Projects, Labs and programs

Structuring projects

To ensure greater clarity, the research conducted at the various laboratories of the Institut Télécom (not including subsidiaries or associate schools) is organized into Structuring Projects. Each Structuring Project corresponds to a team which is responsible for achieving one or more objectives and which has been given the adequate skills and means to do so.
In 2008, around a hundred Structuring Projects were ongoing. All the documents describing a Structuring Project (main file, annual forecast file, annual report file) can be found on the "Institut Télécom research projects" portal.

 

The Labs

These are transversal structures for the orientation, coordination and launch of research actions and projects created within the main strategic areas of research of the Institut Télécom.

These structures are under the responsibility of a director appointed by the Management Board of the Institut Télécom, assisted by a steering group and a College of experts. They are open to external partners. Their main scientific orientations are debated and endorsed by the Research Management Committee. Monitoring is the responsibility of the Department of Scientific Affairs, and they supply an annual activity report.
Their main activities are focused on drawing up research strategy in their domain (vision, resources and action), defining publication policy (target reviews and conferences), assessing and monitoring the Future and Rupture program in the domain (theses and postgraduate research), setting up a coordination policy (workshops, seminars…) and developing partnerships.

At 1 September 2009, 3 “Labs” were operational:

•  “Future Networks Lab” under the direction of Daniel Kofman, Professor at Télécom ParisTech,
•  “Digital life Lab” under the direction of Christian Licoppe, Professor at Télécom ParisTech,
•  “Digital Health Lab” under the direction of Christian Roux, Professor at Télécom Bretagne.

Two Labs are currently being prepared, one in the field of the media and services of the future, and the other in the domain of global security.

 

Coordination and incentive programs

Future and Ruptures

New procedures for the organization of research were implemented in 2008, combining the resources of the Institut Télécom, those obtained from the ANR thanks to the Carnot label and those of the Fondation Télécom. These pooled resources allowed the launch of a major program, “Future and Ruptures”, designed to fund upstream research on emerging themes and at-risk subjects.

The key objective of the “Future and Ruptures” program is to build, along with the Fondation Télécom, a pool of upstream research activities (theses, one-year targeted projects to host postgraduates, visiting scientists, etc) in order to implement a long-term vision and test new approaches that provide a break from those that currently exist.

When fully operational, the program supports around 40 Future and Ruptures theses, as well as a dozen or so annual projects for post-doctoral/gap-year study periods.

This program is one of the Labs’ levers of action in their field. It is open to the subsidiaries and associate schools of the Institut Télécom.

Platforms

The Institut Télécom has an active policy of support for platforms. The importance of platforms as an instrument in the competitiveness of research has become increasingly clear, and it is necessary to support and encourage the formation and operation of platforms in the main areas of research in order to conduct the integration and experimentation actions required under the right conditions.
This policy involves pinpointing and identifying a small number of key platforms in the institute. Support is provided in the form of the recruitment of R&D engineers and the financing or co-financing of investments and facilities (Institut Télécom and Fondation Télécom credits).

Several platforms have been supported in this way in 2009, at Télécom ParisTech (mass multimedia, quantum security, 100GBit/s platform), at Télécom Bretagne (Capil’R- radio-over-fiber networks, Rammus - ad hoc network, sensors, personal services), at Télécom SudParis (Hadaptic –ICT for dependent persons, Grid - virtualization of services platform) and at Eurecom (OpenAirInterface – digital communications).

Research Days

With the aim of presenting the research works carried out in the Institut Télécom laboratories, conference or seminar workshops are organized in the form of Research Days, co-financed by the Fondation Télécom.

The Autonomous and Spontaneous Networks Symposium, organized by the Institut Télécom in November 2008, attracted an audience of around a hundred. The program included talks by well-known guest speakers and presentations of the results achieved by the teams of the Institut Télécom and the members of the Fondation Télécom on this crucial feature of the internet of the future. The day ended with a round table on the industrial stakes.

Innovation Program

The objective of this program is to detect research results with high economic potential and to prepare the items required (model, market study, standardization action...) for economic exploitation, either through technology transfer to an existing enterprise or via a business start-up. Funding comes from the Institute and the Foundation.

The call for projects is open permanently in order to ensure better responsiveness of industrial demands. This program supports around a dozen projects lasting 6 months/one year with a typical budget of €40 k. It is open to the subsidiaries and associate schools of the Institut Télécom