Centres of competitive excellence

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Centres of competitive excellence

The research – education – innovation equation

Their objective is as simple as it is ambitious : to develop the capacity of innovation in order to reinforce industrial competitive excellence. The centres of competitive excellence associate and make the totality of companies, laboratories, universities and centres of transfer over a given territory work together. Researchers and entrepreneurs in Lorraine invest themselves in 2 centres : the Material and Process (Materalia) centre and the Greater-East Fibres centre.
 
Associating 70 000 employees, 3 000 companies, 1 800 researchers and 160 technology transfer experts, the Materalia centre has the ambition of conceiving the materials of the future and devising the processes in order to produce them. This research interests sectors as divers as the automobile, aeronautical, building and equipment industries. The Materalia centre relies on large industrial groups, research institutions and SME.
 
The Fibers Pole draws the future of the textile, paper, wood and composite materials industries. It relies on 300 researchers, 15 laboratories, 5 technology transfer centres and a very dense fabric of SME. Together, they set out to create new products, encourage innovation in companies and raise the level of competence. This second centre of competitive excellence associates the regions of Lorraine and Alsace. The Nancy-Epinal-Mulhouse axis is today one of the main French centres of research in fibres.
 
Recognised in May 2010, the Alsace-Lorraine HYDREOS water pole is involved in the “control of inland waters and the health of populations and ecosystems". It aims to generate innovative collaborative projects by linking businesses, laboratories, engineering and design departments, schools and universities in the two Regions. This pole brings together more than 350 businesses, including 5 large groups, which are world leaders in their sectors, 2,500 specialist researchers and 4,000 students.
 
Source of innovation, attractiveness factor that discourages relocations, the centres of competitive excellence are one of the main tools of the industrial and development policy of the territory in Lorraine. Vector of collective projects between companies, centres of research and training organizations, these centres are largely supported by the State and local governments.