L' Association France-Ukraine pour la Recherche, le Développement et le Transfert de Technologies (the France-Ukraine Society for Research, Development and Technology Transfer), also known as AFU-I&T, is a non-profit making organization operating under the law passed by the French Parliament in 1901. It was created on 2nd April 2004.
According to its statutes, its aim is « the international promotion and transfer of technological innovations with a view to fostering joint sustainable economic growth ».
It came to life as a result of contacts and exchanges between France and Ukraine which occurred in 2002 and 2003, following the French authorities' clear statement of policy to develop partnerships with Ukraine in the field of research and development.
Indeed, Ukraine, which is about as large as France, has roughly the same population and whose agricultural output compares with that of France, has a strong scientific and technological potential both in terms of infrastructures (about one third of the former USSR's at the time when it existed) and in terms of its excellence, particularly in some specific areas. Its higher education system is very efficient. The country has enjoyed a double-digit growth rate for the last two years.
The members of the Association France-Ukraine are French and Ukrainian individuals professionally involved in research and technology tranfers in some way or other, as well as French and Ukrainian organizations, societies... whose aim is to promote international partnerships combining research and economic development. |
