Advanced training and research at the service of entrepreneurial innovation. An engineering school and a university on a human scale, the UTC is at the forefront of technology and training with its 5 main fields of specialisation: biological engineering and urban engineering, mechanical engineering, process engineering and computer engineering. The awareness of students to research and entrepreneurship is combined with an à la carte offer of partnerships for companies.
Compiègne University of Technology – UTC
At the UTC, students are widely involved in a multitude of projects: development of products or prototypes, answers to questions asked by companies, marketing studies… Everything is good to use the concepts related to innovation, to invite them to participate in competitions and to create a start-up thanks to the entrepreneurship course.
Research is not left out: mini-internships allow them to join a research team one day a week, a research and development label is offered for the engineering diploma, not to mention the master’s degree offers and the possibilities of pursuing a doctorate. These are all building blocks to encourage innovative projects and respond to the demands of companies.
Axes of excellence and research projects
The UTC has defined three axes of excellence in its research activities: bioeconomy and territorialized biorefinery; mobility, transport, urbanity and energy; health and technologies for health.
A CNRS researcher, Dr. Sabine Bensamoun, is working on magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), a new imaging technique that focuses on the stiffness of soft tissues and the mechanical properties of muscles in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in the United States and the Polyclinique Saint Côme in Compiègne. Dr. Anne-Virginie Salsac, holder of an ERC Consolidator Grant, is working on cardiac implants for the reconstruction of mitral valves.
The UTC has also joined forces with Renault in a joint laboratory. The Tornado project on the autonomous vehicle is an example of this: this partnership with the Rambouillet region studies the potential for autonomous mobility in sparsely populated areas. A project is also being conducted by Prof. André Paus on methanisation for the production of biogas in collaboration with the UniLaSalle Polytechnic Institute. Another reason for pride for the UTC: the launch in February 2022 of the chair “Prudent and robust learning for a safer AI”, carried by the UTC Innovation Foundation in collaboration with the Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) of Sorbonne University, Sopra Steria and the CNRS.
The Innovation Centre: a dedicated building
This approach combining reactivity and very applied technology is found in the UTC Innovation Centre. This dedicated building is full of thematic platforms (food science, biomedical platform offering an intelligent flat, motion capture on the theme of biomechanics of movement to analyse sports performance, etc.) open to researchers, industrialists and of course students. The latter can also be welcomed in the same premises, advised and accompanied in the development of their ideas and concepts up to the creation of a company. This centre also hosts the iTerra start-up incubator and accelerator as well as the UTC Foundation for Innovation.
Influence and corporate relations
The influence of the UTC is also reflected by its attractiveness to companies, always in search of engineers. A team dedicated to student/company relations proposes targeted meetings to define recruitment or training needs. The most appropriate contact is then proposed to them.
Amphitheatre presentations, conferences in line with their strategic positioning, participation in forums (internship offers, graduate programmes, apprenticeship assignments), on-site visits, mentoring, or “ambassadors’ dinners”… An offer of à la carte events or a formalised partnership with three possible levels of commitment is available. Each year a steering committee reviews the actions carried out and defines the strategy for the following year. A flexible and highly structured approach. Tailor-made for companies and students… who are asking for more!
UTC – Université de technologie de Compiègne
Rue du Docteur Schweitzer CS 60319
F-60203 Compiègne Cedex France
Tel. : +33 (0)3 44 23 44 23
https://www.utc.fr/
Originally published in ©Parlementaires de France Magazine, now ©Research Innov France.
