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The EuroTech Universities Alliance, a network of European universities in science and technology which TU/e is part of, welcomes École Polytechnique as its fifth member. The prestigious French institution officially joined during the Technical University of Munich’s 150th-anniversary symposium.

The EuroTech Universities Alliance was established seven years ago as a strategic partnership of leading universities of science and technology in Europe: next to TU/e these are DTU (Technical University of Denmark), EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and TUM (Technical University of Munich). According to the alliance the École Polytechnique will further strengthen the EuroTech Universities Alliance’s position as pioneer for inter-university collaboration and will provide impetus for new, exciting collaborations to address the grand societal challenges.

Horizon Europe
“We are delighted to have France’s most distinctive university of science and engineering on board. With the French president Macron’s call for the creation of European networks of universities, École Polytechnique’s accession is also politically very timely”, says Jan Mengelers, President Executive Board of TU/e and current President of the EuroTech Universities Alliance.

The French President’s speech at Sorbonne University last September has provided a new impetus for European university networks, with a dedicated EU funding initiative to be launched in the autumn. “With the EuroTech Universities Alliance widely quoted as a model network, we are well positioned for the take-up of EU funding in the future, not least through the future Horizon Europe programme proposed by the European Commission today”, highlights Jan Mengelers.

Ecosystem
“École Polytechnique offers innovative, international and multidisciplinary scientific programmes in strategic fields, bringing together research staff and students to develop the latest technologies, with focus on artificial intelligence, energy transition, smart cities, healthcare or cybersecurity”, says Jacques Biot, President of École Polytechnique. Joining the EuroTech Universities Alliance will create a larger pool of complementary strengths, excellent talent and unique learning and scientific environments.

École Polytechnique’s Drahi X-Novation Center offers an ecosystem of prototyping space, early start-up acceleration, incubation, finance and open innovation with large multinationals. “Our unique French offer will boost the EuroTech Universities’ academic, scientific, entrepreneurial and corporate networks and will facilitate the connection of Europe’s strongest innovation hubs even further”, added Jacques Biot.

TECHNOLOGIST
As a special welcome to École Polytechnique, the first series of articles of the EuroTech Universities Alliance’s relaunched communications platform TECHNOLOGIST zooms in on the best of French Technologies, including the science and innovation landscape in France.

The EuroTech Universities Alliance is committed to raising public awareness of the opportunities offered by science and technology. TECHNOLOGIST is a key initiative of the Alliance to highlight the best and most exciting research and innovation in Europe.

Source: Eurotech