The rising emergence of bacterial resistances has led to a crisis which threatens human, animal and environmental health. The impact of the emergency is enormous in terms of public health and economics. Although there is a global awareness of the warnings and programmes supporting innovative actions to combat fight against antibiotic resistance, it must be admitted that proposed new antibiotics fail to find the economic profitability necessary for them to reach the market and become available for patients and the community. Moreover, it is necessary to develop tools/indicators to define effective interventions against antibiotic resistance. The work of the think-tank reported in this article concentrated on two aspects of translational research: – prevention and the impact on health of the antibiotic resistance issue, and – the specific requirements of clinical research leading to innovation in the fight against antibiotic resistance. This article, which reflects the thoughts of a group of French experts, proposes directly operational solutions which could be rapidly implemented and radically transform the quality and quantity of our resources available for the combat.