7 June 2018 | After 7 years of driving close collaboration between four universities, the EuroTech Universities Alliance welcomed École Polytechnique as its fifth member on 7 June.
The prestigious French institution officially joined the strategic partnership of leading universities of science and technology in the international setting of the Technical University of Munich’s 150th anniversary symposium. École Polytechnique will further strengthen the EuroTech Universities Alliance’s position as pioneer for inter-university collaborationand will provide impetus for new, exciting collaborations to address the grand societal challenges.
“We are delighted to have France’s most distinctive university of science and engineering on board. With Macron’s call for the creation of European networks of universities, École Polytechnique’s accession is also politically very timely”, said Jan Mengelers, current President of the EuroTech Universities Alliance. The French President’s speech at Sorbonne University last September has provided a new impetus for European university networks, with a dedicated EU funding initiative to be launched in the autumn. “With the EuroTech Universities Alliance widely quoted as a model network, we are well positioned for the take-up of EU funding in the future, not least through the future Horizon Europe programme also presented on 7 June,” stated Mengelers.
“École Polytechnique offers innovative international and multidisciplinary scientific programmes in strategic fields, bringing together research staff and students to develop the latest technologies, with focus on artificial intelligence, energy transition, smart cities, healthcare or cybersecurity”, says Jacques Biot, President of École Polytechnique. Joining the EuroTech Universities Alliance will create a larger pool of complementary strengths, excellent talent and unique learning and scientific environments.
École Polytechnique’s Drahi X-Novation Center offers an ecosystem of prototyping space, early start-up acceleration, incubation, finance and open innovation with large multinationals. “Our unique French offer will boost the EuroTech Universities’ academic, scientific, entrepreneurial and corporate networks and will facilitate the connection of Europe’s strongest innovation hubs even further”, added Jacques Biot.
As a special welcome to École Polytechnique, the first series of articles of the EuroTech Universities Alliance’s relaunched communications platform TECHNOLOGIST zooms in on the best of French Technologies, including the science and innovation landscape in France.
Read the Special Interview with Jacques Biot, President of École Polytechnique.
Download the press release.
Photo: X Campus © École polytechnique – J.Barande
