Last month, Inria and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding aimed at creating a strengthened partnership, embodied by the “Centre Inria de l’Institut Polytechnique de Paris”. This memorandum identifies and defines the first major areas of collaboration on future research topics, including artificial intelligence (AI).

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Bruno Sportisse, Chairman and CEO of Inria, and Eric Labaye, President of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, with a view to establishing a stronger partnership. The collaboration between the two organizations, based on their common objectives, will be built around three pillars: research and teaching, transfer and innovation, and support for research and innovation.

In order to strengthen the scientific ambition and the attractiveness of research and teaching in the digital field, this protocol will intensify Inria’s presence in the existing and planned interdisciplinary IP Paris centres (on AI, Defence and Security, Health Sciences, and Quantum Technologies). It will promote high-risk research, enable the deployment of an active policy to attract the best scientific talent, and will support the creation of a building dedicated to research in mathematics. This collaboration will also support the creation and support of start-up projects (by developing synergies between the Inria Startup Studio and the Drahi-X Novation Center at X), and will make it possible to develop new agreements with strategic industrial partners. Finally, this protocol will strengthen collaboration between their research support services in order to provide the best possible support for researchers and their initiatives.

For Eric Labaye, President of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris :

“This partnership with Inria embodies our shared ambition to strengthen our technological and digital leadership in France and Europe. By combining the expertise and excellence in computing and mathematics shared by IP Paris and Inria, we can together develop breakthrough research to meet the greatest challenges, increase the economic impact of innovation and considerably strengthen our international appeal.

The co-development of our interdisciplinary centres, such as Hi! PARIS, dedicated to artificial intelligence and data science, will allow us to combine research and teaching at the highest level to cover a wide range of deep tech fields, from machine learning to the societal, economic and ethical issues emerging with the growth of data.

Bruno Sportisse, Chairman and CEO of Inria added :

“The Institute’s ambition is to accelerate the construction of France’s scientific, technological and industrial leadership in and through digital technology, within a European dynamic. In this respect, Inria is a tool for the nation’s digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy.

This ambition is based on the coherence and synergies between its national and territorial policies, by fully engaging Inria through its research centres in the development of world-class research universities at the heart of entrepreneurial and industrial ecosystems boosted by digital technology, with a requirement for scientific, economic and societal impact. In line with the development of our site policy, as part of our Contract of Objectives and Performance for 2019-2023, this is the meaning of the strengthened partnership between the Inria Saclay – Île-de-France research centre and the Paris Polytechnic Institute”.

Translated from L’Institut Polytechnique de Paris et Inria s’unissent pour renforcer leur leadership en l’IA et dans le numérique