Charte des instituts Carnot

1 - Quality and professionnalism

A Carnot institute demonstrates its ongoing concern for professionalism and leads partnership-based research projects with a standard of quality that complies with the expectations of its socioeconomic partners.

In particular, this involves the setting up of project management tools and procedures to:
- calculate the full cost or the cost price of all partnership-based work (by means of analytical accounting),
-draw up quotations based on full costs or cost prices, with schedules for the projects’progress and the deliverablesto be supplied,  
- access legal support about contracts,
- forecast and monitor the requirements for the projects (equipment, human resources),
-comply with contractual undertakings (costs, timescales, management of partner complaints, etc.),
- monitor partners’ relationships and assess their satisfaction.

In particular, a Carnot institute establishes a quality approach enabling any complaint from one or other of the contractors to be managed and undertakes to reply to it promptly and to implement the necessary means and best practices for its resolution.

A Carnot institute guarantees, under its own responsibility, the scientific quality and professionalism of its interventions.

A Carnot institute sets up specific actions in terms of project administration and quality management in order to initiate certification procedures (COFRAC, ISO9001, ISO 14001, BPL, etc.) or to renew existing certifications.

A Carnot institute has to be at the best international instituteslevelsand undertakes to implement progress plans to raise or maintain its practices to equal those of the best international standards.

A Carnot institute undertakes to enable other Carnot institutes to benefit from its feedback on measures implemented to ensure quality partnership-based research (sharing of good practices). 

2 - Research strategy and programmes

Following a logicbased on demand, the Carnot institute’s research strategy takes account of the needs of socioeconomic stakeholders. This strategy is disseminated in a suitable form to other Carnot institutes, to the socioeconomic stakeholders the most directly concerned by the research themes, and to its supervisory authorities.

When defining this strategy, a Carnot institute agrees to take account of the orientations defined with other Carnot institutes with a view to improving the coherence of the network’s entire offering and encouraging synergies between Carnot institutes.

In order to drive through its research strategy, a Carnot institute ensures aninternational monitoring of the changesof major industrial and social challenges and trends in research and technology.
 

3 - Relationship with socioeconomic partners

A Carnot institute collaborates with socioeconomic stakeholders in line with fair commercial conditions, based on the cost of the work undertaken, the sharing of intellectual property and the planned exploitation of research results.

A Carnot institute undertakes to systematically provide a response, even negative, to requests from socioeconomic stakeholders. It undertakes to transfer this request to another Carnot institute or to the “Association des instituts Carnot” (Association of Carnot institutes), and even, if necessary, to a non-Carnot laboratory, or any other relevant socioeconomic stakeholder if this solution appears to be the most appropriate to the partner’s requirements.

A Carnot institute sets up the means required to take account of the specific needs of SMEs.

In addition to scientific and technological quality, a Carnot institute ensures that its involvement in partnership-based research projects, partner satisfaction and, if necessary, the socioeconomic impact of the research, are taken into account when assessing its research units and its research staff.

In order to do so, a Carnot institute facilitates the participation of representatives from the socioeconomic world in assessing its programmes and units.

4 - Intellectual property

A Carnot institute develops an intellectual protection policy for its research results and know-how in order to place them at the service of the competitiveness of French and European enterprises. It actively and proactively promotes its intellectual property (transfer of licenses) in accordance with the contributionsof each partnerand with a sustainable partnership policy with the economic world. In this respect, it makes the efforts needed to have at its disposal a complete and up-to-date vision of its portfolio of patents and licences.

Each Carnot institute adopts and follows the recommendations of “La Charte des bonnes pratiques de Propriété Intellectuelle et de Transfert des Connaissances et de Technologies des instituts Carnot” (The Carnot institutes’ code of best practices for Intellectual Property and Knowledge & Technology Transfers).

5 - Relationship  with academic research

A Carnot institute undertakes to develop strong relationships with the more academic stakeholders. It contributes to formalising, for these academic laboratories, fundamental problems arising from the expression of research needs and innovation by its socioeconomic partners. It ensures “fair” funding for the academic laboratories with which it collaborates.

A Carnot institute plays a leading role in upstream research in the field of promoting the practices of partnership-based research.

A Carnot institute sets up a policy to welcome doctoral and post-doctoral students, especially those from university research establishments with which it is linked. It ensures the professional integration of PhDgraduates trained in its laboratories and, whenever possible, it ensures monitoring of progress at the start of their career.

6 - International relations

A Carnot institute undertakes to develop its international openness, by building or strengthening its links with international laboratories, especially European “Research and Technology Organisations” (RTO) chosen with a view to extending and reinforcing its scientific basis.

7- Communication

A Carnot institute facilitates the dissemination of the Carnot network’s communication policy.

It uses the agreed format to refer to the “Carnot” label in its internal and external communication supports (website, headed letter paper, etc.).

Without prejudice to any issue of confidentiality, every year a Carnot institute makes public a report on its partnership-based research activities. 

It transmits to the ”Association des instituts Carnot” the information needed to implement network coordination actions (communication, directory of the Carnot institutes skills, etc.). 

8- Governance

A Carnot institute has or sets up an organisation enabling it to ensure real governance of its partnership-based research activities which is led by a director who benefits from the associated prerogatives and authorities. This activity is formalised and validated by the institute’s supervisory establishments.

A Carnot institute sets up or acquires a system for monitoring its indicators and its activities, especially in the field of partnership-based research.

Without prejudice to regulatory texts, the institute acquires a strategic orientation structure which includes socioeconomic stakeholders. It invites a representative from the Association of Carnot institutes.

9 - Pooling of means

A Carnot institute undertakes to pool generic means with the other Carnot institutes with a view to improving its effectiveness. 

It undertakes to facilitate, as much as possible, access to its know-how and specific skills, as well as to variouslarge-scale equipment, for the other Carnot institutes according toits workload.

10 - Functioning as a network

A Carnot institute is part of the network of Carnot institutes coordinated by the “Association des instituts Carnot”, of which it is an ex-officio memberonce it has been granted the Carnot label. It undertakes to contribute to the functioning of the Carnot network and benefits from the actions carried out by the “Association des instituts Carnot”: organisation, structuring and coordination of the Carnot institutes network, development of the label and the network’s visibility, development of the attractiveness of Carnot institutes for enterprises, support for the development of partnership-based research and support for the development of the international action of Carnot institutes.

11 - Maintaining the label

The Carnot label is granted for a period of 5 years and is renewable.

A Carnot institute undertakes to comply with the following charter as well as with all additional undertakings related to progress goals which may have been defined in terms of volume of partnership-based activity, improvement of governance and internal organisation, scientific repositioning and strategic changes, the setting up of professional structures to support the partners' relationship, intellectual property policy, etc. 

These undertakings are set down in the convention signed during the certification process by the Carnot institute’s supervisory establishments with the ANR (French National Research Agency)

When a Carnot institute is unable to meet these undertakings, its funding may be reduced. In the case of a situation being damaging to Carnot’s image, the label may be removed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

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CARNOT CHARTER