Innovation and technology transfer

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As one of the leading research-intensive institutions, Université Paris-Saclay embraces its role as a partner in sustainable innovation projects, whether they are led by companies, public actors, or our own students and staff. We are convinced that by engaging with socio-economic partners, we can bridge the gap between foundational knowledge and actionable solutions. This integration ensures that innovation is not only groundbreaking but also addresses the societal and environmental imperatives of our era.

While doing so, Université Paris-Saclay also follows a clear compass, in which innovation is never pursued for innovation’s sake, but as an instrument for a better world, a way to tackle the momentous challenges of feeding, caring for, transporting, interconnecting and educating nine billion human beings in a complex international context. Simply responding to market demand or expressed needs does not meet our criteria. In fact, the innovation projects stemming from our labs are strongly driven by a concern for social impact. Université Paris-Saclay is currently strengthening this commitments by formalising it in its strategic innovation roadmap, giving precedence to projects that present scalable remedies to urgent challenges and promise enduring beneficial and shared outcomes.

Inspired by leading universities in this field, we are working across the board to scale up our capacity in the area of knowledge transfer and innovation: from the development of proof-of-concepts funding, to the creation of unique innovation and collaboration places such as the Design Spot or the Paris-Saclay Playground, from the setup of a dedicated investment fund to the development of a service dedicated to industrial relations, from student internships to joint labs.

Supporting a shift in mindset: students, researchers, staff as innovators. Innovation and technology transfer used to be a synonym of patents. While the protection of intellectual property remains an important aspect of our innovation and technology transfer policy, our main priority is to support a shift in mindset among our community: to ensure that students, alumni, researchers, staff at Université Paris-Saclay all see themselves as innovators in their own way. We are progressively extending our set of training activities, from undergraduate students to PhDs, post-doctoral fellows and experienced researchers, to ensure that all members of Université Paris-Saclay who want to engage in innovation feel supported and equipped to do so successfully.

Boosting startup creation. Many of the maturation projects supported by Université Paris-Saclay in the past have led to the creation of knowledge-intensive, promising startups, tackling major social challenges (see a list here). In line with the national priorities of the Deeptech plan, Université Paris-Saclay is intensifying its efforts towards the creation of innovative startups. To this end, we are developing a range of activities tackling all the critical steps leading to high-quality projects: awareness training for all students and staff, tailored programmes for students-entrepreneurs, proof-of-concept funding, dedicated mentoring schemes and professional support (notably thanks to its network of incubators), up to creation and fundraising. As a testimony to this overall ambition, the Paris-Saclay Seed Fund ensures that new ventures have the financial resources at the critical stage of their development.

Developing an efficient, multifaceted interface between labs and socio-economic actors. Across the world, innovation-intensive universities are characterised by the density and diversity of their connections with non-academic actors. With many established collaborations with industrial partners and society, at the heart of a fast-growing innovation ecosystem of both large companies and SMEs, Université Paris-Saclay is one of these innovation clusters in the world. We have a responsibility to make the most of it and facilitate both directions:

1. From our labs to society: we are strengthening our labs’ understanding of the potential for industrial transfer of the research they carry out. We are developing our economic intelligence capabilities, to enable researchers to explore potential application markets for their discoveries, in coherence with regional, national and  European strategies. We encourage industrial PhDs, who place early-stage researchers in close contact with companies, and we develop specific training courses so that academic staff are equipped to take part in private company’s boards.
2. From society to our labs: we are making it easier for potential partners to identify the skills and know-how of our labs so that industrial partners can easily formulate their requests, identify the right people to carry out their collaborative projects successfully, and benefit from a clearer, more fluid interface with our research labs.