The SKA Observatory (SKAO), since 2021 the second intergovernmental organisation in the world to be dedicated to ground based astronomy, will allow us to cover a wealth of open questions of modern research in astronomy, physics and cosmology.

With a strong interest of the French astronomical community expressed for the SKA project over the last ten years, the SKA-France coordination has also stimulated the collaboration with research fields outside astronomy and with private and public players in key innovation areas, motivated by the technological challenges of the project.

These fertile scientific and technological developments led to the decision of the French Government to join the SKA Observatory.  In 2021, the French government announced the decision of France's entry into the SKAO, which has integrated the 2021 National Roadmap for Research Infrastructure in the category of the Scientific Intergovernmental Organisations. Entry will be formal when the intergovernmental agreement will be ratified by the French Parliament, a process launched in mid-2021 following the announcement made by the President of the Republic in May during his official visit to South Africa. Pending the completion of the parliamentary process, the CNRS has signed in March 2022 a temporary collaboration agreement with SKAO, which will allow the first financial contribution to SKAO from France to be made in 2022, and the French government signed the accession agreement with the Observatory in April 2022.

The SKA-France Day 2022 is organised to celebrate this important progresses and to present the developments of French involvment in the SKA Observatory.