Research and development (R&D) is one of the major challenges facing the economy as a driver for growth. In 2002, the European Union’s policy, known as the “Lisbon Strategy”, established the objective of devoting 3% of GDP to performing R&D activities in 2010. In 2014, according to annual surveys on the human and financial resources devoted to research and experimental development, France devotes 2.28% of its GDP to R&D. Two thirds of R&D activities are carried out by enterprises, corresponding to €31.1 billion in expenditure. Like many countries, France has established public aid schemes to support enterprises in their R&D efforts. In this manner, France has become the European Union country with the highest level of public aid for R&D by enterprises (0.4% of GDP in 2014), enabling 27% of this expenditure to be financed.

Of this public aid, the research tax credit (crédit d’impôt recherche - CIR) scheme for companies performing R&D activities is the most significant. In 2014, it represents €5.7 billion in aid and corresponds to €20.7 billion in eligible R&D expenditure declared to the tax authorities. However, this eligible expenditure represents only 67% of the total R&D expenditure of the enterprises measured based on the R&D survey.

The difference between these two administrative and statistical sources, of around €10 billion, is fairly stable over time, although the number of companies applying for the CIR has increased sharply since the reform of the scheme in 2008. This difference can be explained, in particular, by the ceiling on the expenses declared under the CIR and by a trade-off on the part of companies between its administrative cost and the benefit it provides, especially for the smallest companies.