distant from each other to work together on projects and programs.
EFRARD project sets out an ambitious new approach for enhancing cooperation between francophone member states and governments in the field of Research and Development (R& D).According to EFRARD latest survey results, it finds that there is an important scientific and consequently cognitive disruption between northern and southern countries. Awareness of activities is often difficult to sustain, especially when the organization is geographically dispersed.In this context, the need for a new approach to improve cooperation between major actors in the field of research is crucially. Web 2.0 who has already started changing deeply research and innovation practices. Moreover, the advent of the virtual experience contributes to the growing creation of online virtual communities in which members can produce, share and exchange knowledge and technology with one other. In the knowledge globalization era, ICT put forward opportunities to break down geographical barriers as well as the institutional and economic impediments to the free flow of knowledge, know-how and technology within communities.
There is an important scientific and consequently cognitive disruption between northern and southern countries. On the one hand, the northern countries have a strong potential for research and innovation (infrastructure, technology, human resources, etc.). On the other hand, the southern countries' research organizations are suffering from a brain drain
Project Requirements[edit | edit source]
Provide a new model of collaboration and socialization, facilitating interactions with exterior organizations and individuals.
Break down geographical barriers as well as the institutional and economic impediments to the free flow of knowledge, know-how and technology within communities.
Reduce the north-south gap through a digital apparatus promoting sharing and cooperation in research and development areas among Francophone Countries.
Design[edit | edit source]
We are very interested in the application of semantic technologies in wiki-based projects such as EFRARD. Adding semantics to a hypertext media, such a wiki adds significant value and exposure to the information contained within the wiki. EFRARD is an innovative project in comparison to other existing systems as it integrates the social and cultural dimensions of scientific collaboration. Both researchers in the southern and in the northern countries have the opportunity to work collectively through this meta-portal. This "collaboratory" has the advantage of allowing scientists that are geographically, socially and culturally distant from each other to work together on projects and programs.
Contact details[edit | edit source]
Espace Francophone pour la Recherche, le Développement et l'Innovation, 2 rue de la Liberté 93526 Saint-Denis Cedex France contact@efrardwiki.org Université de Paris 8 – Laboratoire Paragraphe Rachel Kamga Tel: 09 54 58 61 23 / 06 27 87 12 32