The Université Paris-Saclay university innovation cluster (PUI)

Innovation Article published on 11 July 2023 , Updated on 21 July 2023

The French government has just announced the 29 university innovation clusters (PUI - pôles universitaires d’innovation)* which have been chosen as part of the France 2030 investment plan. The university innovation cluster coordinated by Université Paris-Saclay is one of the winning laureates. The cluster is part of a local area brimming with remarkable assets for academic excellence, deep-tech start-up potential and a rich socio-economic network. The PUI will give the university and its partners the opportunity to reach their full potential in creating scientific value and strengthen its visibility.

 

As a leading research university, Université Paris-Saclay, alongside its founding members and partners, share the two-fold objective of closely and coherently combining international recognition with a strong commitment to society. Through its basic and applied research, top-level education for all, and the sharing of knowledge with society, Université Paris-Saclay participates in the collective effort of enhancing our understanding of the world and of developing our ability to work together to tackle the major challenges of our time.

The Université Paris-Saclay university innovation cluster brings together the university’s thirteen founding members (the constituent faculties and institutes of Université Paris-Saclay, four grandes écoles - CentraleSupélec, AgroParisTech, ENS Paris-Saclay and Institut d’Optique Graduate School, two associate member institutions - Université d’Évry and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, four national research bodies - CNRS, INRAE, Inria and Inserm, and two local innovation organisations - IncubAlliance and SATT Paris-Saclay), alongside fifteen partners1, including CEA Paris-Saclay, ONERA, Gustave Roussy and Genopole.

The consortium’s strategic ambition is to lead innovation which contributes to the resolution of current societal challenges and to human progress. As a place for sharing between public and private stakeholders (students, researchers, companies, civil society), the Université Paris-Saclay PUI, coordinated with its founders and partners, hope to enlighten decision-makers and rally collective endeavour. The project is structured around four key pillars and two cross-cutting axes:

  • Pillar 1 - Awareness-raising and initiating innovation: involving students, PhD candidates, researchers and staff to promote and develop research, preparing them to meet the needs of companies and society, and introducing them to start-up creation. For example, the university intends to double the number of students involved in innovation subjects (from 7,000 to 14,000 per year).
  • Pillar 2 - Market analysis: positioning technologies in market segments as soon as they emerge, to improve value creation in line with the university’s scientific strategy.
  • Pillar 3 - support for technology transfer and business creation: improving the quality of projects thanks to a continuum of actions, to increase transfer rates and consolidate development and business creation potential.
  • Pillar 4 - Business support: giving businesses better access to skills, know-how and technologies from laboratories to increase the volume, impact and longevity of partner research and development.
  • Axis 1 – Communication: strengthening the programme’s external legibility, as part of the process of bringing social and economic stakeholders together to work on priority issues from national France 2030 acceleration strategies. This axis will also promote the consortium’s actions to reinforce the area’s national and international appeal.
  • Axis 2 – Steering: the operational deployment of the cluster’s organisation, including an innovation observatory of the area, which will serve as a tool for assessing the impact of the programme, as part of a drive for continuous improvement.

*24 laureates and 5 projects in seed stage
1 The 15 partners: CEA Paris-Saclay; ONERA – The French Aerospace Lab; Gustave Roussy; Genopole; Institute for Technological Research (IRT) SystemX; Vedecom Institute for Energy Transitions; Communauté d’agglomération de Paris-Saclay; Communauté d’agglomération Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines; Communauté d’agglomération Grand Paris Sud; Association Vallée Scientifique de la Bièvre; Etablissement public territorial (EPT) Grand Orly Seine Bièvre ; Systematic; Medicen; French Tech Paris-Saclay; EPAPS - Paris-Saclay public development authority