Université Côte d'Azur: Activity Report 2018 by Université Côte d'Azur

Activity Report 2018

After three years of experience with our initiative of excellence, and in anticipation of our final meeting with the IDEX strategic committee before the evaluation by the international jury, it seems appropriate to make an initial assessment of the distance already covered. From the very beginning, the IDEX has undeniably been an incredible driver that has led our community and, more generally, our whole region forward. It provided the impetus to: - Boost our research projects, by developing our core academic excellence (Advanced Research Program) and introducing a transdisciplinary approach in dealing with cutting-edge topics (role of the Academies, the Core Programs, creation of the NeuroMod Institute). - Re-structure the training programs offered, both by entering new fields (success of the MSc degrees) and expanding our overall catalog of national degrees (creation of French-style graduate research schools). - Include entrepreneurship in course programs and make it an objective for students. - Develop student commitment. - Strengthen the university’s ties with its region, by creating Institutes of Innovation and Partnership, for instance. The selection of Université Côte d’Azur to host one of the four Interdisciplinary Institutes of Artificial Intelligence is a good example of the synergy between the university, local businesses and the public sector. This is certainly one of our strengths.

Even though we are proud of these achievements, they should not distract us from our main objective, which is to join together as a community of institutions, researchers, faculty, students, and administrative staff, and build a truly research-intensive university, experimental both in the way it is designed and the way it operates. This year was the most critical since obtaining our IDEX label in 2016. A large number of stakeholders had to be mobilized to join this endeavor, which made it necessary for us to manage our transformation on a whole new scale. Now, and this is undoubtedly the main achievement of this year 2019, our target university is no longer a virtual object. Its statutes have officially been registered. The process underway will lead the University Nice Sophia Antipolis and the Université Côte d’Azur Consortium of Universities (ComUE) to disappear by the end of 2019, which will mark the beginning of the Université Côte d’Azur as a full-fledged university. The latter will not be a great melting pot that dissolves the characteristics and specificities of the institutions that compose it. On the contrary, each institution will be able to maintain its unique assignments and contribute its specific features to the structures built together. This will be the case, more particularly, for the Graduate Schools of Research whose purpose is to maintain a connection between research and training, and keep them both at the core of our IDEXdriven strategy. After the validation of our initiative by the international IDEX jury, scheduled for the summer of 2020, the challenges that lie ahead will constantly require more innovation. We need to keep innovating to rank among world-class universities, in spite of our size, or maybe because of it, following in the footsteps of the region backing us, but this is an exciting mission.

Jean-Marc Gambaudo, Président d’Université Côte d’Azur

A word from the President

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Table of Contents

INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION

SHARING AN AMBITIOUS VISION AND CARRYING OUT A COLLECTIVE PROJECT

STIMULATING A DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UCA’S REGIONAL ANCHORING AND INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENT

SUPPORTING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH, TRAINING, INNOVATION AND CREATION

FOCUSING ON UCA’S SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC THEMES

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Chapter 1: INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION RESTRUCTURING THE UNIVERSITY: N E W S TAT U T E S F O R A N E W E X P E R I M E N TA L U N I V E R S I T Y As part of the collective momentum guided and driven by the UCA JEDI IDEX project, the members of the Université Côte d’Azur ComUE have decided to create a new research-intensive university, as most members of the ComUE share a common desire to strengthen and maintain their ties within an experimental institution

that will have full university status. The creation of this institution is scheduled for January 1, 2020, from which date the ComUE and Université Nice Sophia Antipolis will no longer remain in existence.

PROVISIONAL CALENDAR 2019 Schedule 15/01

01/03

1st version of the UCA2020 statute

Reporting on issues identified by the working groups, transition calendar

Administrative working groups established

March/ May Discussions with the Ministry about the statute

31/05

11/06

End of the UCA2020 statute adoption process Votes within the Executive Boards of the future component institutions

CNESER vote on the definitive validation of the statute

July

17/12

Dec.

01/01 2020

Decree of promulgation for the statute. Appointment of a provisional administrator and Executive Board

Vote on 2020 budget by the Executive Board

Preparation for the central council elections

Creation of target university UCA

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allow

the

new

university

coordinate and promote all the activities related to higher education and research on the Côte d’Azur, some

institutions

have

agreed

to join the new Université Côte d’Azur while retaining their legal personality. d’Azur

These

are

Observatory

Physiotherapy

the

(OCA),

Training

Côte the

Institute

(Institut de Formation en MassoKinésithérapie, IFMK), Villa Arson, the International Center for Musical Research (Centre International de Recherche Musicale, CIRM) and the Cannes & Marseille Regional School of Actors (Ecole Régionale des Acteurs

de Cannes et Marseille, ERACM). These institutions become components of the new university and exercise their competencies in accordance with the strategy of Université Côte d’Azur, which they have helped to define, and with the guidelines and deliberations voted by the governing bodies of Université Côte d’Azur, in which they are represented. Five public scientific and technical institutions (EP ST), with a national and international scope, bring a strong backing to this initiative and contribute to the deployment of the new Université Côte d’Azur: CNRS, Inria, Inserm, IRD, INRA . They help define the strategy of Université Côte d’Azur and provide their input in the fields of research, training, innovation, international relations and regional affairs, among others. They participate in the governance of the institution. Members of their scientific and administrative staff are eligible to vote and stand for election to the central governing bodies of Université Côte d’Azur. Researchers may be involved, if they wish, in university training programs. Lastly, other institutions will be closely associated with the new university: the Antoine Lacassagne Center (CAL); SKEMA Business School; the National Conservatory of Nice; the International Rosella Hightower Graduate Institute of Dance; the Graduate Institute of Audiovisual Production (ESRA); and the Sustainable Design School (SDS); see Appendix 1 - Preamble to the statutes of Université Côte d’Azur).

THE MEMBER INSTITUTIONS KEEP THEIR LEGAL PERSONALIT Y Component Institutions

EPST

Associate Institutions

OCA

CNRS

SKEMA

Villa Arson

INRIA

CAL

IFMK

INSERM

Other Art Schools

CIRM

INRA

ERACM

IRD

CRR Rosella Hightower ESRA SDS ...

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INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE NEW UNIVERSITY To

carry

out

its

missions,

Université Côte d’Azur bases its structure on different academic components

with

legal

personality including: - G raduate Schools of Research (EUR), of

created

the

Executive

decision Board

Université Côte d’Azur, after approval

the

Steering

Committee and the Academic Council. Strategic and basic components

Université

Côte d’Azur, their main mission is to combine research with

training and to ensure perfect continuity doctorates They

between

masters,

and

laboratories.

promote

excellence

in specific disciplines while encouraging multidisciplinary approaches. They implement the university’s development strategy in terms of research and training opportunities. They combine and coordinate all the master’s programs and match them with doctoral programs and laboratory policies. As such, they are an ideal place for research organizations, component institutions and associate institutions to interact. As regards the latter, the extent of their participation in EURs can be used to assess the quality and strength of their association and therefore determine the place they hold in central governing bodies. Eight EURs are currently in the process of being created and have reached different stages. All eight have drafted their statutes; they all have set up a steering committee and a scientific and academic council; they have all started to implement core actions, funded by the IDEX. DS4H, funded as part of the 2017 PIA3 call for proposals, is now fully operational and has received the first visit of its Scientific and Educational Advisory Board.

- P rofessional components such as ESPE (École Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Éducation / Higher School of Professorship and Education), IUT (Institut Universitaire Technologique / Technological University Institute), IAE (Institut de l’Administration des Entreprises / Graduate School of Management) and the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry that coordinate vocational research and training activities and ensure scientific consistency in the relevant fields. - O ther components, created by decision of the Executive Board, such as Innovation and Partnership Institutes (e.g. IMREDD, http://imredd.fr/en/ home/), promoting partnership research or transfer actions with the companies, or Transdisciplinary Thematic Institutes (e.g. NeuroMod, http://univ-cotedazur. fr/en/idex/projet-structurant/neuromod), focusing on specific themes with a strong international visibility.

THE COMPONENTS WITHOUT LEGAL PERSONALIT Y EUR

Special status structures Institutes with high international visibility

Institutes of Innovation

NeuroMod

IMREDD

NGLS

Institute for Development and Peace

HELIIX

Lex@société

...

DS4H INCISE

ELMI

Digital Tech Platform CCISO ...

CREATES

Special status structures EPU IUT IAE ESPE Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Dentistry

ODYSEE HEALTHY

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- The undergraduate level: Université Côte d’Azur has grouped its undergraduate degree (licence) courses within the same disciplinary field into clusters, which allow these courses to share disciplinary and transversal teaching units and to offer students the possibility to progressively specialize with the development of personalized study tracks. All these undergraduate clusters coordinate their actions within a Collegium, which allows best practices to be shared. In addition, each undergraduate cluster has a close relationship with one or more of the 8 Graduate Schools of Research (EUR). Thus, from the undergraduate degree level, students become aware of the research themes of the university, particularly through tutored projects or tracks of academic excellence that put them in contact with the laboratories. The service of the university faculty is divided across the different cycles: there is no division between the undergraduate and master’s levels. The teaching requirements are defined, and the requests for positions are reassessed, within the framework of a process that includes the relevant undergraduate portals, EURs and laboratories. Finally, the scientific and pedagogical council of the EUR reflects upon and builds the pedagogical coordination between undergraduate and the master’s education. The undergraduate programs must necessarily prepare and lead those students who wish to continue to the next level under the best conditions.

THE NEW ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION Institutes and Schools

Graduate School of Research

Research Lab.

Doctoral Schools

Masters

Undergraduate College (Collegium Licence)

BAC

NEW GOVERNANCE B ODIES FOR A NEW MANAGEMENT In addition to the usual Executive Board and Academic Council, Université Côte d’Azur is also setting up a Steering Committee, which prepares and defines the strategic orientations to be submitted to the Executive Board for approval. This

Committee is composed of:

• the President and his/her main Vice-presidents,

• representatives of the main academic components with no legal personality, • representatives of the main public scientific and technical institutions, • representatives of the component institutions, including at least one representative of OCA and one of Villa Arson. Participation in governance allows component institutions to be more integrated and for public scientific and technical institutions to be more strongly involved, thereby contributing at the highest level to the construction of Université Côte d’Azur’s strategy

Staff of these institutions assigned to the laboratories, teams and administrative services within the scope of Université Côte d’Azur are eligible to vote and stand for election to the central councils of the university. They also serve in the bodies of the Graduate Schools of Research and Institutes in which they are involved. The following aspects require approval of the Steering Committee prior to validation by the Executive Board.

• Budget of the institution.

• Strategic orientations of the human resources policy.

• Strategic research policies.

• Multi-year contracts.

• International policies.

• Valorization policies.

• Addition or exclusion of a research organization, a component institution or an associate institution.

• Change in the scope of shared actions.

The new governance of Université Côte d’Azur is both representative of its staff and components, and is also tightly unified around its President.

The distinctive feature of the new university’s structure is that the component institutions and national research institutions jointly define the overall strategy of the university and the strategy of each of its components (EURs and Institutes). These institutions are therefore fully involved at all levels of the university’s organization, from the highest level down to its smallest structures. The new university is no longer formed by simply placing the actions of each of its founding members side by side, but it becomes the product of the actions shared at all levels of the organization.

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SHARED SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE NEW UNIVERSITY A better structure for services supporting research, valorization and innovation at UCA In

2018,

“Research,

Valorization

and

Innovation Unit” (DRVI) was created at Université Côte d’Azur, and placed under

the

political

steering of the UCA/ UNS Vice-presidents for Research, and UCA

Innovation

Valorization JEDI

and

IDEX Research

and Innovation Program

Directors. brings

The

together,

dedicated

DRVI in

building,

all the UCA and UNS research and innovation support staff. The DRVI brings assistance to R&D and partnership projects (including UCA JEDIfunded projects) supervised by UCA and UNS. The UCA DRVI steers the pooled Europe Research Unit and the Innovation and Valorization Commission. This joint department was created with a three-fold purpose:

• t o provide a structure to the Experimental University’s activities in support of research and innovation by creating a joint UCA/UNS initiative, collaborating with the different ComUE members.

• t o harmonize/define procedures and tools shared by all ComUE members (e.g. a working group is currently drafting shared contract templates and a single office was created for setting up European projects, etc.).

• to coordinate valorization and technology transfer activities (CUIV).

Europe Research Unit •E ncouraging and offering assistance in obtaining European and national project funding. • For all the ComUE members. • Relying on the skills and knowledge of all member structures. The assignments of the Europe Research Unit are: • information and outreach • training and capacity-building • proposal submission A steering committee consisting of representatives of UCA members was set up to define the level of assistance provided by the Europe Unit to researchers wishing to submit a European proposal (depending on the strategic nature of the project and its chances of success, three different levels of support are offered: All Inclusive, Do It Yourself and Think Ahead). In addition to assistance with collaborative research proposals and ERC grants submitted by its members, the work of the Europe Unit allowed UCA , in 2018, to have a project selected under the MSCA-COFUND programmes of the European Commission. This project aims at implementing a multidisciplinary doctoral program in e-health at Université Côte d’Azur, and will fund 15 PhD candidates in this field.

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UCA Innovation & Valorization Commission (CUIV)

This commission has a two-fold assignment. it serves: - as a platform for the exchange of information, - as an advisory body regarding the funding of collaborative projects and technology transfer/valorization operations. • Information exchange, in order to: o gain a consolidated vision of UCA’s innovation, valorization and partnership activities. o detect opportunities for transverse actions. o share the valorization policy. • Assessment of opportunities The CUIV’s restricted session examines co-funding requests for projects related to innovation (pre-maturation, industrial partnerships) and issues a recommendation to be submitted to the IDEX Bureau for decision. It also addresses issues related to the management of Intellectual Property, such as identifying the relevant IP agency. These tasks are carried out in a restricted session held every two months and attended by representatives of UCA JEDI structures and of the innovation and valorization departments of UCA members as well as the “Société d’Accélération du Transfert de Technologies Sud-Est” (SATT SE). An additional plenary session is organized with representatives of the business community.

ORGANIZATION AND ROLES OF THE DRVI UCA Research Executive Direction of

Innovation Executive Direction of

UCA/UCAJEDI

UCA JEDI

Administrative Management

Research Support Unit - Preparation, monitoring, execution of the establishment contract, - Support for the scientific community, - Management of the Research Commission

Proposal Assistance Unit Assistance in obtaining public funds (monitoring, assistance in preparing European and national proposals)

Europe Unit* (and International)

* Shared with all UCA members

National Projects Unit

Partnership, Valorization and Innovation Support Unit Support for R&D, valorization and innovation proposals (negotiation of agreements, project monitoring, coordination of valorization actions, etc.)

Contracts and Valorization Negotiation of research and valorization contracts

Projects, Platforms, Innovation & Valorization Committee* support Project implementation, innovation management, platform

Collaborative networks for sharing the same vision of the university The network of communication officers has expanded and works together in order to harmonize initiatives, to collectively develop the Université Côte d’Azur identity, to apply it to the different sub-brands in a consistent and homogeneous way, and to successfully promote the UCA identity inside and outside the university. The different logos of the EURs were collectively developed in this manner.

Collaborative networks also extend to other areas. Université Côte d’Azur, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS and the Côte d’Azur Observatory have created working groups to harmonize procedures for administrating and managing research laboratories, among other things. Regular meetings are organized with the administrative directors of the laboratories to prepare this work. The institutions have also collaborated on choosing administrative software solutions, such as those used to manage employee leave, pay slips or administrative communication between laboratories and their supervisory bodies.

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Chapter 2: SHARING AN AMBITIOUS VISION AND CARRYING OUT A COLLECTIVE PROJECT 18

T O C O N S O L I D AT E T H E P R O J E C T A N D B R I N G A L L T H E MEMBERS OF UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR, AND ITS S TA F F A N D S T U D E N T S , T O S H A R E T H E S A M E V I S I O N The management team’s ongoing concern is to maintain and even to strengthen the community’s adhesion to the main guidelines set by the Initiative of Excellence. The actions undertaken in this respect can be divided into two major strategic goals: (i) To communicate about the process of creating an experimental university by 2020, to promote the future university’s values, and to appoint relay persons who can disseminate the leadership’s vision to lower levels of responsibility. (ii) To maintain the momentum created by projects made possible by IDEX funding, and the burst of creativity around them, and to ensure that everyone continues to believe that IDEX offers tremendous opportunities.

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

(i)

The

institutional

momentum

is driven by the discussions held throughout 2018 on the way to organize the future university. The starting point was the establishment of

our

first

funded

EUR

and

preparation of the seven others. Development of the EURs was the opportunity to initiate wide and collective

deliberations

the

overall reorganization of university components.

also

involved

new generation of leaders of great scientific value and highly committed to the shared vision.

Then, after many discussions with the members of the current ComUE , the scope of the future university was finalized. A founding text (Appendix 1) was written. It not only describes the organization of the new Université Côte d’Azur, but also its ambitions and values. This text was widely distributed in December 2018. Several general assemblies were organized on the different campuses to give the presidents of UCA and UNS the opportunity to present the text and answer questions from the community. Some tools have cemented this institutional dynamic, such as the creation of the Université Côte d’Azur directory (https://annuaire.univ-cotedazur.fr/) and the generalization of email addresses in univ-cotedazur.fr A very important point to note is that the IDEX leadership and the UCA president entrusted a large number of tasks to trustworthy delegates who were given a large degree of autonomy: the directors of Academies and Reference Centers, the managers of EUR projects, certified or not, heads of other PIAs, heads of institutes with international visibility, etc. All of these executives are part of the extended IDEX Bureau, which has more than 50 members and meets monthly under the chairmanship of IDEX management. This kind of organization has a multiplier effect and motivates the different communities to give their support to the shared project.

(ii) The momentum created by projects driven, in particular, by the Academies of Excellence, has developed strong incentives. By 2018, most of the Academies had combined their efforts to open well-funded AAPs to ensure that the projects selected could be maintained sufficiently long to bear fruit. They organized frequent and high-quality scientific outreach activities (workshops, Academy Days, thematic schools, web sites), to which a large community contributed. The MSI played a similar role in the field of modeling, simulation and the interactions (see chapter 5). In 2018, its Medical Data Lab was completed and the scope of its second center of expertise, dedicated to SHS, was defined. Recruitment of an engineer for the Digital Humanities Lab is already underway. The prospect of creating this new center is obviously very stimulating for the SHS. A third center of expertise has been announced in the department of the Sciences of the Earth and the Universe and environmental projects are emerging in partnership with INRA . Finally, considerable energy was mobilized around the milestone days of the nine transdisciplinary core programs, which had a strong impact in 2018 and the beginning of 2019.

The “Assises de la Transition écologique et citoyenne” (Forum on the ecological and citizenbased transition) in 2018 was the opportunity for Academy 5 to collaborate with a group of associations. The program included 140 presentations, workshops or exhibitions on ten different themes and many debates that brought together researchers, professionals and members of society. A guide was published and widely distributed. A seminar was then organized on 2 May, 2019 about the creation of an observation and research device, at the interface between science and society.

The Numerica Forum was launched in March 2018. Since then, Academy 1 has organized 12 international seminars on various transdisciplinary topics such as crowd-sourcing, social networks, human genetics, 5G technology, etc. One third of the participants were PhD students.

The 2019 InfoMeeting of Academy 4 was attended by 45 people. In just one morning, 17 speakers shared information and answered questions on financial support and other schemes offered by IDEX and Université Côte d’Azur.

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The Complex Days 2019 of Academy 2 were organized around the theme of systems and complex dynamics. The 70 participants represented 12 laboratories. Four speakers were invited, 30 PhD and post-doc fellows gave flash talks (two prizes were awarded), and posters were presented (with a prize).

The Digital Science & Te chnolog y MeetUp, held on April 3, 2019, brought together more than 100 participants from the academic and industrial community (65% of them from the business world), to hear success stories on collaborative research projects presented in a reverse pitching format (the companies presented the projects), followed by more traditional scientific presentations and technological demos.

The Monitoring and Modeling Day: Applying Smart Technology to Natural Risk Management, coorganized by Academy 3 on March 19, 2019, gathered close to 70 researchers, in addition to all the stakeholders and local officials involved in civilian security in the region.

T O P R O M O T E S H A R E D VA L U E S To build the future university, strong values, shared by all, need to be defined and promoted.

Gender

equality:

Université

Côte d’Azur is committed to a comprehensive,

ambitious

and

innovative approach to professional equality

for

women

and

men,

and to the fight against sexual violence and sexism. It appointed a

representative

and

signed

commitment, on February 26, 2019, to keep all public communication free from gender stereotypes.

Sustainable development: Once again, a special representative was appointed, and as a result, a large number of actions were organized for both staff and students on themes relating to eco-responsible campuses

and

laboratories:

recycling,

garage

sales, creation of shared gardens, introduction to permaculture and sharing of crops. Actions to reduce and recycle laboratory waste were also implemented. Along with these actions, and as mentioned above, Academy 5 signed a partnership with various associations to actively contribute to the Forum on the Ecological and Citizen-based Transition. On the scientific side, Université Côte d’Azur, in partnership with IRD and CNRS, organized a day of awareness and reflection on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): after a morning of institutional presentations (UCA , IRD UNIDO, European Community, Belmont Forum), thematic workshops allowed researchers to present how their research could contribute to the SDGs, and to exchange ideas. The day brought together 90 participants, including 32 speakers representing 16 different laboratories; it resulted in the publication of a brochure that will be distributed at international forums. As a prelude to this day, a student evening was organized the day before with the screening of the film “After Tomorrow”, which also included the presentation of the various actions carried out by Université Côte d’Azur and that of the “Sustainable Food” University Diploma. Finally, on the pedagogical level, M1 and M2 students were invited to participate in a mock trial whose objective

was

make an inventory of

the

threats

plastic pollution in the

Mediterranean

Sea and also on the law that frames the protection

seas.

“Ocean

Court”,

This

held

the on

February 15, 2019, allowed Université Côte d’Azur students to encounter, through role play, the formidable task of advocacy and to propose concrete solutions for the future of the marine environment.

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The student engagement center : Since

mid-February,

2019,

Université Côte d’Azur students who

undertake

volunteer

missions have an third-party site, the Engagement Center and its platform, where the associated partners of UCA deposit their projects. Université Côte d’Azur has signed several partnership agreements with student and young researcher associations and also with solidarity and charity associations. The system facilitates of

the

students

organizations,

with

engagement community which

subsequently validated through the recognition of acquired skills (portfolio and the addition of a quarter of a point to the overall average of the semester for 20 hours of commitment).

Positioning in favor of Open Science: Université Côte d’Azur is reflecting deeply on the issues of Open Science. The university supports the general principles and

intentions

behind

this

approach. We are nevertheless aware of the certain ambiguities, for

example

the

economic

concerning model,

the

hybrid reviews and the article processing charges (APC). The question of how to evaluate researchers is also crucial. Université Côte d’Azur has set up a working group within its Academic Council, which will make recommendations and relay information to the research community. In addition, the Association of Young Researchers of the Alpes-Maritimes (A JC06) organized, in partnership with UCA , an evening for PhD students that notably involved Marc Schiltz, President of Science Europe, and Jason Schmitt, director of the documentary “Paywall: the Business of Scholarship “, and featured a screening of this film.

Unifying events : Finally, Université Côte d’Azur regularly organizes a number of unifying events whose recurrence has established their popularity and all of which are highly anticipated. “My Thesis in 180 seconds” is among the most established and one of the sold-out events. We should also mention the Brain Awareness Week (BAW), which received the 2018 EDAB-FNES award of excellence (Federation of Neurosciences European Societies) and the evening of the Université Côte d’Azur awardees. In 2018, in addition to this evening, the first UCA Honorary Doctorate was awarded to Alexandre Figalli, Fields Medal 2018 and former member of the Jean-Alexandre Dieudonné laboratory in Nice. A more recently created event, among these recurrent fixtures, is promised a bright future: “UCA Talents”, which honors our IDEX commitment to offer a major cultural and/or artistic event each year, which is built and fueled by the students themselves. This UCA young talent contest, which fully involves our art schools, took place over three evenings, each of which brought together around 250 people.

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

TO BUILD AND DEPLOY THE UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR BRAND All the actions mentioned above are relayed and promoted by communication actions. In 2017, the members of the ComUE collectively defined the brand platform. In 2018, the strategy was to disseminate the Université Côte d’Azur brand and its values among different audiences using a whole range of communication materials. The Communication Division is seeking to accelerate the process of brand ownership by organizing co-working and co-creation workshops focusing on major issues, such as the presentation of UCA degree programs on offer, the position of the components with or without legal personality within the new university, EUR graphic charters and logos, etc. Around sixty people who are in charge - in various capacities - of communication and the promotion of an UCA or IDEX structure, are taking part in these workshops. A lot of work is currently being invested in completely redesigning the ComUE website. The new university’s website should be released by the end of 2019. Specific resources have been freed up to meet this objective. New pages, including “Culture Art”, “UCA

sport”, “Eco-responsible campuses and labs” and “Gender equality” have already been added under the “Campus” heading. Campuses will change their signage. The “UCA Sport” sub-brand is displayed on most of the university’s gymnasiums and sports fields The undergraduate/master’s training offers have been harmonized in the colors of Université Côte d’Azur, and the print and web versions were completely redesigned. An external advertising campaign targeting the general population and the local social and business community was organized. Ads were displayed at the Nice airport, on bus shelters along the Menton to Cannes coastline, and in various regional newspapers. The campaign’s theme, “Entrust us with your dreams”, focused on the university’s education mission and highlighted the specific features of each member under the unified Université Côte d’Azur brand.

The future campaign, currently in preparation, will be devoted this time to Université Côte d’Azur’s research and its great successes, around the theme “Laboratories, research... what is UCA’s contribution to society?” Here again, the preparation phase is bringing together all of Université Côte d’Azur’s communicators to participate in workshops and co-create the campaign. It should also be noted that a digital marketing division was created within the communication department. All of UCA’s actions are of course highlighted on social networks: a Community Manager was hired in 2018 to implement a genuine strategic presence on these networks and to boost the content. The aim is to: •O rganize and successfully merge UNS/UCA social networks. This is already the case for Facebook and Instagram, but still remains to be completed on Twitter and LinkedIn (goal: finalize the merge by the end of 2019). •D efine a charter for the visual and digital identity of all UCA “entities” to ensure that all communication promotes the parent brand while guaranteeing the autonomy of these sub-entities (objective: a graphic charter customized to all UCA sub-entities including a social network charter). • I ncrease the audience of the various social networks in line with the editorial policy and their own target audience. Finally, our best brand image is our common scientific signature: According to the data extracted from Scopus and analyzed by the Common Documentation Service, use of the Université Côte d’Azur signature is clearly progressing:

Publication year

% of correct Université Côte d’Azur affiliations

2015 2016 2017 2018

1.8 11.8 40.7 52.7

Creation of the new university on January 1, 2020, should significantly improve these figures.

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

Chapter 3: STIMULATING A DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UCA’S REGIONAL ANCHORING AND INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENT This chapter focuses exclusively on international activities organized and funded by the IDEX project. It does not, therefore, present the full extent of the international relations of the university and its laboratories.

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

WA L K I N G O N T W O L E G S ! One of the strong and original characteristics of Université Côte d’Azur, is the close link between its regional anchoring and its international deployment: the university not only gives equal importance to each of these two pillars of its development strategy, but it also ensures that these two aspects converge, are coherent and strengthen each other. The two following examples show how the two aspects intersect, one from the perspective of UCA’s regionally specific expertise and the other from the perspective of its international strategy.

Digital technology and sciences, and their international outreach Expertise in digital technology and sciences is one of the main assets of the region, as confirmed by the highly specialized skills of the Sophia Antipolis technology park.

- T he largest company of the technology park is Amadeus, which develops new technologies that are applied to travel. Several car manufacturers have recently chosen to install their research and development units in

Sophia Antipolis with the purpose of designing intelligent and autonomous vehicles. A large number of start-ups are contributing to the expansion of artificial intelligence in various fields of application.

- Inria has 500 people working in a major center on the site, including 360 scientists divided into 33 teams.

- T he French Ministry of Education recognized the site as a “campus for digital professions and qualifications”, a label awarded to campuses that comprise secondary and higher-education institutions, offer both initial and continued training, and focus on a business sector of excellence that meets a major national or regional economic challenge and is supported by local authorities and companies.

- T he project presented by Université Côte d’Azur received the 3IA label from an international jury and from the Ministry, which allows it to create one of the four Interdisciplinary Institutes of Artificial Intelligence funded under the Investment Programs of the Future (Programmes Investissement d’Avenir).

Université Côte d’Azur has been focusing on this area of expertise to build some of its close partnerships and expand its international outreach.

- The 3IA project includes the endowment of six international chairs.

- Université Laval is a partner of the 3IA .

- T he Université Laval-Université Côte d’Azur partnership also includes an Observatory on the societal impacts of AI.

- At the first Soph.I. A summit in 2018, the members of a major delegation from Université Laval in Quebec were the guests of honor. The symposium was an opportunity to initiate new projects and expand Université Côte d’Azur’s strategic partnership with this university, and to include digital technology. One of these projects also received funding through the Quebec national “North Sentinel” program (development of new tools combining imagery and deep-learning algorithms to automatically measure certain functional traits of planktonic organisms).

- I n 2019, the guests of honor will be from Genoa, and will include researchers from the university and the Italian Technological Institute.

Impact of the strategic partnership with Université Laval on the Côte d’Azur region In addition to the projects mentioned above, focusing on digital technology (AI, data management), the partnership with Université Laval supports targeted projects in areas of research and lines of business that are particularly important in and for the Côte d’Azur region, and are even quite specific to our region.

- H ealth: two of the educational leadership chairs, for which the UCA-UL partnership was first formed, concern the field of health (simulation for teaching health sciences and women’s health). Three research projects were funded, including two under the Quebec Sentinel North program (study of genetic variations observed in northern populations that could influence the composition of the gut microbiota as a determinant of certain diseases; influence of circadian rhythm on metabolism and energy homeostasis as a trigger for obesity).

- T he Arts: Université Côte d’Azur is hosting a visiting professor of contemporary music from the Université de Laval. The project of creating a joint Master of Arts is under consideration. UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

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- A romas and perfumes: the last of the five research projects co-funded by “Sentinel North” and UCA JEDI is working on the characterization of essential oils in northern ecosystems. A student from Quebec joined the team in Nice for a three-month internship. He received a MITACS Globalink grant to help him relocate. Université Laval is partnering with Université Côte d’Azur to apply for a UNESCO Chair in Aromas and Fragrances.

A C O O R D I N AT E D A N D E X P L I C I T S T R AT E G Y TO LEVERAGE AND AMPLIF Y THE A SSETS OF THE REGION As was the case with digital technology, Université Côte d’Azur is seeking to have an international outreach in other areas that present a high economic and societal challenge. In these areas, the university is striving to deploy and promote actions on the international stage that were first developed locally.

• C ollaboration on aromas and perfumes is not limited to Université Laval. A specifically targeted partnership is now being developed with the Monell Center (Philadelphia). The Master of Science in “Management of the Flavor

and Fragrance Industry” attracts mostly international students. Its courses are taught exclusively in English and delivered in Grasse, where Université Côte d’Azur is expanding its presence through teaching, research and innovation. The UNESCO Chair project is also supported by a partner from India.

• S imilarly, the international outreach of research and creation in the arts is not limited to the partnership with Université Laval. UCA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Berkeley. Within this framework, a workshop on “Arts and Entrepreneurship” was organized with the art schools of Université Côte d’Azur, SKEMA business school, EUR CREATES and Berkeley. Exchanges of artists/composers in residence have also been set up between CNMAT and CIRM (starting in October 2018). For the second year, the university campus of Cannes hosted a Chair in Storytelling in partnership with the UCLA TFT School. UCA intends to develop closer relations with the University of Chile, and is preparing projects with that aim, as well as reciprocal participation at the arts and sciences days, to be held in Santiago in October and Nice in November 2019. Finally, one of the IDEX projects, “Reread the Avant-Gardes”, is being extended to a European and international doctoral consortium that includes Nice, Turin, Mulhouse, Dortmund and Glasgow, and possibly

Bologna, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Berkeley.

• T he Smart Territory is also a strong theme in the region, as the city of Nice is well positioned in an international ranking of “innovative cities” and making considerable investments in this area. This theme is also one of the strategic axes of the 3IA and one of the priorities in collaborations with the Da Nang International Institute of Technology (see box). Furthermore, as part of the “France-Singapore Year of Innovation 2018”, UCA’s Mediterranean Institute for Risks, Environment and Sustainable Development (IMREDD) has established a partnership in the field of smart cities with the Energy Research Institute of the prestigious Nanyang Technological University. IMREDD and the Energy Research Institute @NTU are launching a collaboration on the theme of smart cities to exchange good practices in partnership research projects carried out in their respective regions. The objective is to develop innovative and sustainable solutions centered on the citizen. The collaboration also aims to lay the foundations for a smart city alliance through reciprocal participation in annual conferences such as the Innovative City Conference in Nice and Smart Cities and Sustainability Research in Singapore.

PRIORITIZE AND STRUCTURE O U R I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E L AT I O N S Our international relations are driven by two major strategic orientations: • D evelopment of knowledge hubs with high-ranking universities : Université

Laval, Berkeley, Irvine, Santiago de Chili; the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) of Bangalore; Tianjin; Singapore (with an International Joint Research Unit in Physics, MajuLab).

• I nvolvement in growing regions : Da Nang, Montenegro, North Africa (Tunisia; Morocco with, notably, a joint chemistry laboratory in partnership with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and the Office Chérifien des Phosphates). Université Côte d’Azur is also involved in capacity-building programs aimed at fostering the development of emerging nations. UCA is the leader of a workpackage on the “Definition of R&D Strategies” and is leading a workshop in Georgia (three university employees were sent twice on assignment to the Research Directorate in Georgia and a Georgian delegation was welcomed in France for an immersion in the French research environment).

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Two cross-functional considerations intersect with these strategic orientations:

• Relations with French-speaking countries: the strategic partnership with Université Laval; participation in the Franco-Tunisian University of Africa and the Mediterranean (UFTAM); the Da Nang campus (see box) supported by the Francophonie University Association (AUF).

• C ross-border relations : with Genoa (University and Italian Institute of Technology), whose members are invited to the Soph.IA summit, but also participation of the University of Genoa in the DEMOLA program of entrepreneurship training; double degrees created with Turin; Joint Doctoral School with Pisa (co-funding of doctoral contracts, pooling of training).

This consistent strategy has a significant impact on the recruitment of IDEXfunded visiting professors. Visiting professors in 2018: following the call for applications for visiting professorships, eight applications were selected in 2018 for stays totalling 12 months. Of the eight professors selected, two come from Université Laval in Quebec, one from the University of Irvine in California and one from the Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India, all institutions in which UCA has invested heavily to establish strategic partnerships.

Visiting professors in 2019: following the same call, ten applications were accepted in 2019 for stays representing a total of 13 months. Of these ten candidates, four come from Santiago (two of them from the University of Chile in Santiago) and one from Université Laval in Quebec. Even though the call for applications was very open, it is perfectly consistent with UCA’s overall policy. Lastly, several actions were undertaken to ensure the presence of Université Côte d’Azur in international institutions.

• Organization of a side event at the Paris Peace Forum. • P resentation by Université Côte d’Azur, at the United Nations Headquarters

of the Asia-Pacific region, on the theme of the research-educationinnovation nexus, at a meeting on the role of science, technology and innovation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

• P resence in the French delegation to the United Nations as part of the

High-Level Political Forum to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.

• P articipation at the Global Manufacturing & Industrialization Summit 2019, organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (ONUDI) on the impact of industry 4.0.

• P reparation of a Université Côte d’Azur side event at the COP25 on the

consequences of climate change, in partnership with the IRD and the Mines-Paristech Graduate School.

The Da Nang International Institute of Technology (DNIIT) The Da Nang International Institute of Technology (DNIIT) was created two years ago as an autonomous entity within the University of Da Nang with the support of the Université Côte d’Azur Initiative of Excellence and the Francophonie University Association (AUF), It benefited from the patronage of the relevant Vietnamese and French ministries. The DNIIT follows the philosophy encouraged by the IDEX as regards international outreach, which is to promote trandisciplinarity and innovative behaviors, and bring scientific answers to societal and territorial challenges. The institute is first and foremost an international collaborative platform leading project teams. These teams carry out applied research combined with innovation and training activities. The purpose is to offer a new type of international collaboration which decompartmentalizes academic activities and builds effective thematic ecosystems aimed at solving societal problems. These issues are identified jointly by the regional stakeholders of the Côte d’Azur and Da Nang. They also correspond to societal themes identified by the IDEX: • T he challenges of digital technology such as artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things. • Smart territories and sustainable development. • Health, well-being and aging. The DNIIT has shown very promising results over these first two years. Its activities included: • Creation of six UCA-UD joint project teams of applied research conducting a dozen projects co-funded by various institutions. • Organization of two special sessions at two international IEEE conferences, an international summer school, three symposia or week-long scientific seminars in Da Nang. • Organization of two annual competitions for students, faculty members and researchers of the UD for innovative projects on the theme of “Smart Campuses”. • Organization of the transfer to Da Nang of a UCA Master’s program and four short training programs on new technologies. • Organization of more than 103 weeks of exchanges between faculty members and researchers of the two universities thanks to funding obtained from different sources. • Organization of more than 300 months of student exchanges at all levels and in all disciplines between the two universities, funded by various means. The scientific research produced by both universities on DNIIIT themes is significant: Six theses were defended at Université Côte d’Azur by Da Nang University staff, nine articles were co-published in specialized scientific journals, twenty-seven articles were presented at Asian conferences with selection committees. The objectives for the next two years include: • Obtaining the label of International Associated Laboratory from the CNRS, with the support of Université Côte d’Azur’s UMR I3S and LEAT laboratories on the one hand, and the DNIIT and the IT Center of the Academy of Science and Technology of Vietnam on the other. • Setting up a system for recruiting students for UCA’s Graduate Research Schools. • Expanding the scope of collaboration to include new disciplines.

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Chapter 4: SUPPORTING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH, TRAINING, INNOVATION AND CREATION 36

IDEX-DRIVEN SUCCESS IN CALLS FOR PROJECTS Thanks to the drive for excellence initiated and supported by the IDEX project, high-quality proposals were submitted in response to calls issued within the framework of the Programme Investissement d’Avenir (PIA3) or similar national programs, and several projects were awarded to Université Côte d’Azur and the region. Besides the L@UCA , Ecri+, Invent@UCA and the EUR DS4H projects already selected and funded at the time of the previous report, new successful projects are underway. • The 3IA: the most striking success is the selection of Université Côte d’Azur and its partners in the region to host one of the four Interdisciplinary Institutes for Artificial Intelligence ( 3IA). This success is part of a university-wide emphasis on digital sciences and artificial intelligence, which has been growing since 2012:

2012

2016

2018

2019

UCN@Sophia

UCA JEDI

EUR DS4H

3IA Côte d’Azur

LABEX dedicated

One of the ten

The only EUR

One of the

to networks of

IDEX sites

focused on digital

four 3IA

the future

sciences in France

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This long-term strategy was significantly strengthened by the IDEX project, which made it possible to develop: • A joint UCA / Inria Chair of Excellence awarded to Charles Bouveyron;

• a very attractive master of science degree in Data Sciences & AI;

• p ost-doctoral scholarships targeting data sciences and AI.

• t he IDEX Center of Modeling, Simulation and Interaction (MSI);

• t he Deep Learning School, a top-level thematic school created in June 2017, renewed in 2018 and 2019;

• partnerships with a large number of companies, including a strategic partnership with Amadeus in research and continuing education;

• a

recurring

international

symposium,

the

Soph.I. A

summit

(1,337

participants in 2018, 30% from the Côte d’Azur, 40% from other regions of France and 30% from overseas);

• t he Université Laval-Université Côte d’Azur partnership around the Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI.

Only two universities in France have obtained the label of Initiative of Excellence and been selected to host an Interdisciplinary Institute for Artificial Intelligence within the same component.

companies contributing to the 3IA Côte d’Azur for a total of

€18.7 million

chairs;

positions in AI in 2019

78 applications;

additional professor at Université Côte d’Azur, EURECOM and SKEMA

32 proposed candidates, 25% of whom are women

• L ABEX renewal: Université Côte d’Azur, in close association with the CNRS and Inserm, supported the request for renewal of its four LABEX certifications. They were all successfully renewed. UCN@Sophia has already been incorporated into the DS4H EUR. The other three (SignaLife, ICST, Ganex) will each be incorporated into their corresponding EURs as soon as these have been formally created. Management of ongoing projects was entrusted to Université Côte d’Azur by the entities supervising these laboratories, while new projects are strongly influenced by the strategic priorities of the university and its IDEX.

• Regional strategy: other projects involving Université Côte d’Azur were selected and funded under the PIA3 program.

•T wo projects were selected as part of the French Tech Seed, one backed by the PACA-East Incubator with which Université Côte d’Azur has a long-standing partnership, and the other managed by SATT Sud-Est (a Technology Transfer Acceleration Company) of which Université Côte d’Azur is a founding shareholder. Funds were allocated to these projects to kick off and support the fundraising of technological start-ups in the post-maturation phase, and particularly “deep tech” start-ups (working on breakthrough innovations), which require quite significant investments at the beginning. These start-ups must originate from university laboratories, incubators or technology transfer acceleration companies.

•A project submitted by the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur in response to the “Territories of Innovation” call was pre-selected and obtained the funding needed to prepare their proposal for the second round of selection. Université Côte d’Azur is the co-sponsor of this project, the only one among all those submitted in which a university joins forces with local municipalities to respond to a call for projects.

•C OFUND boostUrCAreer: with regard to European calls for projects, the UCA Europe Unit helped UCA win COFUND sponsorship in 2018 for 15 PhD candidates in the field of e-health. This PhD program is funded by the H2020 Framework Program of the European Union (€1,423,800), the Region Sud Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (€1,120,001) and UCA JEDI (€8 48,119).

PhD students

3,391,920 €

months

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International, interdisciplinary

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

The IDEX clearly provided leverage in this case.

UCAJEDI leverage effect Invent@UCA

2017

L@UCA

2017

Ecri+

Labex Signalife 2019

BoostUrCAreer

2019

2018 Labex Ganex 2019

French Tech Seed Incubateur PACA Est 2019

French Tech Seed SATT SE 2019

IDEX UCA JEDI 2016

Labex ICST 2019

Labex UCN EUR DS4H 2018

Territoire d’Innovation NCA / UCA 2018-2019

3IA

2019

I D E X - D R I V E N AT T R A C T I V E N E S S In research • G uest professors: an effective strategy. The call for applications for visiting faculty fellowships was renewed in 2018 and 2019. In both cases, we note the level of excellence of the candidates, and the significant impact of the institution’s international strategy on their geographical origin, as several candidates come from institutions that have developed closer partnerships with Université Côte d’Azur.

In 2 0 1 8

In 2 0 1 9

8 guests, 12 months of invitation.

10 guests, 12 months of invitation.

Origin:

Université Laval, Quebec (2), University of Irvine, California (1), Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore (1), other (4)

Chile (4), Université Laval, Quebec (1), other (5).

• T he policy of creating joint chairs of excellence with a partner of Université Côte d’Azur was continued: UCA opened a position of Professor in Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing, for which start-up support will be provided by the Mines Paris Tech Graduate School. Recruitment is in progress. In addition, IDEX funds were used to create an Advanced Research Program. The grants of this program are primarily intended for external researchers and artists who wish to collaborate with Université Côte d’Azur entities. The objective is to bring researchers and artists of a very high level to the laboratories and components of Université Côte d’Azur for a moderately long period (1 to 2 semesters), with the aim of promoting our site by their presence, strengthening our research and creativity potential through their interactions with our teams, and significantly increasing the reputation of Université Côte d’Azur. The fellow’s stay can also be a stepping stone for future recruitment. The first beneficiary of this program is Ragini Verma (University of Pennsylvania) who will be working for nine months with an Inria team specialized in medical imaging and a neurosurgery team from the University Hospital Center on a project entitled “Connectomics in the Clinic: medical imaging for precision medicine”. A second call for candidates is in progress. Finally, the 3IA institute will help finance about 30 chairs, including international ones.

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• T he calls for applications for “Individual Grants for Young Researchers”, which aim to promote the recruitment of excellent young post-doctoral researchers, were very successful. By way of these calls, Université Côte d’Azur is seeking two types of candidates:

• c andidates applying for a research project involving the processing of massive data and/or involving AI methods, which are two of the strategic priorities of UCA in terms of scientific development and visibility;

• c andidates who can clearly contribute to the excellence and attractiveness of the university, by specifically preparing, within the year following their recruitment, either a strong application from the post-doctoral fellow for a CR (chargé de recherche) position in a French public scientific and technological establishment (EP ST), or a strong application from the supervisor for an ERC grant.

LAST NAME, First name

University of origin

Hosting laboratory

Type of application

Koutsovoulos, Georgios

Univ. of Edinburgh

ISA

Data Sciences + CR application

Van den Ende, Martijn

Utrecht Univ.

Géoazur

Application as a supervisor for an ERC grant

Arslan, Seçkin

Postdam & Gröningen

BCL

CR application

Montmirail, Valentin

Univ. d’Artois

I3S

Application as a supervisor for an ERC grant

Plassard, Roman

Lille, then Duke Univ. North Carolina

GREDEG

CR application + Application as a supervisor for an ERC grant

Ju, Min

Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ.

I3S

Data Sciences + CR application

Dussol, Lydie

Paris 1

CEPAM

CR application

• T he percentage of doctoral students coming from abroad, all sources of funding combined, continues to increase. European funding obtained for the boostUrCAreer doctoral program will further encourage this trend in 2019 and 2020.

Number of UCA doctoral students

Number and percentage of international UCA doctoral students

Number of doctoral students funded or cofunded by IDEX

2017

1,185

244 (20.6%)

2018

1,310

299 (22.8%)

In innovation In the field of innovation and transfer, attractiveness is measured by the extent to which companies respond positively to requests from Université Côte d’Azur. The next few figures speak volumes in this respect. • Fundraising for 3IA: 62 companies supported the project, pledging a total of 18.7 million euros in co-funding. • Activity of reference centers: in 2018, seven new public/private collaboration contracts were signed.

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Number of private contracts & agreements

20 12

2015

2016

9 2017

20 7 2018

17 4 2019

Number of private contracts and agreements having started in the year Number of running private contracts and agreements

44 The seven collaboration contracts are:

• G RDF (€20,000 x 3 years): smart gas services and uses - ESPACE + IMREDD engineering.

• A lstom (€100,000): tramway connected to the city - GREDEG + Transitions.

• E nedis (€5,000): smart grids - IMREDD engineering.

• E IFER (€44,300): reactiv’cities - IMREDD engineering + SPACE .

• D alkia (€44,275): high-energy performance building - Pro license + IMREDD engineering.

• C ofely Ineo (€135,300): optimization of a network of sensors for better energy control and user comfort - IMREDD/PolytechLab.

• E NKY SEARCH (€4,900): innovation in the water supply to Mediterranean cities - INPHYNI + IMREDD engineering.

An industry chair was also created, entitled “Smart city: philosophy & ethics”. A consortium of companies is providing up to €100,000 per year for five years for the chair. The laboratory of Communication Sciences “Transitions” and Université Côte d’Azur’s Research Center in History of Ideas are also participating.

Progression in the revenues collected by the Reference Centers

Enterprises Valuation 2174

Others 3570

23% 38%

13%

11%

15%

IDEX 1086

UCA Valuation 1439

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Enterprises Cash 1211

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• T he industrial partnerships resulting from the calls for projects issued by the IDEX office provided significant leverage.

Name

Academic Partner

Industrial Partner

Discipline

Budget of Partners

IDEX Funding

PATCHEDCHEM

IPMC

Genochem

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€3,074,000

€100,000

Radvise-X

CHU

Therapixel

Health, IT

€376,795

€100,000

Trichobio

INRA

Bioline

Life Sciences

€713,632

€100,000

INCERTIMMO

ESPACE-I3S

Kinaxia

Humanities, IT

€560,100 €

€60,000

POPART

Inria

EDF R&D

€770,000

€140,000

DigitalHeartPhantom

Inria

IT, Health

€341,500

€30,000

MC2

I3S

Amadeus

€199,713

€66,380

MAD

SKEMA

Amadeus

Economics

€283,333

€150,000

CABARV

INRIA

Amadeus

€212,333

€79,000

CALIN

ICN-GREDEG

Orineo + Malongo

Chemistry + Humanities

€230,000

€80,000

SOLITARIA

Inria

Fantastic Sourcing + Nively

IT, Health

€208,000

€50,000

THERMOPTIX

InPhyNi

Fastlite

Physics

€210,226

€50,000

NIK INNOV

ICN-C3M

Yukkin Therapeutics

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€1,099,050

€50,000

NAPCI

ICN

NissActive

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€213,268

€50,063

URBA SPACE

ESPACE-I3S

Kinaxia

Humanities, IT

€393,000

€52,000

€249,950

€50,000

€133,949

€50,000

€9,268,849

€1,257,443

GAIA

ICN-INRA

Les Potageurs

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

PC-AI

BCL + GRM + IMREDD

Pocket Confidant

Humanities, IT

Totals: Lever effect:

7.4

• E ven though pre-maturation projects are less attractive for private investors, they provide a very satisfactory leverage effect.

Name

Academic Partner

Discipline

Budget of Partners

IDEX Funding

PicPlay

Inria

€107,897

€30,000

Vread

Inria

IT, Health

€297,754

€100,000

IMPACT

INRA

Life Sciences

€291,000

€90,000

PEROXYMAR

ICN

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€122,511

€100,000

CALAMARI

IPMC

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€0

€7,000

MELATHER

ICN + C3M

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€370,000

€50,000

CAPACITY

Inria

IT, Health

€273,358

€50,000

PREVCHEM

LP2M

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€85,000

€50,000

ANTIAGE

IRCAN

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€505,163

€69,384

CUREFX6

IPMC

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€200,000

€50,000

FIDO

InPhyNi + CAL

Physics, Life Sciences, Health

€100,000

€50,000

DIAG BiPolaire

IPMC

IT, Health

€74,109

€50,000

MOTHER

C3M

Chemistry, Life Sciences, Health

€167,600

€50,000

SAVE THE DEBT

GREDEG

Humanities

€20,000

€50,000

SUGAR

CHU

IT, Health

€90,500

€50,000

€2,704,892

€846,384

Totals: Lever effect:

3.2

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In education The IDEX Masters of Science have achieved their goal of attractiveness, as evidenced by the diversity of students’ countries of origin.

The first 2018-2019 cohorts were particularly brilliant and gave very encouraging assessments of the training offered to them. They particularly appreciate the very open transdisciplinary approach, the faculty’s high standards, and the long internships in laboratories and companies. In light of this success and to ensure that the training offered continues to address the major scientific and societal challenges, three new Masters of Science will open in September 2019 and two new tracks will be added to the Data Science MSc.

Table summarizing the success rate and overall average grade of students enrolled in MSc in 2018 MSc

Number of students

Admitted

Postponed

Having abandoned

Mod4NeuCog

Data Sciences

Biobanks

MARRES

Smart-EdTech

11*

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IDEX-DRIVEN EXCELLENCE Publications In 2018, 4,278 articles were published under joint or single affiliation with Université Côte d’Azur, including 1,752 articles co-published with foreign institutions. Of these 4,278 publications, 1,338 are among the top 10% most cited papers.

Observation period = 2018

Number

Number in the top 10% most cited papers*

Publications mentioning the Initiative in acknowledgments

Publications signed exclusively by the target university

Publications signed jointly by the target university and other institutions of higher education, which are members of the Initiative

4,220

1,325

1,726

Total publications respecting the Université Côte d'Azur author affiliation charter

4,278

1,338

1,752

Rate of compliance with the shared author affiliation charter

Proportion of most cited publications among those which respect the shared author affiliation

Proportion of publications co-signed by Université Côte d’Azur and a foreign institution

Proportion

52.7%

34.76%

Number of co-publications with foreign institutions

41%

* Analysis for the current year of papers published in the previous three years.

Research awards and honors

Cornelia Meinert, chemistry

Robin Kaiser, physics

Andreas Höring, mathematics

2018 ERC Starting Grant

2018 ERC Advanced Grant

2018 IUF Junior Member

Lucile Sassatelli, computer science

Lucie Bargel, law

Cornelia Meinert, chemistry

2019 IUF Junior Member

2018 CNRS Bronze Medal

Jacques Barik, biology

Thomas Bertero, biology

2019 CNRS Bronze Medal

Eric Gilson, biology

Arnaud Hubstenberger, biology

2018 Prize from the Academy of Sciences, Charles Leopold Mayer Prize

2018 Prize from the Academy of Sciences, laureate of the “Great Breakthroughs in Biology”

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Alessandro Morbidelli, astrophysics 2019 CNRS Silver Medal

Yevgeniya Korniyrnko-Sheremet, geology 2018 Prize from the Academy of Sciences, Fallot-Jérémine-Jacob prize

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Training and Student Life awards and honors

Théo Fouchenneret, pianist, trained at the Nice Conservatory First Prize of the 2018 Geneva International Competition, nominated as “Revelation for the Victories of Classical Music”, 2019 edition, in the category “Instrumental Soloist”

Alexandre Joaquim, dancer, trained at the Rosella Hightower Graduate Institute of Dance in Cannes First prize at the 2019 Lausanne Dance Competition

Mathilde Gautier Gold medal at the World Triathlon Mixed Relay University Championships

Hugo Meyer Silver medal at the World University Championships of fin swimming

THE Ranking UCA is currently ranked 351-400 in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE WUR; based on 2016 data), a strong improvement since the creation of the COMUE (UNS: 401-500 in 2016, 2014 data), and thus since prior to the creation of the COMUE . UCA was especially strong as regards the International Outlook metric (82.4/100). The position is expected to improve as more researchers use the UCA author affiliation: only 11.8% of publications in 2016 (for WUR 2019), compared to 40.7% in 2017 (for the upcoming WUR 2020 ranking), and as the institution becomes more broadly recognized. UCA was also recognized by THE in both the inaugural Europe Teaching Rankings (151-200 in 2018) and Young University Rankings for universities under 50 years old (7 3 in 2018). InCite/Web of Science are working towards the full and accurate representation of the UCA COMUE from June 2019, and thus UCA is expected to be included in the next US News and World Report Ranking. The remaining international ranking organizations (QS, ARWU Shanghai and CWTS Leiden) will not recognize the COMUE , but have all agreed to ensure representation of UCA as soon as the UCA2020 statutes have been validated at the ministerial level, thus UCA will be represented in all major international rankings from next year.

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Chapter 5: FOCUSING ON UCA’S SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC THEMES HOW ARE THE TRANSDISCIPLINARY C O R E P R O G R A M S E V O LV I N G ?

The 9 core programs were created and funded by the IDEX to initiate and foster cross-disciplinary research on high-stakes scientific and societal themes. These core programs were evaluated in 2018-2019 and progress report days were organized in the presence of external Think Tank members. The aims of these meetings were: • t o allow researchers to present the state of progress of all projects funded within the program; • t o foster in-depth discussions amongst researchers and between researchers and Think Tanks members; • t o enable IDEX management to collect the opinions and recommendations of the external Think Tanks members and to draw the appropriate conclusions about the future of the programs. The question that guided the reflection was: Has the program created something new in the UCA scientific landscape? Each program included some very notable and high-quality projects. Nevertheless, almost all programs are still in the early stages of development in terms of scientific results and collective dynamics. The development of transdisciplinary research is a very long process and efforts must also be made to improve international visibility. Finally, the experts’ assessment of the viability of each program, the relevance of its scope and its thematic definition was generally positive, but the details varied somewhat depending on the program.

PROGRAM

External Think Tank Representatives

Evolution

Cognitive systems,… computational neuroscience

Wilhelm Stannat (Berlin) Gianluigi Mongillo (CNRS/ Paris 5) Anne-Sophie Rigaud (Hôpital Broca, Paris)

Excellent dynamic. Creation of NeuroMod Institute (Modeling in Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems)

Modeling, physics and mathematics of living systems

Antonio Politi (Aberdeen) Arthur Lander (Irvine) François Fages (Inria Saclay) Pascal Silberzan (Institut Curie, Paris)

Some very good projects. Dynamic to be reinforced. Renewal of the committee with precise specifications; reinforced interactions with the MSI

Matter, light, and interactions

Anna Scaïfe (Manchester) Bruno Maureille (Bordeaux) Gilles Dennler (Société IMRA Europe)

Excellent projects. Dialogue between the two pillars of the program to be improved. Creation of a committee to make this link

Data sciences

Elsa Angelini (Imperial College London)

Integration with MSI activities

Environment, health, citizens

Anne-Claude Gavin (Heidelberg)

Redefine the scope: focus on collaborations with INRA

Social interactions and complex dynamics

Thomas Lux (Kiel) Alain Barrat (Marseille) Claudio Tessone (Zürich)

Dynamic to be reinforced. Renewal of the committee with precise specifications

Arts and sciences

Bjorn Heile (Glasgow)

Very good dynamics in terms of music. Reinforced anchoring with the CREATES EUR and Academy 5. Reconfigure projects with Villa Arson

Risks in the Northern Mediterranean zone

Michel Jaboyedoff (Lausanne) Ernst Flueh (Kiel) Aldo Zollo (Naples) Damien Serre (Avignon) Patrick Pigeon (Savoie) Michel Erpicum (Liège) Jérôme Depaquit (Reims) Patrick Bastien (Montpellier)

Interesting relationships to coordinate with local authorities and field operational staff. Creation of a committee with precise specifications

Digital science, society and the individual

EUR DS4H Scientific and Pedagogical Advisory Board (7 members)

Very good dynamic backed by the DS4H EUR

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SCIENTIFIC THEMES WHERE UCA IS AT T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L F O R E F R O N T

Data, Modeling, and AI Various actions, initiated or supported by the IDEX, are converging to make data

science, modeling and artificial intelligence key themes in which Université Côte d’Azur can claim to be at the highest national and international level. The success of the 3IA attests to this position. • The new MAASAI team The recruitment of Charles Bouveyron as a University Professor and Inria Chair has made it possible to create a new joint project team between the LJAD mathematics laboratory, the I3S computer science laboratory and Inria. This team, entitled MAASAI for “Models And AlgorithmS for Artificial Intelligence”, is composed of three permanent university professors, one CNRS researcher, three IDEX-funded post-doctoral fellows and seven doctoral students; it also benefits from the presence of two external collaborators: Elena Erosheva, Professor at Washington University & UCA International Chair on Data Science ( 2018-2022) and Karim Lounici, Professor of Statistics at Ecole Polytechnique. This project focuses on topics such as unsupervised learning, theory of deep learning, adaptive and robust learning, and learning with heterogeneous data. • Post-doctoral grants Since 2017, IDEX has funded three rounds of post-doctoral research projects dedicated to data sciences in various disciplines.

2017

Host laboratory

Advisor

Subject

Asclepios (Inria)

M. Lorenzi

A data-driven model of mechanistic brain Atrophy Propagation in Dementia

iBV (CNRS/Inserm/UNS)

A. Hubstenberger

RNP multiscale organization, phase transitions, and the coordination of RNA networks in adaptive responses.

Lagrange (CNRS/OCA/ UNS)

P. Michel / M. Delbo

Massive Asteroid DataBase to reveal solar system’s origins

C3M (Inserm/UNS)

M. Trabucchi

Combinatorial mechanism of microRNA targeting in prostate cancer pathogenesis: a big data analysis

Host laboratory

Advisor

Subject

ISA

E. Danchin

Evolutionary trajectory of root-knot nematode genomes

2018

I3S

J.C. Régin

Explainable SAT

I3S

R. Aparicio Pardo / L. Sassatelli

Deep reinforcement learning for optimal video delivery control

Géoazur

J.P. Ampuero

Multi-scale earthquake modeling from the micromechanics of fault rock deformation to the earthquake cycle

Host laboratory

Advisor

Subject

MAASAI / LJAD

C. Bouveyron / E. Erosheva

Co-clustering of massive longitudinal data with applications to sociology

MAASAI / I3S

F. Precioso / C. Bouveyron

Modeling and analysis of complex and massive heterogeneous data with deep generative models

Géoazur

Q. Bletery / J.P. Ampuero

Searching for pre-earthquake signal with AI

Géoazur

I. Manighetti / J. Zerubia

Extraction of curvilinear structure networks in image data using an innovative deep learning approach: application to fracture and fault network extraction from satellite data

Inria / CoBTek

F. Brémond/ A. Dantcheva

Deep neural networks – assisted face analysis for health monitoring

IPMC

P. Barbry

Single-cell multi-omics analysis of human airways

LP2M

L. Counillon

Targeting ion transport in cancer metabolism and invasion

2019

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• Education In parallel with the research projects, the IDEX has set up a master’s level training program of excellence in data sciences, which offers different tracks. The Data Science MSc is a 2-year program that trains students in data science methods, with an emphasis on mathematical and computer science perspectives. Students receive a thorough grounding in theory (fundamentals of computational techniques and statistical analysis) as well as technical and practical skills, allowing them to apply advanced methods to real-world problems. Electives are available in a range of modules from distributed computing for large databases and computational statistics, to financial, management and marketing statistics, bioinformatics and computational biology. The Data Science master’s degree also leads to doctoral program in applied mathematics and computer science. • Major conferences With the financial support of the Sophia Antipolis Greater Area and the Department of the AlpesMaritimes, Université Côte d’Azur organizes an annual international symposium on artificial intelligence, which brings together academic and corporate researchers:

Soph.I. A summit

Soph.I.A summit -Registered guests

International 30% Côte d’Azur 30%

France excl. Côte d’Azur 40%

The 2019 event (20-22 November) will be dedicated to four current themes: developments in AI fundamentals, AI and biology, AI and health, and AI and smart territories and will welcome the following guest speakers: - Emmanuel Bacry (Paris, ministerial mission on health data) - Marco Gori, University of Siena - Benoît Lamarche, Université Laval, Québec - Claude Lepape, Optimization and Analytics Domain Leader at Schneider Electric - Niloy Mitra, University College London - Michael Tangermann, University of Freiburg In addition, Academy 5 is organizing a symposium on Digital and Computational Humanities in September 2019. Three themes will be addressed, all of which raise questions for the epistemological challenges of digital technology in the social sciences and humanities (SHS): What can SHS rationally expect from digital technology? How do the different SHS disciplines deal with digital technology? What are the applications of digital technology in the arts and medicine? • MSI (Center of Modeling, Simulation, and Interactions) In the frame of the UCA JEDI IDEX project, the creation of the MSI aims at mastering the methods and tools of modeling and simulation, as well those for structuring and using data in a variety of current and future areas of research and innovation. For this purpose, the MSI offers (see Appendix 2):

- H igh-level training programs by supporting the organization of thematic schools for public and industry partners on various key themes (Deep Learning, Cybersecurity, and HPC offered from 2020, in partnership with Ecole des Mines ParisTech);

- S cientific workshops or seminars in which key players from Université Côte d’Azur and invited speakers gather to discuss modeling, simulation, data analysis, computation, and visualization;

- Financial support through calls for proposals to develop transdisciplinary projects internally between laboratories of the UCA ComUE or externally between a UCA ComUE laboratory and an industry partner;

- S upport of a team of expert engineers specifically assigned to selected research projects, with the objective to build a transversal scientific and technical network within Université Côte d’Azur.

Some of these experts support various thematic centers of expertise by contributing strong skills in modeling, simulation and data science. Three centers are currently being set up, to process data from:

- the medical field (Medical Data Laboratory);

- the social sciences and humanities (Digital Humanities Laboratory);

- the sciences of the planet and the universe (SPU Laboratory).

Another center will be set up in a few months, for modeling biological and environmental data in INRA’s (Institut National de Recherche Agronomique) area of expertise, thus developing a strong partnership for the use of AI in agriculture. UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

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• 3IA (Interdisciplinary Institute for Artificial Intelligence) The 3IA@Côte d’Azur project is composed of 4 axes: - C ore

Elements

(statistical,

machine and deep learning; knowledge representation

and

constraint-aware

AI;

reasoning; interpretable,

explainable and trustable AI) - AI

for

Integrative

Computational

Medicine (biophysics-based AI; data-

3IA

driven AI; medical data management)

Institut interdisciplinaire d’intelligence artificielle (3IA)

- C omputational

Biology

and

Bio-

Inspired AI

Côte d'Azur

- A I for Smart and Secure Territories (modeling

and

prediction;

secure

components; optimization). Like the IDEX, the 3IA combines research, training and innovation, and has obtained strong support from industry partners (62 companies contributing a total of €18.7

million). This will allow the institute to award around thirty Chairs of Excellence, including six International Chairs.

Opinion of the Jury

“This is a strong proposal

Recommendation of the Jury

with a coherent organization

“In view of the exceptional

and

potential of the project and

well-chosen

themes.

research

Particularly,

the

strength in healthcare and computational biology were noted as exceptional, and research Axes 2 and 3 were

strongly supported.”

the low request of funding, the

jury

recommends

increase funding to 19.5Mio”

Modeling in Neuroscience and Cognition • The NeuroMod Institute The NeuroMod Institute for Modeling in Neuroscience and Cognition is the first thematic institute to emerge from a UCA JEDI transdisciplinary core program. It aims at promoting modeling as an approach

NEURO MOD

for integrating brain mechanisms and cognitive functions. To meet this central challenge of integration in cognitive science, the institute relies on the interdisciplinary resources available within Université Côte d’Azur: more than 150 researchers and 15 laboratories in the fields of human sciences (psychology, behavioral economics, language sciences), modeling (computer science, mathematics, physics, etc.) and neuroscience (biology, neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, medicine, etc.). NeuroMod is unique because of the variety of approaches used to integrate different models at multiple levels, from neurons and their molecular mechanisms, to cognitive processes and behaviors, through neural network dynamics. The institute focuses on 4 main research areas:

- Biologically inspired machine learning

- Neuronal interfaces

- Physiopathology of neuronal micro-networks

- Human prediction

The main projects currently funded by the UCA JEDI IDEX are:

- C omputaBrain (Development of a computational brain emulation tool as an intermediate layer between high-level and low-level features); P.I.: Hélène Marie & Alexandre Muzy;

- From Mind to Brain (Study of the presence or absence of relevant neurophysiological correlates of phonological activity); P.I.: Tobias Scheer;

- M NC3 (Modeling, verification, simulation and hardware implementation of artificial neural networks); P.I.: Nicholas Ayache;

- NeuComp (Modeling, verification, simulation and hardware implementation of artificial neural networks); P.I.: Benoît Miramond.

• Training programs The NeuroMod Institute also provides interdisciplinary training for master’s and PhD students and future faculty members. It offers a national master’s degree in Cognitive Science and an elite international degree in Modeling for Neuronal and Cognitive Systems (Mod4NeuCog MSc). Mod4NeuCog offers two tracks: a major in Applied Mathematics or a major in Cognitive Science. In both cases, the goal is to train active researchers at the crossroads of the disciplines. At the

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

end of the program, students will have acquired sufficient basic knowledge in mathematics, statistics, computer science, biology and cognitive science to model neurocognitive systems. The fields of specialization include medicine, mathematics, linguistics, physics, experimental economics, psychology, computer science, neurophysiology or the chemistry of olfaction. Finally, students benefit from the international openness offered by NeuroMod’s strong partnerships with the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics (Sao Paulo), the MathNeuro Laboratory (Austin), the Dynamical Systems Interdisciplinary Network (Copenhagen), and the UK Mathematical Neuroscience Network (Nottingham). • CoCoLab (Complexity and Cognition Platform)

CoCoLab is a technological platform that brings together an important instrumentation collection for SHS, and beyond. It is open to all members of Université Côte d’Azur (free access) and to external users (fee-based access). It is part of the COGITO (Cognitive Sciences) section of technological platforms for the National Network of Human and Social Science Centers (MSHS) and was co-financed by the PACA Region and IDEX. Located at the Nice MSHS and under the responsibility of its director, it offers a remarkable technological platform to extend the transdisciplinary approaches for the NeuroMod Institute projects. The CoCoLab platform is a place for advantageous interactions between the humanities and social sciences and other disciplines such as computer science and mathematics, chemistry and health sciences. Several features are available. The heart of the system is a multi-behavioral room, and an EEG (electroencephalogram) room, both of which are equipped with a scent diffuser. CoCoLab also includes a room dedicated to the Nice Laboratory of Experimental Economics (LEEN), an archaeo-chemistry room and an oculometry room.

The multi-behavioral room is unique in France, and brings together a network of 16 computers that allow simultaneous recording, synchronization and subsequent analysis of data from various sources:

- p hysiological (electrodermal conductivity and pulse, indicators for stress level and workload of participants);

- facial recognition;

- oculometry.

The intent is to follow the temporal course and synchronicity of the behavioral data of 16 participants who (inter)act in real time. The presence of a scent diffuser makes it possible to test original experimental conditions, in connection with a unique local strength (the perfume industry in Grasse and important theme for the Nice Institute of Chemistry), as well as with the health sector.

Arts, Sciences and Creativity • The integration of Art Schools into Université Côte d’Azur The initial impact of the UCA JEDI IDEX project was to integrate ComUE artists into the multidisciplinary scientific committees of several academies of excellence. The creation of a transversal core program, “Arts and Sciences”, then the CREATES EUR and the financing of several collaborative projects between artists and scientists had the immediate effect of building closer ties between the university community and artists and creators. This dynamic has led to the integration of CIRM, Villa Arson and ERACM as part of the future university. The other art schools in the ComUE will become associated institutions • The dialog between scientific research and artistic creation By sharing seats on scientific committees, expertise, or the organization of events, artists and scientists have built an epistemological dialog that has led to the emergence of major projects, including: The “Composer’s Studio”, which brings together CIRM, the SDS School of Design and the Transdisciplinary Centre for the Epistemology of Literature and Performing Arts (C TEL); “SKINI”, led by the CIRM in collaboration with Inria and C TEL; the “Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression Instrument” (MPEI) run by the Conservatory, with C TEL and LEAT (the university and the CNRS electronics laboratory); the “MicaDôme” project, led by the Conservatory with the participation of C TEL and Inria; the “Figure” project, which questions representation and creativity and is the subject of a partnership between Villa Arson, CRHI, GREDEG and URMIS laboratories, SKEMA , Inria, the Massey University College of Creative Arts (New Zealand), and the School of Arts and Design in Auckland (New Zealand). A doctoral program in artistic creation has been created by the “Societies, Humanities, Arts and Letters” Doctoral School and the IDEX has funded 3 doctoral projects in artistic research: two in musical composition and one in arts. UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

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Several events have brought together scientists and artists.

- S ince 2016, the MANCA Festival has included an “Arts and Sciences” day in its program, when scientists and composers come to exchange ideas during roundtable discussions that are open to the general public. - In November 2019, an “Arts and Sciences” symposium will be held, bringing together around twenty international researchers specializing in all disciplines

of art, and more than a dozen artists proposing a creative or residency activity. This symposium format is original and combines the integration of theoretical research and practical knowledge, and thus perfectly illustrates the new dynamic that has been initiated and supported by the IDEX. -A thematic school of Improvisation in Dance has been funded by IDEX and is in its second edition. It could lead to the creation of a UCA Center of Improvisation, which would be a unique research and training space in Europe. Finally, the international dimension of this research and the related teaching activities was reflected in the signing, in December 2018, of a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of California Berkeley, and in the reciprocal invitations of professors and artists between the two universities. Relationships have also been established with the University of Chile and will be further developed. • Institutional and regional anchoring The creation of the CREATES EUR makes it possible to consolidate this dynamic and to coordinate all the actors in the field. It also hosts and promotes training programs on the theme of “Arts, Sciences and Creativity”. The EUR will be partly located at Cannes, where a new campus dedicated to the audiovisual and creative industries is being built. This Cannes Creativity Hub features innovative equipment over an area of more than 600m² that is dedicated to creativity and

creative writing. Two writing residencies have been associated with the hub since 2017, and are co-financed by Vivendi chairs: The first is dedicated to TV series, in partnership with the City of Berlin and the Serial Eyes School of Writing (DFFB) and the second, which takes place during the Cannes Film Festival, is organized in partnership with the International Film Festival and UCLA-TFT, the International School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California Los Angeles. In 2019, two other programs will be added in partnership with the National Audiovisual Institute (INA), devoted respectively to the “Design of digital experiences - VR, AR, XR” and “Showrunning for TV series”. This campus will therefore host unique, national-level training programs.

Additional key themes • T he Sciences of the Planet and the Universe The

presence

the

Côte

d’Azur

Observatory as a component institution of the next university is an important asset that UCA wishes to highlight. The

reputation

its

researchers

(Alain Brillet, 2017 CNRS gold medal; Alessandro Morbidelli, 2019 CNRS silver medal; and, since 2016, 2 ERCs awarded, 2 IUFs, and 3 grand prizes from the Academy of Sciences), its leadership on various and

international

observation

instrumentation

programs,

both

geophysics and astrophysics, position the three laboratories of the OCA at the highest level. This is why the IDEX, in association with IRD, has created a Chair of Excellence to recruit Jean-Paul Ampuero, formerly a professor at CalTech. Three postdoctoral fellows were recruited to the Lagrange laboratory and three to the Géoazur laboratory. Several major projects were funded, and specific support was provided to the Artemis laboratory for the discovery of gravitational waves. A major science education and outreach program (EDUMED) has been established and is supported by an engineer paid by the IDEX.

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• H ealth The presence of the CHU within the Université Côte d’Azur ComUE , and the creation of the IDEX Reference Center devoted to the theme “Well-being, Health, Aging” have both stimulated research in the field of health and the IDEX has funded numerous fundamental research and innovation projects. We will highlight two strategic themes of proven excellence: - Data processing, particularly heterogeneous data specific to the medical studies, image analysis and the use of artificial intelligence. The IDEX has especially enhanced interactions between researchers at the I3S laboratory, Inria and the CHU. The establishment of the MSI Medical Data Lab has not only strengthened collaborations but has also provided researchers with new tools and skills. The application domains are varied: cancer, lung diseases, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases are among the most frequently addressed. As part of the IDEX Advanced Research Program, Ragini VERMA (Univ. of Pennsylvania) has just been awarded a 9-month, very high-level International Chair for a connectomics project to be developed in collaboration with Rachid Deriche (Inria), Denys Fontaine and Fabien Almairac (CHU). The IDEX also co-financed 8 post-doctoral contracts with the City of Nice, which are dedicated to data sciences in health (4 in 2017 and 4 in 2019). Finally, it should be recalled that the BoostUrCAreer

doctoral program, co-financed by the IDEX, the Region and Europe (COFUND), also focuses on e-health issues.

MSI Medical Data Lab

8 post-doctoral fellows

Health Reference Center

1 PhD program: COFUND

Chair of Excellence in the Advanced Research Program

- I nnovation and transfer. Researchers at the Université Côte d’Azur have developed numerous partnerships with companies. Thus, out of 17 partnership projects cofinanced by the IDEX Innovation and Valorization Unit, 4 are in the field of biology/ chemistry/health and 3 in the field of digital technologies applied to health. Out of 15 prematuration development projects funded by the same unit, only 3 do not address health issues. The first start-up created by UCA , MyCoach Activity, has designed an application as its core business, which defines and generates training programs adapted to the profile of users (elderly, sedentary, etc.). It combines the skills of MyCoach (a local start-up created in 2011) with those of the CHU and the LAMHESS laboratory. Another example, the Therapixel start-up, which originated from Inria Mediterranean, continues to collaborate regularly with UCA teams. One of its objectives is to improve the performance of breast

cancer screening by using artificial

intelligence

algorithms. The company won first place in the 2017 Digital

Mammography

Challenge,

global

competition

with

than 1200 teams. Finally, the

extraordinary

success of TherAchon is a

particularly

example: up

this

emerged

university’s

start-

from

the

biology

laboratories recently

inspiring

and

acquired

was by

Pfizer.

www

http://univ-cotedazur.fr/contenus-riches/actualites/en/therachon-the-startup-born-out-of-universite-cote-dazur-laboratories-acquired-by-pfizer-for340-million-dollars/

67 • F lavors and Fragrances The IDEX has brought a new dimension to this theme, which is very much rooted in the Grasse region. A Fragrance Science Creativity and Innovation Center has been created, which will be an Institute of Innovation and Partnership in the future university. This center organizes its activities around numerous collaborative public/private projects, most often backed by technical platforms for which the university provides resources and skills, and around training programs of excellence. Recently, it has also strengthened its international relations.

- C ollaborative projects range from simple master’s internships to a CIFRE thesis scholarship, as well as the joint submission of an ANR-PRCE (industry collaborative research project). The associated companies include: Pharmapur, Alysophil, B4skin, Foamous, Dreamair LLC, Areco, Société Jean Niel, Expressions Parfumées, etc.

- O ne of the major themes for international development is based on collaborations with the Monell Chemical Senses Center: A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed, two professors from this center have been invited on IDEX funds and a symposium has been jointly organized UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

by the two centers. Relationships are also being developed with Université Laval, particularly around the Biodiversity theme of the “Sentinel North" program.

- Finally, the center invests in training at all levels and in all its forms. It has been awarded the “Trades and Qualifications Campus” label in “Flavors Fragrances Cosmetics”, which means that the center coordinates all pre-bac and post-bac training in its area of expertise. The center hosts a professional national master’s degree, FOQUAL (Formulation, Analysis, Quality), which has just been ranked among the top ten highest quality courses in France, by the French rating agency Eduniversal. It also hosts an international IDEX training program, the “Management of the Flavor and Fragrance Industry” MSc, which offers multidisciplinary training based on the combined expertise in applied chemistry at Université Côte d’Azur, and in marketing and product management at Edhec Business School. With courses taught 100% in English, a mandatory international internship and tutored projects in partner companies in the Grasse region, this training program is truly unique.

APPENDIX

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR 2020 On January 1, 2020, the Université Côte d’Azur ComUE will give way to an integrated university bearing the same name. The new Université Côte d’Azur will be a full-fledged university, listed in all the international rankings. It will incorporate a number of major local players in higher education and research designated as Component Institutions, and increase its cooperation, through closer official ties, with other Associate Institutions, such as Public Scientific and Technical Institutions (EPST). A draft of the statutes will be presented to the Ministry at the very beginning of 2019; their main objective is to formalize strong and lasting structural relations between all these players.

University Côte d’Azur centralizes coordination in three main areas: • Academic coordination between research and higher-education institutions, to develop a dynamic bond between training and research, prevent fragmentation or the risk of competition and gain more international recognition. • Institutional coordination with the major public players, to enforce a coherent strategy at the regional level and to concentrate funding on clearly identified objectives. • Socio-economic coordination with all the public and private players, to jointly contribute to the university’s development and establish its brand in the world at large.

Values: Université Côte d’Azur carries out its missions in keeping with the core values that form the university’s strong foundation and therefore • Guarantees freedom of academic expression. • Implements policies respectful of ethics and integrity in all its fields of action. • Ensures democratic representation within its governing bodies. For example, the number of directly elected positions on the Executive Board of Université Côte d’Azur will be higher than the proportion recommended in the ordinance of December 12, 2018. All the categories composing the university community will be represented by elected members.

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR 2020

• Is an inclusive university respecting diversity, promoting gender equality and defending fundamental rights and freedoms. • Is committed to social and environmental responsibility. • Promotes a humanist culture and encourages critical thinking to further democratic values.

Université Côte d’Azur upholds its commitments in the main missions carried out and the means implemented to achieve them. Université Côte d’Azur trains students and professionals and ensures that their knowledge and skills are adapted to the world in which they operate. Special emphasis is placed on scientific and experimental approaches, learning capacities, critical and constructive thinking, creativity, collaborative behaviors and entrepreneurship. In order to fulfill this mission, Université Côte d’Azur adopts the best educational methods. Guidance, training, social promotion and professional integration are its primary concerns. The scientific potential of Université Côte d’Azur rests on the disciplinary excellence of its laboratories working in partnership with national research organizations. The university’s scientific policy also encourages cross-disciplinary initiatives, which is the best way of solving some of the complex problems facing our societies. Innovation and commercialization are encouraged and recognized. It is impossible to be a top international research university without a motivated, committed and recognized staff. Université Côte d’Azur is particularly attentive to the wellbeing of all staff members, in compliance with local laws. It strives more particularly to implement a profit-sharing policy accessible to all, and develop a dynamic university life. To meet the many challenges ahead, Université Côte d’Azur is implementing an innovative

organizational model: • Several types of components and closely associated partners: on January 1, 2020, Université Côte d’Azur will be established as a Public Scientific, Cultural and Professional Institution (EPSCP) with a special status. Its unique structure combines Academic Components with no legal personality, with Component Institutions that keep their own legal status, and Associate Institutions. Whether they are legally independent or not, all these components have their own governance, financial and human resources, and boards. They are represented in the central governing bodies of the University proportionally to their status. They each have their specific features and a large autonomy, but maintain strong connections to ensure consistent, university-wide policies. Particular attention is paid to the transition between the different academic levels (Bachelor / Master / PhD), the need to develop stronger links between research and training, and how all this is linked with campus policies. National research organizations, such as the CNRS and Inria, both founding members of the ComUE, are closely involved in the running of the institution. They are represented in the central councils of the University. All the players of the new University participate in carrying out the University’s strategy and activities in the fields of research, training and innovation, international relations and regional affairs. They operate together in the University components that fall within their area of specialty, and are closely involved in decisions regarding large university-wide projects. • The Graduate Schools of Research (EUR), keystones of the whole structure Université

Côte

d’Azur

includes

several

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR 2020

long-standing Academic Components with no legal personality: - 8 Graduate Schools of Research (DS4H, INCISE, NGLS, Lex@société, ELMI, CREATES, ODYSSEE, HEALTHY), combining training and research, ensure continuity between Masters, PhDs and laboratories.

- 6 Institutes or Schools subject to Articles L713-9; 713-4; 721-1 of the Code of Education (Polytech Nice Sophia, Nice Côte d’Azur IUT, Nice IAE, ESPE, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dental Surgery) offer two- to eight-year professional degrees (technological university degrees, engineering degrees, grade-school, middle-school or highschool teaching degrees, medical or health professions, etc.). - Other components such as Innovation and Partnership Institutes (e.g. Mediterranean Institute for Risk, Environment and Sustainable Development, Center of Creativity in Odorant Sciences) or Thematic Institutes with international visibility (Institute for Peace and Development Law, Institute for Modeling in Neurosciences and Cognition, etc.).

The seven undergraduate schools, granting three-year degrees and organized by disciplinary field, function similarly to Université Côte d’Azur components. An undergraduate Collegium coordinates the transversal actions shared by all fields (faculty refresher programs and student support). The EURs of Université Côte d’Azur are the main drivers of the synergy between the University’s Academic Components, Component Institutions, Associate institutions and partners. The EURs are in charge of proposing a method to the University governing bodies

for interconnecting the different academic levels, which respects the operational and cultural diversity of each discipline, and complies with the principle of autonomy granted to each component. The EURs include representatives of the Doctoral Schools in their councils, and work with them in defining a strong doctoral program. Drawing on the expertise of the research laboratories, the EURs promote excellence in their field while encouraging multidisciplinary approaches They base training on research, and therefore also work in synergy with IDEX structures and other university-wide PIAs. EUR Directors are ex officio members of the Institution’s Steering Committee (see below). They help define the university strategy and are fully responsible for translating it into coherent and concerted action. • Representative and effective central authorities Université Côte d’Azur is managed by an Executive Board. At least half of its members are directly elected. Its composition follows the usual distribution between categories within EPSCPs, i.e. 60% faculty members and researchers, 20% administrative staff representatives and 20% students. The Executive Board follows recommendations made by the Academic Council, which comprises more than 75% of directly elected members. The Council is more particularly in charge of monitoring and evaluating research and academic programs. It is also the place to discuss recommendations and proposals on all actions related to the main missions of the institution, before submitting them to the Executive Board. The Council is all the more efficient in these transverse actions when the Academic Components with no legal personality prepare the work by conducting analyses, within their own collegiate governing bodies and in application of the principle

UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR 2020

of autonomy, on the different topics that concern them (proposals for changing the component’s course offer and the methods for evaluating knowledge acquired and granting degrees for these courses, etc.). Finally, the Université Côte d’Azur is innovating by creating a Steering Committee. Its membership varies depending on the subject to be addressed, and its objective is to ensure that the directors of the main entities involved, but also the directors of the main components of the Université Côte d’Azur formally participate in the governance of the institution. The Steering Committee is systematically composed of the Executive Bureau, i.e. the President and Statutory Vice-Presidents. Depending on the subject, the President convenes, in addition to the Executive Bureau:

The Steering Committee can also meet for a plenary session (Executive Bureau, Site Steering Committee and Institution Steering Committee). A system for weighting the votes is used to take into account the weight and the commitment of the various organizations and institutions involved in the project. The Steering Committee issues recommendations before certain issues are submitted to the Executive Board for validation. In addition, and in accordance with international standards, an International Strategic Committee issues a recommendation each year on the direction and the development of the institution.

- The assembly of Component Institutions with legal personality and Associate Institutions (research organizations, more particularly), in addition to representatives of the regional authorities, thereby forming the Site Steering Committee. - The assembly of Academic Components with no legal personality (EUR, Polytech, undergraduate Collegium) and the Functional Vice-Presidents or the Mission Heads, thereby forming the Institution Steering Committee.

This organization provides Université Côte d’Azur with all the tools it needs to become one of the top research-intensive universities of the 21st century. Formed of components with increased responsibilities, placing excellence in research at the core of all of its activities, nurturing strong ties with the region, and associated with the major national players in the field of research, Université Côte d’Azur aims to have a worldwide impact and to rank among the best European universities.

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UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR Thematic schools co-organized by the MSI

MSI co-organized several high-level training programs in the form of recurrent thematic schools. Security The first edition of the UCA Cybersecurity School, organized by Bruno Martin (I3S) as part of the MSI thematic schools, took place from June 4 to 8, 2018 on the SophiaTech campus. Both the security of connected objects and the search for their vulnerabilities were addressed. Recent advances brought about by quantum information were presented and the near (and longerterm) future of cryptography was discussed. The last course focused on privacy and techniques to minimize the profiling of web users.

participants (students, doctoral students, engineers, researchers and local companies)

speakers from academia and industry

The second edition, organized by Bruno Martin (I3S) and Sandrine Julia (I3S) took place from 17-19 June 2019 and focuses on three recent topics in the field of cybersecurity: Blockchain, Cyber and A .I., and Security and Big Data.

participants (students, doctoral students, engineers, researchers and local companies)

speakers from academia and industry

Deep Learning Two editions of the Deep Learning School@UCA , organized by Frédéric Précioso (I3S) and Stéphanie Burette (UCA JEDI) with the support of MSI, was held: the first from June 12 to 15, 2017 on the SophiaTech campus, with more 250 participants. The second was held from June 25 to 29, 2018, with 140 participants including 74 companies, 38 researchers and 28 students. A third edition of the Deep Learning School will be held in 2019, from July 15 to 19. The keynote speakers were Prof. Martial Hebert, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellow University (Pittsburg, CA); Prof. Armand Joulin, Facebook Research; Prof. Graham Taylor, Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, University of Guelph and Vector Institute; and Prof. Alexandre Alahi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. One of the striking features of this thematic school is that it is one of the privileged events where the partnership between Université Côte d’Azur and the company Amadeus can be expressed.

298

participants

MSI seminars

On an almost weekly basis, since April 2019, the MSI has organized regular seminars 2019 on data science as applied to several fields, from biology to imaging, artificial intelligence and data integration. These are led by faculty from Université Côte d’Azur or national and international invited speakers. Primarily conceived as training opportunities for MSI engineers, these seminars are open to the entire community of Université Côte d’Azur researchers and engineers. Recent examples of these seminars include:

• S electing genes in high dimension: investigation of Lasso-like methods in survival datasets and prioritizing gene selection with gene network a priori (Laurent Guyon, CEA BIG , Grenoble)

• A nalyzing the JSTOR corpus of publications: Is there gender homophily in scientific collaborations? (Elena Erosheva, University of Washington - Université Côte d’Azur International Chair in Data Science)

• H ow to solve your problem with Constraint Programming (Jean-Charles Régin, I3S, Université Côte d’Azur)

• D ynamics of complex feedback architectures in gene-metabolic pathways (Madalena Chaves, Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée, Université Côte d’Azur)

• E xposome, genetics and disease: Southern Brazil as a model (Enzo Lalli, IPMC, CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur)

• T he Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Recent Advances and Applications in Health Care (Leonardo Franco, Malaga University)

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UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR Some examples of workshops co-organized by MSI and EURs

The NGLS day: co-organized by the Next Generation Life Scientists (NGLS) EUR. This meeting took place on 22 May 2018 and concentrated on the processing of massive data in biology and health to promote interactions between biologists and mathematicians or computer scientists. It brought together 10 speakers and 27 participants. “Challenges for imaging and modeling complex media and processes: The Earth’s interior and earthquake rupture” workshop: co-organized with the INnovative Concepts In Science and Engineering (INCISE) EUR and Academy of Excellence 3, took place on 29 March 2018. This event focused on the rupture of the deep and seismic Earth, but the objective was to discuss both modern techniques for imaging complex environments and modeling processes as they evolve in time and space. This workshop brought together 8 speakers and 48 participants. “Narratives and modeling” workshop: the objective of this meeting, on 18-21 May 2018, was to show the possible contribution of literature and text sciences in the modeling of complex systems involving a human dimension (psychological, social, economic, political, etc.) and thus to promote an interdisciplinary approach based on a

76 relevant corpus, that of science fiction, considered as a tool for reflection and an imaginary approach to complexity. This workshop was attended by 25 participants. “Massive data in health” workshop: organized with the Nice University Hospital Center, this workshop provided an opportunity to present, to a wide audience, the various collaborative UCA/CHU/ private partner projects supported by UCA JEDI as well as the Medical Data Lab of the MSI. Many challenges were raised: data storage, data interoperability, integration of heterogeneous biomedical data,

anonymization and other ethical and legislative issues related to this type of data. The second part of the conference presented two IDEX-supported projects: LungMark – biological and radiological biomarkers for the diagnosis of lung disease, and IADB – Integration and Learning in Biomedical Data. “Encounters in modeling” workshop: two days will be co-organized in spring 2020 by the MSI and all the Academies of Excellence. The first day will allow researchers who are not experts in modeling to present their research problems and modeling needs in relation to various data sets. On the second day, the modeling experts will present the methods and tools that they are developing or that may be available to address the issues from the previous day. This dialogue is expected, ideally, to lead to the emergence of collaborations between experts and non-experts in modeling and, more broadly, to the precise definition of training needs. These will be developed by the MSI, in conjunction with other the structures that also regularly offer mini-courses for researchers.

The MSI calls for proposals Number of submitted projects 2016 0

2017 5

2018 15

Number of selected projects 2016 0

2017 5

2018 14

Total allocated funding (k€) 2016 0

2017 83,521

2018 170,739

The very high success rate of the MSI calls for proposals is explained by the fact that project leaders are supported upstream during the preparation of their proposals. MSI is a structure that aims to help, support and train researchers at Université Côte d’Azur. The MSI is thus an accelerator for modeling research, not a brake or an excessively selective filter.

3DRNA

Dynamics of the spatial organization of the transcriptome and its role in cellular functions Project Leader: Prof. Elisabeth Pécou (J. A. Dieudonné Laboratory ) Project Partners: J. A. Dieudonné Laboratory and The Institute of Biology Valrose (iBV) The eukaryotic cells, apart from the canonical organelles bound to the membranes (nucleus, mitochondria, ...), also contain coherent structures with liquid properties that do not have a membrane. These membraneless bodies have been shown to contribute to a wide variety of cellular functions. Pathologically, they have also been correlated with severe neurological disorders (such as prion diseases, ALS, Alzheimer’s disease). The study of Credits Buchan lab membraneless bodies is a hot topic of research on the edge of biology and physics. This project uses mathematical modeling to help elucidate the interaction between active biological control and the thermodynamic processes that result in the formation and dilution of membrane-free bodies and evaluate their role in controlling cellular functions or disruption of cellular functions leading to pathologies.

IPAM

Identification of parametric equations of walking Project Leader: Dr. Laurent Busé (Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée) Project Partners: Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée (Aromath Team) and Ekinnox Physiotherapists and rehabilitation physicians have few quantitative measurement tools available to diagnose and monitor the progress of their patients. These tools are particularly lacking for the care of people with walking disabilities that occur after trauma, stroke or other conditions. The currently available solutions are based on the use of complex and expensive equipment such as systems using sensors and a set of cameras, or pressure mat sensors, or cables attached to the patient’s feet. In this context, the startup Ekinnox (founded in 2017 as a spin-off of Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée) is developing a light system to assist with care diagnosis and monitoring, using a 3D camera and analysis algorithms. This solution aims to provide a simple, objective and fast way of quantitatively and visually evaluating human movements. Ekinnox collaborated with researchers from Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée (Aromath and Titane project teams) in order to improve the reliability and accuracy of the algorithms used to analyze foot trajectories and to extract the usual locomotor indices of walking rehabilitation (single and double support time, speed and cadence). This collaboration has resulted in a new approach based on a continuous model of walking developed by the researchers. This model is represented by a parameterized curve characterized by carefully selected control parameters, in sufficient number to provide a robust representation of foot movement, while modeling with sufficient precision the locomotor parameters of a great diversity of potential patients and pathologies. The results obtained have led to significant gains in terms of accuracy and reliability in the calculation of locomotive parameters. Collaboration between Inria and Ekinnox is expected to continue with the exploration of other solutions for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of walking disabilities. UNIVERSITÉ CÔTE D’AZUR

PREDISCENT

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Numerical models for predicting smell and emotion from chemical features Project Leader: Prof. Jérôme Golebiowski (Institut de Chimie de Nice – ICN) Project Partner: Institut de Chimie de Nice ICN and Expressions Parfumées France is one of the major protagonists in the field of flavor and fragrance. Innovation through the identification of new smelling compounds however mostly relies on serendipity. Indeed, for scientists, establishing a relationship between the structure of a molecule and its chemosensory properties is a long-standing challenge. Intuitively, perfumers’ know-how implicitly suggests that such relationships exist and the challenge lies in their decoding. Besides perception, these experts build their compositions to communicate emotions which are even harder to quantify. The reasons for such a difficulty relies on i/ the extremely complex biological system involved in chemosensory perceptions, and ii/ potential genetic and/or cultural variations amongst the human population. Can we learn a computer how to smell or even feel relaxed? Can we initiate a new field of «computational behavioral neuroscience»? We need to deeply explore how numerical models and high-performance computing can open the area of the prediction of smell or emotions. PREDISCENT aims to connect machine learning algorithms and molecular modeling with properties measured through sensory analysis and physiology experiments on panels of human individuals.

LungMark

Biological and radiological biomarkers for the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases

Lungmark is a Université Côte d’Azur Data Science Project, co-funded by the MSI Project led by Dr. Hervé Delingette (Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée, Epione Team), Prof. Paul Hofman (LPCE, CHUN*, IRCAN), Prof. Charles Hugo Marquette (Pneumology Department, CHUN*), Prof. Bernard Padovani (Radiology Department, CHUN*) *Nice University Hospital Center (CHUN) The LungMark project aims to improve the detection and treatment of 3 pulmonary pathologies: lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis. More precisely, the project aims to use supervised and unsupervised learning techniques to extract 3 types of biomarkers, and to combine biological information and medical imaging to: • measure the evolution of chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD and pulmonary fibrosis. • measure the severity of pulmonary lesions at an early stage in order to decide quickly on the patient care. • detect lung cancer at an early stage in patients with emphysema and fibrosis.

RENOM

Networks, Spaces, and Nobility in the Mediterranean Project led by Dr. Anne BROGINI (Center for the Modern and Contemporary Mediterranean – CMMC), Prof. Charles BOUVEYRON (J.A. Dieudonné Laboratory – Inria Sophia Antipolis Méditerranée, EPIONE Team) and Dr. Germain BUTAUD (Laboratory for Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Cultures and Environments – CEPAM) RENOM (Networks, Spaces, and Nobility in the Mediterranean) is an interdisciplinary collaboration between historians (CMMC and CEPAM laboratories) and mathematicians (LJAD laboratory) who are working on the statistical analysis of unexploited historical data. Based on investigations of noble Provençal knights of the Order of Malta between 1400 and 1789, the project retraces their relatives and clienteles, and the strategies used to combine and transmit fiefdoms. The final prosopographical corpus, of nearly 20,000 individuals, will be gathered in a database currently being developed. Statistical analysis and clustering methods will make it possible to visualize in the long term and create a map of the networks of Provençal families from Marseille to Monaco (Grimaldi, Castellane, Villeneuve, Blacas, Grasse, Lascaris, etc.) by analyzing the characteristic behavior of a social elite (marriages, property transfers, cadet placements). Because the Order of Malta is international, RENOM is extending the prosopographical study to the whole Euro-Mediterranean arc (Spain, Provence, Italy) and comparing the noble and military strategies specific to the Mediterranean world. RENOM brings together researchers from Europe (from Poland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France) and the United States of America (Malta Study Center, Minnesota). As usual in the university, RENOM relies on agreements signed with local associations: the Order of Malta France association, several municipalities and archives in the Alpes-Maritimes (Nice, Villeneuve-Loubet, Castellar, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Grasse) and the Archives du Palais Princier of Monaco.

DeepADAS

Use of neuronal networks in autonomous driving Project Leader: Prof. Frédéric Precioso (I3S Laboratory) Project Partners: I3S Laboratory and Software Labs, Groupe Renault A self-driving car is a vehicle which can drive itself without human intervention. The possibility of building a system able to drive a car has been contemplated for years, but the technology to develop such a complex system has never been powerful enough. Thanks to very recent progresses in artificial intelligence this objective is now becoming a reality targeted by all the most relevant automotive industries. The benefits of autonomous driving would be outstanding as they would contribute to make the public roads safer and avoid most of the accidents due to human errors. Artificial Intelligence is living a period of big improvements, which is accelerating more and more over years. Most of the automotive industries operating in the field retain it as a must for the self-driving cars of tomorrow. This projects explores widely a branch of AI applied to autonomous driving, which is end-to-end models based on imagery data. An end to end model takes as an input raw data and map it directly to a decision, without the addition of any kind of domain knowledge in the process. This approach has been retained too ambitious in the past because of a lack of technology and knowledge; today this reality is changing and end-to-end models are showing their first results in many fields. DeepADAS’ goal is to build a model which process raw images recorded with a camera mounted on the front of a car, and map them to a direct decision which is how to steer the wheel of the car. The objective of this autonomous system is to keep the car inside the lane maintaining a smooth driving behavior, like the one performed by a human. The models presented are capable of learning how to drive a car from human driving experience, reaching significant performances after a training session based on only a few hours of data. DeepADAS aims to provide a wide exploration of the state of the art and to acquire the knowledge necessary to reproduce it in real cases scenario. This projects provides an improvement over the best architecture analyzed, which simplify its structures keeping the same performances. In order to touch with hand the results of this work, DeepAdas researchers resort to an embedded platform connected to a RC car, through which they record a dataset. They used this self-recorded dataset to train a deep learning model which later they deploy on the embedded platform. The results obtained show that it is possible to deploy efficient state of the art deep learning models on low power architectures, and that the model proposed is able to drive a car along a track for minutes without crashing.

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