French is trying to catch up to the us, and Germany.

Currently, more than half of Europe’s nanotechnology companies are from Germany and of all the patent applications from across the world, German researchers are only beaten by the Americans in terms of quantity.
In response, Research Minister Francois D'Aubert said the government will raise its investments in nanotechnology research and development to 70 mln eur per year from 2005-2007, up from 30 mln currently.