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From digital prospective to digital strategy: what priorities following the experience of the Covid-19 epidemic situation?

In 2019, Agreenium and Inrae produced the results of a prospective study in 2019 on the consequences of the digital transition in research and higher education practices up to 2040, and a seminar on the digital strategies of institutions followed this study in February 2020. 

The experience of spring 2020 highlights the importance of this work in adapting research and higher education in life sciences to a sovereign and effective digital transition. 

On one hand, the urgency of institutions for a 100% remote activity has highlighted the risk of dependence on digital tools and data in relation to large non-European operators (which represented in the prospective study the scenario « L’ESR au pied des géants du numérique »), and it is now vital that, from the level of the institution to that of the national system, a real strategy of independence be put in place before it is too late.

On the other hand, the development of digital uses requires an increase in the skills of the entire community of researchers, teachers, students and support staff for research and training missions. A frequent testimony in the feedback is «it is not the tools that have been lacking, but the skills to use them».