The programme supports and funds scientists wishing to undertake high-risk, high-impact research projects in the field of digital science and technology, from its foundations to its uses.

The project life cycle is specifically designed to support this type of project.

The notion of risk as defined in the programme

A project has good potential for the programme when:

• the project involves a very high level of uncertainty;
• the feasibility of the project cannot be demonstrated from the outset;
• the project is in its very early or exploratory stages;
• the scientific path cannot be clearly defined without preliminary work;
• the research community does not yet exist;
• the project relies on or aims at major technological developments;
• the project straddles several disciplines;
• the project is born of an idea that breaks with the state of the art;
• the project proposes to redefine the theoretical foundations of a subject/field;
• …( non-exhaustive list).

Originality and risk-taking are among the assessment criteria during the admission process.

The notion of impact as defined in the programme

The programme targets projects with the potential, in the short or longer term, to have a positive impact on a large number of people:

• by helping to improve people’s lives;
• by making advances in terms of knowledge and our understanding of the world;
• by contributing to national objectives (education, health, national sovereignty, etc.);
• by creating companies;
• by creating a discipline or field of science that does not yet exist;
• by providing the community with a reference software or technological tool;
• …(non-exhaustive list).

There are no constraints regarding the nature of the impact of the projects supported.

The ambition and potential impact of the projects are among the assessment criteria during the admission process.