Interview of Eric Labaye : "We have turned a corner in all areas of development"
As you approach the end of your term as President of École Polytechnique and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, what is your assessment of the main achievements of the two institutions?
Eric Labaye - My five years in office have been devoted to the development of École Polytechnique and the launch of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), which in just four years has established a leading position among the world's Top 40 higher education and research institutions.
École polytechnique, a founding member of IP Paris, has scaled up with its world-renowned programs, and is now a recognized multi-curricular School, with its research and scientific capabilities integrated into the IP Paris research center and an innovation cluster that supports a growing number of start-ups within a unique ecosystem.
École Polytechnique has turned a corner in all these areas of development, despite the Covid-19 health crisis. And it has done so thanks to the commitment of all our staff and the Polytechnic community, as well as the support of our supervisory board and administrators.
Because this is a necessity in an institution of excellence, I have been particularly committed to École Polytechnique's operational and financial turnaround, to ensure that it has the needed resources for its long-term expansion.
I have also encouraged a far-reaching change in the School's commitments, in line with the major contemporary challenges : the transition to a more sustainable world and the promotion of inclusion while respecting social, cultural and gender diversity.
A the implementation of the Performance and Objectives Contracts (POCs) for École Polytechnique and IP Paris signed with their supervisory authorities at the beginning of 2022, is now under way, both institutions are on a right track.
Less than five years after its launch, how is the Institut Polytechnique de Paris doing?
Eric Labaye - The lauch of IP Paris was announced by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in October 2017 with the ambition of creating an institution able to rivaliser avec the MIT or EPFL. We created it in just a few months with the five founding Schools (École polytechnique, ENSAE Paris, ENSTA Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis) and positioned it from the outset as a world leader in science and technology.
IP Paris is ranked 38th worldwide (2nd France) among the world's top 1500 universities, 10th worldwide (1st France) for its reputation among employers and 34th worldwide (1st France) among the most international universities. IP Paris also ranks in the Top 30 universities in many disciplines: 14th in Mathematics, 21st in Engineering and Technology, 26th in Natural Sciences.
The organization or hosting of numerous prestigious scientific events, including the first two editions, in 2019 and 2023, of the REFLEXIONS international symposium devoted to the challenges of sustainable development, illustrates the national and international influence of École polytechnique and IP Paris.
The fact that leading politicians, business leaders, representatives of civil society and heads of international organizations have come to talk to students at L’X and IP Paris is further testimony to the reputation the two institutions.
What does the Institut Polytechnique de Paris represent in today's higher education environment, and how does it fit in?
Eric Labaye - Driven by a highly dynamic team, IP Paris has achieved a critical mass in terms of education, research (1,400 teacher-researchers) and innovation (around 100 start-ups a year).
It includes a graduate school with 700 masters students (+2 to 3% each year), a PhD track with 80 students, and 1,100 PhD students in the 32 laboratories that make up our research center. Six interdisciplinary centers addressing key societal issues have been launched: Energy for Climate (E4C) for the energy transition, Hi! Paris, dedicated to artificial intelligence and data analysis; the Center for Defense and Security (CIEDS), which aims to conduct cutting-edge scientific research in areas of interest to the French Defense; Engineering for Health (E4H), dedicated to biomedical engineering; Materials for Society (M4S), for research into innovative materials; and SPIRAL, which brings together the arts and sciences.
The research center is the bearer of future ambitions. It is governed by an international advisory board (ISAB). It encompasses 10 disciplinary departments and supports the contribution of the Institute's 32 thematic laboratories to cross-disciplinary projects.
To support its development, IP Paris has forged close ties with national research organizations to create strong partnerships (signing of a protocol with INRIA in 2021 to reinforce its leadership in digital and AI), as well as with Higher Education and Research institutions (partnership with HEC in 2019 and numerous scientific cooperations, notably with the Hadamard Foundation). The outlook now focuses on updating the joint strategy with the CNRS and work on a possible merger with École nationale des ponts et chaussées.
To ensure the long-term development of École Polytechnique and IP Paris, we needed to increase our resources. The School’s teams worked with the supervisory ministries on a principle of matching long-term public funding, proportional to the growth in project funding obtained. These "matching funds" are being implemented, and represent a paradigm shift in the funding approach that IP Paris needs to give itself the means to achieve its ambitions.
Last but not least, a campus master plan has been drawn up in order to collectively design and build the campus in consultation with our stakeholders and partners. Real estate and urban development are now considered on a large scale to build a campus that is vibrant, attractive and sustainable.
An ambitious goal has been set for École Polytechnique and IP Paris in the field of research, with the aim of joining the world's best institutions. What have been the results in this key area?
Eric Labaye - Over the past 5 years, research at l'X has developed strongly and achieved many successes, notably doubling the number of ERCs between 2018 and 2022 (8 in 2022) and the volume of scientific publications (from 1485 in 2018 to 2980 in 2021).
Academic teams have become highly internationalized with international staff increasing from 31% to 43% between 2017 and 2022.
The School is also honored to count two Nobel Prize winners among its professors: Gérard Mourou in 2018 and Alain Aspect in 2022.
Since the creation of IP Paris, École polytechnique's research strategy has been defined within the framework of the new institution. The creation of interdisciplinary centers at IP Paris represents a new paradigm for developing research aimed at meeting major economic and societal challenges, and cross-fertilizing research by encouraging École Polytechnique’s 23 laboratories to collaborate on cross-disciplinary subjects. Six centers have already been created.
A joint laboratory has been launched with Thales in 2022, HERACLES3, with the aim of developing cutting-edge technologies based on intense lasers, with the potential for major industrial, medical and scientific applications.
IP Paris was also a co-founder of the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster, launched in February 2022, which aims to accelerate innovation in oncology to match the momentum of the Boston Biocluster (€100 million funding from France 2030).
To spread-out the results of its research, IP Paris launched a free digital magazine, Polytechnique Insights, in 2021, counting 500,000 readers and 45,000 subscribers.
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I would like to thank all those who have worked to develop Ecole Polytechnique and IP Paris. The Board of Directors, our supervisory body, the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and, of course, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, as well as all the driving forces behind the School and IP Paris: the academic and research teams, support staff, the students. I'm not forgetting the community of Polytechnique as a whole, École Polytechnique’s Foundation (FX) and the Alumni Association (AX) for their support, and our many academic and industrial partners. Our combined efforts have made all these successes a reality, of which we can be collectively proud, and which will fuel and encourage the ambitions of École Polytechnique and IP Paris in the years to come.