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Paris, July 3, 2008
INRIA CEO Michel Cosnard will accompany François Fillon's official delegation to sign a collaboration agreement with MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems), a Canadian network of centres of excellence for mathematical and information sciences, in the presence of the French and Canadian prime ministers.
The agreement will contribute to the development of French-Canadian cooperation in the field of information and communication science and technology. It will enable INRIA to expand scientific collaborations already in place by creating several joint projects for transfer to industry.
The North American continent is an undisputed world leader in the field of information and communication science and technology. Canada has set itself the goals of becoming one of the top five countries in the world for R&D performance, doubling government investment and increasing the number of Masters and Doctoral students by five percent every year. According to its strategic plan, INRIA's priority is to develop its relationships with research agencies in North America. INRIA has already set up active cooperative ventures with twenty universities and businesses in the French-speaking areas of Canada and hosted Canadian researchers in its "associate teams". A cooperation agreement was also signed with Quebec in 2005. But this is the first time that the Institute is joining with an institution to work on common research issues.
MITACS and INRIA undeniably have points in common. MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) is a federal network that develops state-of-the-art mathematical tools applied to new technologies. Its field of research covers a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from physical to the social sciences and including engineering and medicine. Like that of INRIA, its model does not separate fundamental research from applied research. Like INRIA, it has close links to the industrial world and is building strong links between private R&D sectors and the public research sector. It is therefore only natural for the directors of the two institutions to agree to develop their partnership.
The framework agreement will make it possible to develop scientific collaborations on themes that are part of INRIA's priorities: networks and security (cryptography, computer viruses, data transmission security), health, biomedicine and bioengineering (modelling of cancer development and other diseases, medical image analysis), the environment, and financial risk management.
These scientific collaborations will take form of targeted actions: workshops, conferences, joint research projects, exchanges and missions of researchers, postdoctoral stays for researchers from both countries, etc. The framework agreement also provides for the drawing up of an agreement on intellectual property.
Due to the presence of the two prime ministers at the signature ceremony, this agreement is symbolic of the understanding between our two countries.
Status: A public scientific and technological research
agency reporting to the ministries of Research and Industry.
Leadership: Michel Cosnard, CEO of INRIA; Jean-Pierre
Verjus, Deputy Managing Director.
Annual Budget (2008): 186 M€, more than 20%
of which is provided by outside sources, such as businesses, French
and European government agencies and communities.
Regional Research Centres: Paris - Rocquencourt,
Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée, Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes,
Nancy - Grand Est, Rennes - Bretagne Atlantique, Bordeaux - Sud-Ouest,
Lille - Nord Europe, Saclay - Ile-de-France.
150 research project groups, 85% of them shared
with other major organizations, schools and universities.
2 800 researchers, 1,000 of them doctoral candidates
790 active research contracts
89 businesses created since 1984.
To learn more, please visit our Website: http://www.inria.fr/index.en.html
MITACS, Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems, is the result of a merger of three Canadian mathematical sciences institutes: the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS), The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (FI) and the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM). Founded in 1999, it is financed by the Canadian Government and by funds from industry, provincial governments and universities. The institute is managed by MITACS Inc., a non-profit making body whose head office is at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby (British Colombia). The purpose of MITACS lies in the tools and the advanced mathematical methodologies. Its field of research includes the following scientific disciplines: the physical sciences, engineering, medicine and the social sciences. MITACS also sponsors the development of networks, the organization of workshops and student and other courses and contributes marketing expertise.
www.mitacs.math.ca/index.htm
| INRIA Vincent Coronini Tel.: +33 (0)1 39 63 57 29 |
Clémentine Duguay Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 41 56 11 |
