​The creation of a robust network of bilateral relations, building on research of excellence, recognised expertise in nuclear and renewable energies and a considerable range of infrastructures, enables the CEA to develop international, high-level collaborations, to attract researchers recognised in their fields, to take part in European and international initiatives and bodies in order to build common strategies or invest in multinational research infrastructures such as CERN or ITER.

This deployment entails the creation of a robust network of bilateral relations.

Over and above these collaborations with scientific teams, the CEA establishes institutional partnerships with research organisations, science academies and ministries responsible for research, innovation, energy or industry in numerous countries around the world. The signing of collaboration framework agreements with the international partners creates a forum for regular, fluid, high-level dialogue.

At the European level, the adoption of common positions transmitted to the Commission helps define European research policies.

Finally, the CEA encourages the opening up of its major research infrastructures. For example, in the field of health and the life sciences, the NeuroSpin brain imaging research platform in Saclay is extensively opened to international use. NeuroSpin is also a key partner in the ambitious Franco-German Iseult project, the aim of which is to develop the contribution of intense field imaging to the life sciences. In the nuclear field, The Jules Horowitz research Reactor (JHR) being built by the CEA in Cadarache is at the centre of an international consortium of partners who are contributing to its construction, will take part in its governance and will benefit from guaranteed right of access to its experimental capacity.