A club was established on January 27, 2005 in Beijing to get-together visiting scholars under the China-France Foundation for Sciences and Applications. The inauguration ceremony was held at the newly built French Cultural Center. Prof. Jacques Caen, Chairman of the Foundation, and officials and scholars from the French Embassy in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Education were present.

The Foundation was jointly created by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences on December 17, 2001 in Paris. As the first intergovernmental program between the two nations for exchanging scholars in the field of scientific research, the Foundation, affiliated to the Representative Office of International Relations under the French Academy of Sciences, has a liaison office at the Bureau of International Cooperation, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under the joint supervision of both Academies, the Foundation has attracted the partnership made up of multinationals and labs of solid research strength. Up to date, some 50 Chinese visiting scholars have been sent to work at the state-of-the-art labs in France, covering extensive high tech fields, including nanotechnology, microelectronics, biosecurity, artificial intelligence, and energy security. The Foundation constitutes a bridge between the two nations for communications and cooperation in the fields of education, science and associated applications.