Business report

 

At the start of 2009, Jean-Claude Jeanneret, General Director of the Institut Télécom, took stock of last year's activity and the future projects of the institute.

 

 

"The new logos of Institut Télécom and our schools are now better known and recognized, and since September our new names have been formally placed on the statutes. This in turn has made possible the appointment of Jean-Bernard Lévy as President of the Board, replacing Pascal Faure who could no longer carry out the dual function of supervising authority and president of the board. The coherence of these logos and these names now clearly demonstrates our collective strength; one month ago when the Institut Télécom joined ALLISTENE, the digital sciences and ICST Alliance, alongside our major partners CNRS, INRIA and CEA, the Conference of University Presidents and also CDEFI (Conference of Engineering Schools), this was surely clear proof of this strength…, giving the Institut Télécom a new dimension, and enabling us to implement ICST research programmes.     In 2009 we were also able to further strengthen links with our partners in industry:

• in the form of joint research laboratories, with Alcatel Lucent Bell Labs on ubiquitous multimedia, with Orange on man the communicator, with EDF on business intelligence
• in the form of research platforms like Vigisat, created in Brittany by CLS, a subsidiary of the CNES and IFREMER to develop satellite radar images based on the results of research at Télécom Bretagne
• through Fondation Télécom, headed by Didier Lombard, whose commitment to us is very much appreciated, also that of the Vice-President Guy Roussel. Accenture, Altran and Sopra are companies that recently joined the Fondation.

Still on the subject of partnerships, our latest venture with the LInC research laboratory working on the internet of the future, will ensure that the best experts in this field at Télécom ParisTech will be able to work alongside their counterparts at Paris 6, INRIA, Thomson Alcatel Lucent, in new rented premises on the Avenue d’Italie, close to the Rue Barrault where Télécom ParisTech will also be installed before moving to Palaiseau.
We must also mention the fact that Institut Télécom has joined IRCICA, a cooperative institute bringing together all the major actors in ICST research in Lille, to support our subsidiary Télécom Lille1; the development of the SophiaSTIC scientific project is also underway, with the CNRS, INRIA, the university of Nice and the Mines ParisTech school, a development that makes more sense with the imminent arrival of Eurecom and Télécom ParisTech in the buildings on the ICST Campus at Sophia Antipolis, where the foundation stone was finally laid a few weeks ago.

Again on the subject of partnerships strengthened in 2009, and certainly the most significant and strategic of these is of course our participation, alongside twenty or so major actors in this field, in the major Plateau de Saclay campus project, where Institut Télécom is to build its third campus in the Ile-de France region, close to the Ecole Polytechnique, and which will greatly benefit Télécom ParisTech and Télécom SudParis; also our participation in the NanoInnov project, initiated by the CEA in the context of a recovery plan, which means that we will be able to gain a foothold on the plateau before the end of next year.

The announcement was made that we will be in new premises to be completed by 2015, with the technical and financial details still to be finalized, even though our Minister, Christine Lagarde, has clearly declared her support for this project which will also extend the influence of ParisTech; the Great Loan from government will help with the overall completion of the Campus Saclay operation since a billion euro has recently been promised, which might even make us more ambitious still.
As a result of this announcement, we were able just three weeks ago, to join RTRA Digiteo which, until then, had been closed to us as an associate member, but with the hopes of becoming a founder member as soon as possible in the future; this announcement will also enable us to begin straight away to strengthen relations with our partners, both academic and industrial, who are already on site at the Plateau de Saclay, or who like us will soon be arriving.

More partnership news... the network of associate schools, launched in the context of the 2008-2012 strategy plan, has expanded and now includes two more schools, ENSEIRB/MATMECA, part of the Bordeaux Polytechnic Institute, and SupCom Tunis, already very closely associated with our schools, Télécom SudParis in particular, and whose director has very recently been appointed government minister in his country.
The mutual support and exchanges with our first two associate schools, Télécom Saint Etienne and ENSPS, correspond perfectly to our expectations and this policy will enable us to extend our influence both nationally across France … and beyond.
Just a few weeks ago the plan was confirmed, with strong support from local actors, to create an engineering school in Montpellier, in partnership with the university Montpellier2, targeting ICT and Health.
Montpellier 1 and the Ecole des Mines at Alès also joined this project, with Télécom Bretagne adding their scientific and teaching expertise, and a project leader from the Institut is now in place.
Finally, a long way from France this time, last September saw the first intake at the new engineering graduate school in ICST within the University of Reunion Island: ESIROI-STIM is supported by the Institut and the teaching expertise of Télécom Bretagne, and its aim is to meet the needs for these skills in countries around the Indian Ocean.

What Institut Télécom and our associate schools bring to these partnerships is our ability to harness and develop our three areas of expertise in synergy producing high level educational courses leading to diplomas at master and doctorate levels. We strive for excellence in all disciplines in ICST and beyond, from electronics and optics to sociology and management, via networks, signal processing and computer science, and including technology transfer and innovation spurred on by the dynamism of the incubators in our schools.

Some noteworthy facts can help illustrate once again the activities of the Institut and our associate schools in our different fields in 2009:

• Increased efforts to improve our social awareness with the opening of an apprenticeship career track at Télécom Business School and another planned for the 2010 intake at Télécom ParisTech.
  Already today, more than one engineer in 8 graduating from our schools does so via apprenticeship career tracks set up by Télécom Lille1 and more recently by Télécom Bretagne.
  We should also mention Télécom Business School which has broadened the eligibility criteria for scholarships, and provided laptops and reference books for scholarship students, as laid down in the school’s development plan, approved in 2008, and also the involvement of the Institut’s associate schools in operations like “Cordées de la Réussite” and “Cercle Passeport Telecoms”, not forgetting the Institut making available Christian Margaria as adviser to Yazid Sabeg, who will in fact be visiting Télécom SudParis next Friday.
  
  
• More noteworthy facts, recognition for our researchers with the Glavieux prize awarded by the SEE to Catherine Douillard of Télécom Bretagne and the grant for excellence awarded by the ministry of higher education and research to Aslan Tchamkerten, who arrived in 2008 from MIT to add his support to the teams at Télécom ParisTech.
  
  
• And also expansion for our incubators with the inauguration in September of new premises in the Rue Dareau for ParisTech Entrepreneurs, a joint incubator set up by the Institut Télécom and ParisTech, which demonstrates the willingness of Télécom ParisTech to contribute to the development of innovation in Paris and doubly so with innovation also at the Arcueil site with a joint incubator set up by Télécom SudParis and Télécom Business School which has already welcomed a dozen new start-ups, and expansion of the Télécom Bretagne incubator in Rennes. Some of the start-ups in these incubators have been awarded prizes: Kwaga, Plug’nSurf at the Grand Prix for innovation in Paris, Ostesys at the innovative business start-up competition, Lemonway at the Orange and Sun Start up Academy. In terms of innovation, some forty patents were filed in 2009 by scientist researchers at the Institut’s schools and we are continuing our policy to target SMEs, via the triptych operation and the technology fair in particular.
  
  
• Lastly, on the different campuses, the schools have been involved in redeveloping existing premises and they have certainly found that their decisions to rent or build new buildings have been justified; some of these decisions have been long awaited, as is certainly the case for MISS (School for innovation, sciences and society) in Evry; last Friday I signed a funding agreement with the local authorities for a  new building on the campus at Brest and also premises in the Avenue d’Italie and the ICST campus at Sophia Antipolis, already mentioned above. This work will considerably improve working conditions and living conditions for our staff and students, and will enhance the development of our schools. In this respect too, the landscaping of the campus at Brest reminds us of the example set by Télécom Bretagne regarding sustainable development, which should be an encouragement for the entire group to define an ambitious policy along these lines.

Another noteworthy fact of 2009 which resulted from the Institut’s 2008-2012 strategy, the reorganization of the Evry campus last June now gives each school the means to assert itself in the context of its own frame of reference, without relinquishing any of the advantages to be derived from sharing a campus, and from bringing together engineering and management, a situation of which some are quite envious.
This freedom has already enabled Télécom Business School to welcome recently under favorable conditions the EQUIS accreditation audit team, accreditation which I hope will be awarded in the next few months to reward the tremendous progress that the school has achieved, the result of the very high level of commitment from all the staff.

And finally, the subject that has occupied us a great deal in recent weeks and will continue to do so throughout 2010 and beyond, debate on the initiative regarding our supervisory role to bring us closer to the different Ecoles des Mines, a debate in which Madame Lagarde decided at the end of October to take a new decisive step by requesting a study to examine the conditions under which all the schools could be grouped together within a single institute.

This is an important development for the Institut Télécom and our associate schools, even if we are already ourselves clear proof that an organization like ours can truly benefit both the collective group and each of the schools, which must always retain their individual identity.
In any case, for us it is the ideal opportunity to give even more thought to our national and international partners, to consider how to improve our internal processes, possibly making the most of new tools, and to clarify the conditions in which each school in this new organization can derive the most benefit from the regional partnerships that we have developed, especially within the PRES.
In any case, I hope that when this new organization is put in place we will be able to find a way of maintaining and developing even further the team spirit that characterizes the Institut Télécom and our management board today.

As you can see, while 2009 was a very busy year, 2010 is already off to a flying start for the Institut Télécom and our associate schools and I am sure that, thanks to the commitment of all our staff, we will be able to meet any challenge that comes our way.
For my part, and on behalf of all the members of the management board of the Institut, we wish you a wonderful 2010, filled with happiness with your loved ones… and success in everything you undertake."