Thales
THALES: the gamble of proximity and openness
To rebuild a research centre that has the wealth of a half-century of history is definitely a structuring choice for the decades to come. In 2002, when the decision was taken, the plan to renovate the Ecole Polytechnique campus was still in its inception. We have now won our gamble with the creation of System@tic, the incorporation of the Digiteo and Triangle de la Physique RTRAs, and lastly the ambitious Paris-Saclay Campus plan.
To focus on openness in research above all is to affirm that the challenge is not so much the internal mastery of the technology, as ensuring the availability of engineers and researchers capable of efficiently using the technological performance and controlling intellectual property aspects with patent filings where necessary.
Our new 18,000 m2 building represents an investment of more than 60 million euros; it includes 5,500 m2 of laboratories, of which 3,200 m2 are clean rooms. This research centre can accommodate 550 people, including 100 students and as many academic or industrial partners.
The collaboration principle is simple here: It is reciprocal emulation among researchers and the sharing of all sorts of investments - facilities and know-how - for which there is a continuously growing need to remain in the lead group on global research. In the variety of its occupants and their research orientations, it constitutes a mini-campus within the campus.
Bertrand Demotes-Mainard
Director of Thales Research & Technology France
(Photothèque Ecole Polytechnique : photos Ph Lavialle)
