I-SITE NExT Initiative: health and engineering

The University of Nantes, Centrale Nantes, Nantes University Hospital and Inserm joined forces to launch the NExT (Nantes Excellence Trajectory) initiative via the submission of a joint application for the PIA2 (Investment for the future programme) call for projects.

On 10 March 2022, Prime Minister Jean Castex, following the recommendations of the international panel of the Investments for the Future programme (PIA), confirmed I-site certification for Nantes University's NExT project. The decision, which comes shortly after the launch of Nantes University on 1 January 2022, concludes a process initiated in 2017 and represents the final stage of approval for NExT's (Nantes Excellence Trajectory) implementation.

See the latest project news:

• 
  Nantes University obtains I-site NExT certification

  March 10, 2022

  On 10 March 2022, Prime Minister Jean Castex, following the recommendations of the international panel of the Investments for the Future programme (PIA), confirmed I-site certification for Nantes University's NExT project. This certification, and the funding that comes with it, will allow Nantes University to develop its unique governance model and to accelerate its scientific projects in both health of the future and industry of the future, with the capacity for action of a world-class university.
• 
  NExT gets back on track

  October 16, 2020

  The University of Nantes, Nantes University Hospital, Inserm and Centrale Nantes have adopted an action plan reaffirming their shared determination to build a new university model alongside Nantes Saint-Nazaire School of Fine Arts, the National School of Architecture of Nantes and the Jules Verne Institute of Technological Research.
  
  This decision signals the re-launch of the project. Next steps: approval of the statutes for the future establishment in March-April 2021, evaluation of the I-SITE by an international panel in Autumn 2021 and the creation of Nantes Université in January 2022.

Learn more

Interviewed by Clément Lesort of SUN (LeSonUnique), Jean-Baptiste Avrillier, NExT's Operational Director, explains the project's objectives and challenges (in French):

• Accelerate the unique dynamic of the Nantes area, where research is in tune with the key players and economic and social challenges of the area.
• Consolidate its expertise and innovatory trajectory in research, education and technological transfer in two fields of excellence facing major social-economic challenges: health and industry of the future
• Build on its ambitious policy for international attractiveness.
• Place Nantes firmly on the international stage: reach a collective ranking in the top 300 universities in the world and the top 100 in Europe within 10 years

The Nantes area with its high rate of employment in the industrial sector, is uniquely positioned to be a pilot site for the reindustrialization of France and meet the objective set for the factory of the future. With considerable potential for innovation and growth, the blue strategy, already strongly implemented in the region, is a springboard for the NExT initiative. Finally, the emergence of increasingly personalized medicine, combining efficiency and cost reduction, provides new opportunities for scientific, technological and economic development.

HEALTH: New biotherapies - nuclear and cancer medicine - precision medicine.

In Nantes, research in Health Sciences has developed considerably over the past 20 years, with broad support from Nantes University Hospital, the University of Nantes, the Pays de la Loire region, Centrale Nantes and national research institutions (including INSERM). The area has proved its ability to attract national and international researchers and to integrate fundamental biology and clinical research. Over the past two years, this has led to the formation of units bringing together more than 330 research workers.

INDUSTRY OF THE FUTURE: Advanced production technologies - Ocean engineering.

Building on scientific excellence in the fields of process engineering and materials characterization, ocean engineering and hydrodynamics, robotics, digital modelling simulation and optimization, the overall objective is to create a research and training ecosystem which is highly innovative in fields linked to Industry of the Future.

The other partners in the initiative - IMT Atlantique, Oniris, ICO, Ifsttar and Inra - have a long history of collaboration. They will contribute to the implementation and governance of NExT. 

Find out more (in French)