Abstract
Analysing the functioning of research-development units in some European countries, it is necessary to take into consideration legal-organizational conditions for their operation within the structures of science in a given country. In the recent years networking of research institutes has become an international trend and in Poland it has become a solution promoted by government administration. The article is an attempt to take a closer look at the activity of similar research organizations in Germany and France. The goal of this article is to present to the reader organizational solutions concerning research institutes in France and Germany. The research methods applied in this article are: analysis of source materials, comparative analysis and two case studies: Carnot network and Fraunhofer network.