Research Strategy

The exponential development of the information and communication technologies has brought with it the emergence of the Digital Society, characterized by an explosion in exchanges of data, contents and knowledge in all business sectors.
In the French academic and industrial research landscape, the the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom is the only research body to cover all the scientific and technical fields in a coordinated and coherent fashion in the midst of this profound transformation in which the technologies of both communication and intelligence are coming to the fore.

The Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom Research Strategy

The Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom 2008 -2012 research strategy is based on a vision of the Digital Society focused on three main issues:

    * The drivers of the technology, media and uses that form what is commonly known as the “Internet of the Future”
    * The needs of Society: social integration, health, services, sustainable development and security
    * The needs of the economy: knowledge production, regulation, value creation and innovation.


This strategy is supported by three levers:

    * The excellence of the institute’s disciplinary research
    * The relevance of its finalized research
    * The development of partnerships with businesses (large groups and SMEs, other research bodies and universities
    * Strong involvement in the ecosystem of innovation.

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Research Challenges

In the dynamics of the construction of the Digital Society, the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom laboratories have organized their research into the main scientific challenges:

communicating objects networks of the future media of the future uses and digital life	The internet of the future
E-health Sustainable development (energy, transport, lived environment, ecotechnologies) Digital services (banking, insurance, commerce, training...) Overall security (risks, security, confidence)	Digital dissemination

 

For each of these challenges, the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom:

> has set up a transversal approach to organization of the research - the Labs bringing together experts from the various Institut Mines-Télécom laboratories and associated partners to define the vision, scientific orientations and main areas of action.

> is developing partnerships with top-level research bodies and universities as well as with major groups and SMEs.

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Projects, Labs and programs

Structuring projects

To ensure greater clarity, the research conducted at the various laboratories of the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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.

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 Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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 the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom.

Platforms

the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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 (the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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 Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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 Télécom group of the Institut Mines-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

 

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The Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom Research & innovation players

Research & innovation teams

Research & innovation at the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom is driven by a force of some 1,900 people :
More than 600 professors and researchers, 350 research engineers, technicians and administrative personnel,  900 doctoral students, post-doc students and sabbatical students

* 250 directly integrated into the research teams. In addition, more than 300 people contribute to support to the research activity

Their skills range from optics and microelectronics to economics and sociology, and also include digital communication, signal and image processing, IT and networks.
In each of these broad disciplines, the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom has world-renowned research teams.

the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom teams are divided intofour key fields of skills :

• IT and networks,
• Communications physics,
• Signal, images and knowledge,
• Economics, sociology and management

 The alliance between all these skills gives the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom the resources to achieve a multi-disciplinary approach to the world of information and communication sciences and technologies constitute one of the Institute’s distinctive criteria.

Research & innovation organisation

Since its creation in 1997, the Télécom group of the Institut Mines-Télécom, has established an organisational structure for its research & innovation activities designed to :

The Department of Scientific Affairs, under the responsibility of Francis Jutand, acts as ascientific forecasting think tank and ensures the development and technology transfer of research activities.

It sets up and pilots the structuring of research& innovation at a Group level by defining and organizing Structuring Projects  conducted by the various research departments.

The Department of Scientific Affairs is backed by the Research and Innovation management committee, which develops the Institut Télécom's overall scientific policy, which is then specifically tailored to each School.

In addition, a Scientific Advisory Board composed of external figures deliberates on the major research orientations and periodically assesses work done. It can be consulted by members of the Board of Directors on any issue connected with the way laboratories operate, doctoral training programs and cooperation agreements between Schools.

Research & innovation are the result of the scientific activity of the research departments of our schools. Research department activity reports reflect the Institut Télécom's international scientific influence and can be consulted on their sites.