Presentation of the Scientific Priorities

Internationally renowned for its skills and competence in key fields, INRIA is well equipped to make decisive contributions to the challenges that the field of information and communication sciences and technologies (ICST) faces today. In order to focus its actions in this direction and relying on its strengths, the institute has defined seven areas of priority. The first four areas are focused on developing original concepts as well as innovative methods and effective modeling tools, on programming, communication and interaction. The three other areas relate to how ICST is integrated into the fields of computational engineering (designing embedded software and systems for physical objects that are subject to extremely stringent requirements with regard to dynamics and security), digital sciences (particularly material, life and environmental sciences), and digital medicine (production of models and algorithms for the medical and medical biology fields). Research on these last three areas lead to scientifically complex problems for the first four areas, which feed on the discoveries made and provide systems that are increasingly complex, according to integrated approaches.

Within this general panorama, twenty-three intermediate steps have been defined and named milestones, outlining the objectives on the horizon for 2012. Defined within very high-risk research fields, these milestones clarify the Institute’s actions, exemplify its priorities and motivate the research teams. They specify the obligations and means that the Institute will employ in the form of incentive actions, unifying projects, research platforms and development support activities that are proving to be increasingly necessary.