As the National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF) enters its second decade, it gives me both pride and pleasure as the 5th President, together with my Fellow colleagues, Vice-President Gérard ROUCAIROL and Delegate General Jean-Claude RAOUL, to ‘press the button’ that magically opens the English language version of our institutional French language site.
We send our academic greetings to the Presidencies, Fellows and Staff of the other 30+ engineering science academies round the world, Members of Euro-CASE or CAETS (see below), about which Internauts will learn more in the site’s International section.

Our site and its data bases, understandably, have grown year by year, with the sheer mass of studies that NATF Fellows have conducted in their Standing Committees and Working Parties (WPs), leading to formal Advice Notes, Academic Reports, Academic Communications, Publications in many sizes and formats, addressing numerous subjects that we analyse in Working Parties and which all concern hoped-for gains for Society but not neglecting associate hazards, whenever and wherever technologies are implemented. Indeed as our motto has it, our overarching aim is “sharing reasoned, chosen progress.” That is no small challenge and we are proud to contribute to the exciting debates and policy processes the outcome of which shape our future.

You can now find English summaries of most of the Academy’s production, plus first hand information on the current year’s activities, meetings, participations, whether nationally (e.g., alongside the Academy of Sciences for education and teacher training matters), internationally:

• in Europe (either directly with the European Commission and President’s office);
• or in joint studies with Euro-CASE http://www.euro-case.org/ (European Council for Academies of Applied Sciences and Engineering, for example, on transportation, freight, energy saving in housing …). The Euro-CASE Secretariat is housed on our splendid new premises in the Grand Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, alongside the Palais de la Découverte;
• or through the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS http://www.caets.org/) in its world level conferences, e.g., on energy and GHG emission markets after Kyoto, on depleting drinking water resources …

There is no lack of fields to explore for our young Academy and it is obvious that the wider the circulation of ideas, projects … the better and more efficient are the forms of co-operation from which we can all benefit. Scientists, engineers, policy-makers, captains of industry and citizens are all concerned with the decisions made, the options taken and the orientations to ensure a viable, sustainable, equitable world for all, which puts sciences and their applications to good use.

Feel very free to question our findings, to make known your own opinions and should you wish to do so, you will find appropriate links throughout the site that will redirect you in-house to the NATF Committees and/or Fellows involved or Secretariat, via the webmaster and, should you wish further information, to obtain downloads of documents, presentations, etc., but also to other instances, or academies elsewhere in the English speaking world (or with English language sites).

For the time being, however, in opening the site, I say ‘Bienvenue’ and Welcome to NATF’. Not all our work is available today in English, but we shall be pursuing the translation work in areas we feel could interest Internauts round the world.
   
Surf and enjoy !
          

Bruno REVELLIN-FALCOZ,
President [2011-2012] 
  
Prof. Alain POMPIDOU    
Past President [2009-2010]   

Gérard ROUCAIROL    
Vice-President [2011-2012]   

Jean-Claude RAOUL
Delegate General [2011-2012]