The Cambridge Analytica scandal has shown that targeting technologies on online platforms (Google, Facebook, Tik Tok...) go beyond the simple sale of objects or services to invest in the realm of information. The work of Oana Goga, a researcher at École Polytechnique's Computer science laboratory (LIX), studies the impact of these technologies on privacy, security and the manipulation of public opinion. They have fuelled reflection on the European Union's Digital Services Act and are being continued today as part of an ERC Starting Grants fellowship.
Launched by two X alumni brothers, C12, a pioneer in the use of carbon nanotubes to build a universal quantum computer, has completed its second round of financing, raising 18 million euros. The start-up is one of five selected by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces as part of the Proqcima program to develop two prototypes of quantum computers.
Five students from École Polytechnique's "Data and Economics for Public Policy" Master's program have developed an interactive map of public health determinants down to the level of French local authorities, for the French Ministry of the Environment's Ecolab.
The winners of this 13th edition of the Gerondeau - Safran Prize convinced the jury with their innovations in the fields of health and construction. They each received 15,000 euros to develop their projects.
At the Laboratory of Condensed Matter for Physics (PMC*), a team has successfully determined the spin-dependent electronic structure linked to the presence of defects in the arrangement of atoms in a semiconductor. This is the first time that this structure has been measured. The results are published in Physical Review Letters.
École Polytechnique hosted the international competition EuroTeQathon, which brought together more than 130 students, teachers, and experts on June 8-10, 2024. Aligned with this year’s theme, “Enhance Connections for a Sustainable Future,” the participants developed projects proposing innovative solutions to specific environmental and social challenges and pitched them to a jury of experts in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Newly arrived at the Laboratory of Condensed Matter for Physics, Clément Livache conducts research on quantum dots, semiconductor nanocrystals whose light absorption and emission properties can be controlled. These are among the innovative materials that the interdisciplinary center Materials for Society (M4S) intends to promote.
In France, the cement industry emits 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The greenhouse gas comes from the manufacture of cement's active ingredient, clinker. At the Irradiated Solids Laboratory (LSI*), Marie-Noëlle de Noirfontaine and Mireille Courtial are carrying out detailed characterizations of materials likely to replace clinker. An essential step in the decarbonization of the industry.
In November 2023, the “Econophysics & Complex Systems” Chair was celebrating its 5th anniversary, a good time for the EconophysiX research team led by Michael Benzaquen to take stock. Find out more about this discipline, which approaches economics using methods derived from the natural sciences.
How does a bacterial line behave in the face of a cocktail of antibiotics, cancer cells in the face of chemotherapy, or the Guyanese forest in the face of climate change? At the Center for Applied Mathematics (CMAP), the MERGE team works at the interface between biology and mathematics. It contributes to the emergence of new questions and tools in the latter field, while shedding light on the problems faced by biologists.
The thirteen X start-ups are among the 28 high-impact start-ups from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris' innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem presented on the IP Paris stand at Vivatech 2024.