INRIA's ambition is to be a world player, a research institute
at the heart of the information society.
INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science and
control, operating under the dual authority of the Ministry of Research
and the Ministry of Industry, is dedicated to fundamental and applied
research in information and communication science and technology (ICST).
The Institute also plays a major role in technology transfer by fostering
training through research, diffusion of scientific and technical information,
development, as well as providing expert advice and participating in
international programs.
By playing a leading role in the scientific community in the field and being in close contact with industry, INRIA is a major participant in the development of ICST in France. Throughout its eight research centres in Rocquencourt, Rennes, Sophia Antipolis, Grenoble, Nancy, Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay, INRIA has a workforce of 3 800, 2 800 of whom are scientists from INRIA and INRIA's partner organizations such as CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research), universities and leading engineering schools. They work in 150 joint research project-teams. Many INRIA researchers are also professors and approximately 1 000 doctoral students work on theses as part of INRIA research project-teams.
INRIA develops many partnerships with industry and fosters technology transfer and company foundation in the field of ICST - some ninety companies have been founded with the support of INRIA-Transfert, a subsidiary of INRIA, specialized in guiding, evaluating, qualifying, and financing innovative high-tech IT start-up companies. INRIA is involved in standardization committees such as the IETF, ISO and the W3C of which INRIA was the European host from 1995 to 2002.
INRIA maintains important international relations and exchanges. In Europe, INRIA is a member of ERCIM which brings together research institutes from 19 European countries. INRIA is a partner in about 120 FP6 actions and 40 FP7 actions, mainly in the ICST field. INRIA also collaborates with numerous scientific and academic institutions abroad (joint laboratories such as LIAMA, associated research teams, training and internship programs).
INRIA has an annual budget of 186 million Euros, 20% of which comes from its own research contracts and development products
The Institute's strategy closely combines scientific excellence with technology transfer. INRIA's major goal for 2008-2012 is to achieve scientific and technological breakthroughs in seven priority domains:
- Modelling, simulation and optimisation of complex dynamic systems
- Programming: security and reliability of computing systems
- Communication, information, and ubiquitous computing
- Interaction with real and virtual worlds
- Computational engineering
- Computational sciences
- Computational medicine
Some figures
Budgetary Resources (January 2008)
- Annual budget: 186 M Euros WT
- Own resources: 1/5
Human Resources (January 2008)
- 3,800 persons
- 2,800 scientists including 1,000 doctoral students,
100 post-doctoral,
300 R&D engineers
Scientific Activities (January 2008)
- 150 project-teams
- 4,000 scientific publications
- 24 international conferences organized and co-organized by INRIA
(2,500 participants including 1,700
from abroad)
- 14,300 hours of teaching
Industrial Relations (January 2008)
- 790 active research contracts
- 230 active patents
- 80 software licences deposited with the APP (Agence pour
la Protection des Programmes)
- 89 compagnies stemming from INRIA, starting with Ilog which
is now listed on Nasdaq to the most recent - 9 in 2007.
Created in 1967 at Rocquencourt near to Paris, INRIA (The National
Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) is a public
scientific and technological establishment (EPST) under the double
supervision of the Research
Ministry and the Ministry
of Economy, Finance and Industry
INRIA's main aims are described in the Statement (in french) of 2 August 1985 about the organization and the functioning
of the Institute.
