Strategic partnerships

Joint laboratories and consortiums

Due to its presence and strong partnerships on a global scale, Inria has positioned itself as a major player in the field of research in computer science and mathematics. Privileged collaborations have been established, thanks to localised research and development clusters in partnership with local organisations.  Open to other French and European players under a consortium arrangement, as a result, laboratories and consortiums have been created and are giving impetus to the "project-team model" in line with the Institute's strategic priorities.

Africa & Middle-East

Euro-Mediterranean 3+3: working towards greater regional cooperation

The Euro-Mediterranean 3+3 programme (Algeria, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia) is a joint programme run by CIRAD, INRA and Inria, in partnership with the MESRS (the Algerian Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research), the CNRST (the Moroccan National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research) and the MESRST (the TunisianMinistry for Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology).

Scientists from the participants' public and private research organisations propose a collaborative project on a clearly-defined subject, based on biennial calls for projects proposed by the participants. These collaborative projects, known as thematic networks, are then selected by the Joint Coordination Committee.

There are currently ten active thematic networks, each including:

  • at least one team from CIRAD, INRA or Inria
  • at least one Italian or Spanish partner
  • at least two partners from different countries of the Maghreb

 The aim of this programme is threefold:

  • to develop the links of Inria, CIRAD and INRA in the Mediterranean region in order to create a Mediterranean area of scientific collaboration in the field of applied mathematics and computer science;
  • to structure research collaborations between all Inria, CIRAD and INRA research centres, their French, Italian and Spanish partners and the Maghreb countries in the field of computer science and applied mathematics; and
  • to give partners in the Maghreb the means to establish scientific collaborations at the highest level - for example, as part of Associate Teams or research contracts with the European Commission, particularly within the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development.

LIRIMA: a joint Franco-African laboratory

Created in November 2009, the LIRIMA international laboratory is the first of its kind. Modelled on Inria's project-teams, it brings together researchers from 7 African countries, the Maghreb, France and other European countries to work on common projects. An African team manager, together with at least one member of Inria, presents a scientific project and a provisional associated budget. The projects are assessed by a scientific committee: they are defined for a period of 1-4 years. Ten project-teams were operational as of January 2010, involving a lot of Inria researchers. The institute has expressed a firm desire that the work of these teams should be oriented towards innovation and technology transfer. Joint supervision of young PhD students also remains a priority.

LIRIMA members

Inria, University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon), Gaston Berger University (Senegal), University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), University of Antananarivo (Madagascar), Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research  (Algeria), the National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (Morocco) and the Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research (Tunisia). CMAP Palaiseau; IRD; Marseilles Institute of Medicine; ENS-Lyon; TIMA-Grenoble; Paris X and Paris V universities; Joseph Fournier University, Grenoble; and the universities of Tours, Metz, Toulon and Savoie. Among the international partners are: Neuchâtel Mathematics Institute (Switzerland), the universities of Manitoba and New Brunswick (Canada) and the University of Tübingen (Germany).

Americas

CIRIC: Creation of a centre of excellence in Chile

CORFO (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción), a Chilean government body created in 1939 and tasked with the development and encouragement of national industry, launched a programme in March 2009 to create "international centers of excellence for competitiveness" in Chile. The programme aims to encourage foreign organizations to establish a base in Chile in order to enhance research and development and produce advanced technology. Inria has responded to this call for tenders, together with nine Chilean universities by suggesting the creation of a research and technology transfer centre. The Communication and Information Research and Innovation Center – CIRIC is based in Chile.  It adapts Inria’s model to the local context by focusing on research, transfer and innovation. It is opened to international partnerships and to promote exchanges with European countries and other countries in the region. The CIRIC works around research projects conducted jointly by Chilean and French researchers. The Centre  financially supports interns, PhD students, postdocs, and research engineers.

The Center's three areas of research and development, selected by the CORFO InnovaChile are:

  • Internet and telecommunications networks
  • Management of natural resources
  • Hybrid energy

USA: raising Inria's profile through structured collaborations

"North America is undoubtedly a geographical priority for Inria, due to the leadership of several American universities in  information and communication science and technology and their concern, similar to Inria, on  research and innovation," explains Aurélie Azar, Programme Manager for Americas. Inria has strong connections with both USA and Canada, especially via Associated Teams.

 The USA, meanwhile, are a dominant power in the field, with the private and public sector together spending some $65 billion on ICST research and development. They have the ability to attract foreign specialists in advanced technology, and to set up new businesses. "Researchers are naturally drawn towards the United States. We are involved in a large number of collaborations with American laboratories, but paradoxically they are yet spread out," says Aurélie Azar. "Our aim is therefore both to strengthen existing collaborations and to give them coherence so as to raise their profile. We expect that Inria will become even more attractive to PhD students and researchers."

Our aim is to strengthen existing collaborations and make them more coherent in order to raise their profile.

In partnership with Berkeley and Stanford Universities, Inria has launched in 2011 a joint research program Inria@SiliconValley. The aim of the program is to promote and develop scientific collaborations between Inria project-teams and American research teams in these two universities, and related research institutions in California.Joint workshops are organsized annualy alternately in France and in California.

On the other hand, the JLPC (Joint laboratory for petascale computing) has been set up between Inria and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. The purpose of the JLPC is to design software for new-generation computers such as that being developed as part of the Blue Water project.

Asia, Oceania and Russia

LIAMA: a groundbreaking laboratory in China

The Sino-French Lab in Computer Science, Automation and Applied Mathematics (LIAMA) was created in 1997 by Inria and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); it is hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation (CASIA) at the heart of Beijing's 'Silicon Valley'. The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), CIRAD (A French research institution working with developing countries on international agricultural and development issues) and France's Écoles centrales (engineering schools) joined the project from 2000 onwards. LIAMA has since become a consortium gathering several European and Chinese institutions. About a hundred French and Chinese researchers are working together on research projects on software, multimedia interpretation and interaction, computational medicine and environmental modeling issues. In addition to this platform for collaborative projects, LIAMA also helps in promoting the Scilab open source software in China.

Founding Members: 

  • Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation (CASIA))
  • Tsinghua University
  • Peking University
  • Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA)
  • Northwestern Polytechnical University
  • French National Institute for Research in Computer sciences and Automation (Inria)
  • French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
  • Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)
  • French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA)
  • Ecoles Centrales (engineering schools)
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Associated Members:

  • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computing Technology (ICT)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Software (ISCAS)
  • Chinese Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences, Institute of Systems Sciences
  • Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT)
  • University of electronic science and technology of China (UESTC)
  • Université Joseph Fourier (UJF)
  • Wageningen University, Netherlands
  • ISI of University Medical Center Utrecht
  • France Telecom R&D - Orange Labs Beijing
  • European Aeronautic Defense and Space compagny (EADS)

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