On July 18, 2022, Bruno Sportisse, President and CEO of Inria, and Yassine Lakhnech, President of Grenoble Alpes University, signed a new strategic partnership framework agreement in Grenoble, strengthening their collaboration.
This partnership will be embodied in the creation of the "Inria Center at Grenoble Alpes University", which is part of Inria's national strategy to contribute to the development of world-class research universities in digital sciences and technologies.
The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) and the Inria Grenoble-Rhône-Alpes research center have been collaborating for many years through a strategy and joint actions linked in particular to the 22 project-teams they share in research laboratories and involving Grenoble INP-UGA (LIG, LJK, Gipsa Lab).
This close and long-standing relationship has been strengthened more recently through joint projects and actions that benefit science, innovation, the region, and the influence of higher education and research, such as the MIAI@Grenoble Alpes Institute in the field of artificial intelligence, the Persyval-lab lab for cyber-physical systems, and the interdisciplinary projects of the Université Grenoble Alpes Idex, particularly in cybersecurity, data science, and quantum engineering.
A strategic partnership
Convinced of their complementarity in terms of missions, scientific strengths, and research organization, Université Grenoble Alpes and Inria wish to enter into a strong strategic partnership based on their existing organizations and structures, respectively Inria's joint project-team model and Université Grenoble Alpes' laboratories, support units, and research federations. Inria and UGA will continue to coordinate their strategies and resources to meet the challenges facing France and Europe in the field of digital science and technology.
The first major objectives of the collaboration:
- To take up major research challenges by promoting scientific risk-taking
- To promote and co-construct interdisciplinary research
- Implement an offensive HR policy to ensure attractive conditions for the best talents
- Encourage the involvement of researchers in training
- Jointly seek human and financial resources
- Develop a culture of innovation
Actions implemented:
- Facilitate the creation of joint project teams with industrialists
- Develop the synergy of their respective existing mechanisms (such as Inria Startup Studio, SATT Linksium Grenoble Alpes, etc.) whose objective is the emergence and support of startup projects in the territory
- Strengthen the dynamics of continuing education in the digital field for the territory's SMEs and ETIs engaged in their digital transformation by reinforcing the synergy between their respective existing schemes
Common scientific priorities
Inria and Université Grenoble Alpes have identified a total of six joint scientific priorities, which are:
- Artificial intelligence and data science
- Quantum engineering
- Cybersecurity
- Environmental modeling
- Cyber-physical systems and embedded systems
- Digital health
In particular, it will focus on
- Strengthening and developing synergies at the health and digital interface
- Structuring and animating the quantum community
- To develop new common themes at the interface with other disciplines, particularly in the social and human sciences
The Inria Center at Grenoble Alpes University
Through the Inria Centre at Grenoble Alpes University, Inria and UGA have adopted a joint strategy for the site and the mechanisms for implementing it. Within the framework of this agreement, Inria and UGA will thus adopt a common policy for developing joint projects with public partners in education, research and innovation, or with private partners, whether French, European or international.