Knowledge Mission
As part of the “Digital and Data” cross-cutting project of the government’s “Green France” action plan, this mission aims to accelerate the ecological transition in the territories.
Mission Connaissance des territoires pour la transition écologique
The national framework of the
” Mission Connaissance
Several official reports have highlighted the need for public authorities to improve their use of data:
September 15, 2021: publication by the ministerial cluster of its roadmap for data, algorithms and source codes, with 6 objectives and 13 flagship actions, including the Knowledge mission.
In practice
In its Data, Algorithms and Source Code Roadmap, the Ministry defines among its flagship actions to ” Design a national knowledge system for the ecological transition “.
To this end, the State’s decentralized administrations, under the authority of prefects, are fully involved in both the production and analysis of data, and mobilize their “Knowledge” services to this end.
To this end, the territorial dimension is essential to the definition, implementation and evaluation of public policies in support of the ecological transition.
What is the Knowledge mission?
What is it?
The ” Knowledge of territories for the ecological transition ” mission, abbreviated to “Mission Connaissance”, is an initiative jointly piloted by the Commissariat Général au Développement Durable (CGDD) and the Ministry’s Secrétariat Général (SG). It operates within ECOLAB, the CGDD’s innovation laboratory for ecological transition through data.
What’s the aim?
The aim is to strengthen the role of territorial knowledge in the development, management and assessment of the State’s public environmental policies, for all stakeholders (central administrations, decentralized departments, local authorities, etc.).
How can this be achieved?
- By developing a range of digital decision-making tools and services for government and local authority employees. A number of thematic hubs have been set up in decentralized departments.
- By promoting knowledge-based professions, in particular by encouraging skills upgrading, complementing existing training courses and ensuring that these professions are recognized.
- Leading a national knowledge network dedicated to the ecological transition of territories, to bring together players, share experience and anticipate developments.
National thematic or service clusters
The mission of each cluster is to promote, at national level, the data produced by all ministerial players on a specific theme, through the creation of shared decision-making tools and services (dashboards, data visualizations, interactive mapping, etc.).
A genuine service offering approach is developed by these hubs. In fact, a process of exchange with the various players concerned has been put in place to meet the needs of business services, both at decentralized, central and local level.
National Renewable Energy Knowledge Center – DREAL Grand Est
The National Renewable Energies Knowledge Center is responsible for the knowledge mission, providing services to support local authorities in deploying renewable energies as levers for decarbonization in place of fossil fuels. To this end, the first tool, “État des lieux EnR”, provides a diagnosis of renewable energies through user-selectable data tables or maps at different territorial scales, as well as the dynamics of renewable energy deployment. The second tool, “Collecte EnR”, is designed to enhance information on renewable energies: location and progress of projects, characteristics of installations, connections, etc.
Contact: DESRUMAUX Benoît – Head of Unit – benoit.desrumaux@developpement-durable.gouv.fr
National Sustainable Mobility Knowledge Center – DRIEAT Ile-de-France
The Mobilité durable national knowledge center is developing the “Tableau de bord des mobilités durables” (sustainable mobility dashboard), a tool designed to help local authorities make decisions on public policy for decarbonizing transport. It provides quick and easy access to common territorial mobility indicators in line with local ecological transition objectives. In particular, it enables monitoring of sustainable mobility policies and identification of action levers that can be mobilized at territorial level.
Contact : Cindie Andrieu-Dupin – Manager – tableau-de-bord-mobilites-durables@developpement-durable.gouv.fr
Pôle national connaissance de la Rénovation énergétique des logements – DREAL Normandie
The National Housing Energy Renovation Knowledge Cluster is developing the “Housing Energy Renovation Compass” tool to improve knowledge of territories and action levers in order to facilitate the implementation, monitoring and effectiveness of public housing energy renovation policies.
Contact: GERGAUD Thomas – Cluster Manager – thomas.gergaud@developpement-durable.gouv.fr
National Water and Wastewater Knowledge Center – DREAL Hauts-de-France
DREAL Hauts-de-France’s Water and Pollutant Discharges National Knowledge Cluster is developing a unique online portal on pollutant discharges in river environments, with the aim of improving water quality. This service contributes to the widespread reliability, cross-referencing and use of data on aquatic environments on a continuous basis. The aim is to make this data securely accessible, in order to steer government action in areas such as: controls, instruction phases, reporting operations, steering of regional public policies, as well as assessing the impact of actions taken.
Contact: GRANDJEAN Thomas – Head of Unit – thomas.grandjean@developpement-durable.gouv.fr
The Knowledge Network
To ensure “cross-fertilization” between knowledge professionals, the Knowledge mission is also responsible for coordinating the national Knowledge for Ecological Transition network.
By bringing together the various Knowledge players (in DDT-M, DREAL, DEAL, etc.), the Knowledge network enables them to benefit from feedback, share best practices and generate new ideas.
The network’s activities take the form of several events: the Rendez-vous des chefs de service en charge de la connaissance en DREAL et DEAL, the Séminaire des chefs de pôle and the Rencontres de la Connaissance.
The 1st edition of the Rencontres de la Connaissance pour la transition écologique, held in June 2024, was an opportunity to collectively define the network’s ambition, role and challenges.
Mark your calendars; next edition on June 5, 2025!
Job and skills challenges: Knowledge and Data, within the ministerial cluster
A review of the missions of the Knowledge departments carried out in 2021-2022 counted some 2080 agents in 10 typical professions in the Knowledge – Data – Geographic Information System chain.
In order to maintain these numbers, and in view of demographic trends, it is envisaged that around 600 new recruits will be needed between now and 2026. Three jobs account for 80% of these recruitment needs (134 Knowledge Analysts, 67 Geomatics Data Specialists, 31 Data Analysts / Data Scientists), in a context of tension over these skills.
Strong needs for maintaining and upgrading skills have been identified in the areas of technical skills (machine learning, big data, programming, visualization, etc.), legal skills (data protection/dissemination), project management (managing a project, running a consultancy firm) and soft skills (consulting, listening to and understanding needs, networking).
In addition to identifying existing training courses, we have launched the creation of a training course for new positions in the Knowledge department and center, in order to create a common foundation and reference framework. It will be available from the 2nd half of 2025 in the CVRH network. This offering for knowledge workers is to be progressively expanded to include webinars, mentoring and online resources such as newsletters and podcasts, to enable everyone to be both efficient in their techniques and up to date with departmental policies.
Documents to download or consult
To contact the Mission Connaissance
Marina RIBEIRO – Project Manager – Mission Connaissance
marina.ribeiro@developpement-durable.gouv.fr