Big success for Jacques Baudier’s mission: israeli scientists and journalists deeply impressed by Minatec innovation campus (Grenoble, France)
The Minatec innovation campus (Grenoble, France) hosted received the most important delegation of israeli scientists and journalists ever seen in France, organized by Jacques Baudier, scientific attaché at French Embassy in Israel. The MINATEC innovation campus is home to 2,400 researchers, 1,200 students, and 600 business and technology transfer experts on a 20-hectare state-of-the-art campus with 10,000 m² of clean room space. An international hub for micro and nanotechnology research, the MINATEC campus is unlike any other R&D facility in Europe.
« Our mission is to become an international leader in innovation and technology », Jean Therme, Director, CEA Grenoble and Founder, MINATEC.
In 1999, Jean Therme—then Director of CEA-Leti—came up with the idea for MINATEC after realizing that there was enormous untapped potential to be had from combining technological resources with research know-how and academic programs in engineering. Over the next three years, he gave more than a hundred presentations highlighting the benefits his campus would bring. He secured the buy-in of CEA Grenoble, Grenoble Institute of Technology, and local government agencies—and with it, the €150 million investment needed to break ground on the new campus.
Today MINATEC boasts an annual operating budget of €300 million, including €50 million in capital expenditures, and has grown to become Europe’s leading innovation campus for micro and nanotechnology. By bringing together experts from higher education, research, and industry on a single site, MINATEC offers a unique innovation ecosystem with the shared technology platforms and expertise to drive the collaborative projects that will foster tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs.
300 patents and 1,600 research articles per year
MINATEC researchers file nearly 300 patent applications and author more than 1,600 scientific articles every year. MINATEC has also sparked a multitude of new businesses developing micro and nanotechnology applications in fields like optronics, biotech, components, circuit design, and motion sensing. The campus is also highly visible in the international scientific community, thanks in part to the active role played by CEA-Leti, a recognized center for cutting-edge innovation.
In 2008 MINATEC hired a team of permanent staff to coordinate campus activities and oversee communications, under the watchful eye of Jean-Charles Guibert.
