Only 4% of qualified French individuals are expatriates and less than 2% of French scientists migrate to North America, which is a significantly lower rate than our European neighbors, and one which has remained stable since 1990.

The “rate of international mobility”, the official term for the brain drain phenomenon, is therefore 4 to 8 times higher in other European countries. It is estimated at 30% in Ireland and over 15% in Greece, Austria and Great Britain. Only the United States have a brain drain rate that is lower than in France (0.5%).

At the same time, France continues to attract foreign students. With 106 000 foreign students, and 500 000 postgraduates from Africa, there is a positive trend in France’s attractiveness, particularly among Eastern European and South American countries. The incoming-outgoing ratio is balanced between France and Germany, but is slightly imbalanced in favor of Great Britain.

Finally, France attracts more talented individuals than it loses in the “new fight for talent”. France’s “brain gain” is higher than its “brain drain” and “only the United States are better “brain gainers” than France, both in terms of students and postgraduates” according to the authors of this study.

Senior official, he graduated from the “Ecole nationale supérieure des postes et télécommunications” – ENSPTT (one of France’s most prestigious and selective “grandes écoles”), and began his career at the “Direction general des postes et télécommunications” at the Ministry for Industry just when the telecom market in France was being liberalized.
He continued his career at the “Direction générale de la compatibilité publique”. He then worked for various government ministries, in the cabinets of Francis Mer and Alain Lambert, respectively Minister of the Economy and Finance and Minister for the Budget, and with François Loos (Exterior Trade) and Hervé Gaymard (Minister of Economy and Finance), where he introduced a series of target measures in favour of small and mid-sized businesses, that were taken up and developed by Christine Lagarde within Cap Export.
Ex-consultant for small and mid-sized businesses, “artisanat” (crafts and trade), and trade in the cabinet of Christine Lagarde, Serge Boscher was also Assistant Director for trade, “artisanat”, services and self-employment at Bercy. His career has enabled him to acquire extensive experience of the French administration but also of dealing with small and mid-sized companies and larger firms.
This experience is particularly beneficial for the IFA, whose two main “clients” are: on the one hand, around 20 000 subsidiaries of international companies; and on the other hand, the regional authorities that want to attract investment. For the new Managing Director of the IFA “selling an image of France to international investors will be even more rewarding given the present reforms taking place in our country”.