Launch of the Scilab Consortium dedicated to scientific computing

Paris, France, May 22, 2003.

Scilab is a scientific software package developed by INRIA (The French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) and ENPC (The National School of Civil Engineering). It provides a powerful open computing environment for engineering and scientific applications. Distributed freely via the Internet since 1994, Scilab is currently being used in industrial and academic laboratories around the world. Scilab, which is available for Unix/Linux systems and Windows, is considered as being one of the numerical computation tools that completely revolutionized research and development in the field of industrial engineering almost twenty years ago.

Since then, it has maintained its popularity with over 10,000 downloads per month from the Scilab website. This success is mainly due to the fact that Scilab is an open system allowing a broad spectrum of use: it provides tools that are of interest to engineering students and research workers alike while having equally significant relevance for experts in other sectors such as the car, aviation, aerospace and chemical industries, the world of finance, etc. Encouraged by these initial successes, INRIA has taken the initiative to gather industrial and academic partners to form a consortium while at the same time intensifying its own commitment to making Scilab a worldwide success.

The Scilab consortium celebrated its launch on 16 May 2003 with the first meeting of its founder members: Axs Ingénierie, Cril Technology, CEA, CNES, Dassault Aviation, EDF, ENPC, Esterel Technologies, INRIA, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault and Thales.

The creation of the Scilab Consortium, hosted by INRIA, commits to the following goals: Organize cooperation and exchange within the community of developers in order to make Scilab a platform which integrates the latest scientific advances in the field of numerical computation and control, Organize cooperation and exchange within the community of users in order to make Scilab a product that meets specifications required for use in industrial, educational and research environments, Obtain the resources necessary to maintain a team committed to editing new versions of the software which meet specified standards, encourage the community of developers and ensure first level support for users.

Chaired by Professor Alain Bensoussan, former Chairman of INRIA, CNES and European Space Agency Council, and led by Claude Gomez, Technical Director and leader of development team, the consortium also allows members to contribute to the evolution of the software to meet new demands; a scientific council and steering committee composed of representatives elected by members of the consortium define guidelines for new developments.
With the support of its first French members, the consortium will now intensify its efforts to include European and International members, particularly in China where significant involvement has already been achieved.

To find out more:

About Scilab (in french)
About INRIA

Contact INRIA:

Christine Genest Vincent Coronini

Tél : 01 39 63 55 18 Tél : 01 39 63 57 29

Contact Ketchum:

Yasmina Madafi Sana Berkaoui

Tél : 01 53 32 55 90 Tél : 01 53 32 55 71