This is a crucial approach according to the Global Risks Report published in 2025 by the World Economic Forum, which emphasises the need "to find avenues for dialogue and collaboration" in the face of increasingly complex global risks. IRCs are part of the solution : they can "play a pivotal role in preserving spaces for exchange and fostering a shared responsibility to address common challenges", explains Antoine Petit, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CNRS.

The CNRS, which is present in 39 countries via its International Research Laboratories (IRL)-in addition to 400 International Research Projects and Networks (IRP and IRN) with 80 partner countries-continues to establish international relations with its IRCs. It has 11 offices abroad, and two-thirds of its 55,000 publications in 2024 were co-signed with a foreign institution. Cooperation with African countries was also emphasised with the Africa Strategy launched in 2022.

The idea of sparking collaboration between IRCs has also emerged, and was the central topic of the meeting held at CNRS headquarters in Paris on Wednesday, 29 October, bringing together the leadership of current and future IRC partner universities. "In Brazil we have both global problems, such as the drying up of the Amazon rainforest, and local problems, including domestic violence. We need international scientific cooperation to solve them," cites by way of example Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, Rector of the University of Sao Paulo.