Institut Polytechnique de Paris celebrates its first anniversary

Officially founded on May 31, 2019, Institut Polytechnique de Paris brings together five prestigious French schools (Ecole Polytechnique, ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis) and has made its mark within the space of just one year as a world-class scientific and technological institution.

Welcoming 7,500 top-level students and 900 doctoral students pioneering the research of tomorrow, it has 1,000 teacher-researchers and 30 cutting-edge technology laboratories.

Its teams and entities have progressed rapidly to ensure the success of its creation and lay the foundations for its growth in its three key areas: training, research and innovation.

Institut Polytechnique de Paris is accredited to deliver master’s and doctoral degrees and has been awarded accreditation to carry out research projects. It thus offers 70 Masters and PhD track programs and has just completed its third recruitment wave. Institut Polytechnique de Paris and its schools deliver all levels of diplomas in numerous fields: Bachelor’s degree (Bachelor of the École Polytechnique), Master’s (engineering studies, Masters of Science and Technology, Mastères Spécialisés®), and PhD, in addition to certifying and qualifying programs in vocational training (Executive Education). The first Doctors of IP Paris were awarded their diploma in late 2019, which was also marked by the opening of its Doctoral School.

Institut Polytechnique de Paris has developed several key areas for its research strategy. Since September, it has established ten teaching and research communities, offering students training programs with a strong focus on research.

It is also developing inter-disciplinary research centers which aim to provide concrete solutions to current societal and economic issues (energy & climate, artificial intelligence and data science, biomedical engineering, defense and cyber-security).

The first inter-disciplinary research center, Energy for Climate (E4C), was launched in June 2019. Its aim is to take up the global challenges of the energy transition through the collaborative efforts of 21 laboratories from the institution’s schools, in addition to 5 associate laboratories of the École des Ponts ParisTech. This will enable Institut Polytechnique de Paris to position itself internationally on these issues and forge its reputation as a leading establishment on a world scale.

Institut Polytechnique de Paris has already been awarded funds for its research projects, further to its bid in a nationwide call for projects. In August 2019, Institut Polytechnique de Paris was selected to host four University Research Schools (EUR) in the fields of biomedical engineering, energy, plasmas and social science. The total amount of funds allocated to projects represents a budget of €14 million over ten years.

With regard to innovation and entrepreneurship, Institut Polytechnique de Paris has created “Novation Center”, a common brand for the incubators of its schools, which has already been adopted by Télécom Paris with the Télécom Paris Novation Center and the Ecole Polytechnique with the DrahiX Novation Centre.

In early February, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris endowment fund of €700,000 to finance preliminary technologies prior to their transfer, was awarded to the twelve winners of its call for projects. Five of the winners are from the Ecole Polytechnique, 4 from Télécom Paris, 2 from ENSTA Paris and 1 from Télécom Sud Paris.

The project for the development of a single Institut Polytechnique de Paris campus has been taking shape over the last few months with the roll-out of solutions to facilitate connections between students and staff in the various establishments, such as the creation of a single access point for all and a common signage.  

This campus extends from ENSTA Paris in the east to the Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis schools in the west and encompasses the ENSAE Paris premises in the south with the Ecole Polytechnique in the center. It is organized around an East-West corridor, punctuated by public spaces with each school as an interface, and is governed by a master plan to guide major projects and build an outstanding campus.  It will be extended to the east by an innovation business park which will contribute to the growth of all the institution's schools, by fostering interactions between private research & innovation centers and academic research.

The aim of Institut Polytechnique de Paris is thus to create a modern and attractive campus, at the cutting edge of sustainable development and with high-quality architecture.