Digital technology now forms a central part of our everyday lives. It can be found in the majority of objects and services that we use every day, including the Internet, computers, mobile phones, cameras, portable music players, televisions, game consoles and GPS receivers, but it is also hidden away, sometimes in a less visible manner, in vehicles, industrial tools, medical devices, decision support systems, etc. In the space of barely a few years, all these technologies have already profoundly changed our lives, to the point of becoming indispensable. They will continue to do so in the future, thanks to applications that are currently being developed. This is the route taken by researchers at Inria, a public research body, which is inventing the digital world of the future.

1. ANNUAL
REPORT
2011
Education
Medicine
Information
Transport
Software
Support
Environment

2. PAGE
57Research
PAGE
at the heart
1
of the debate
The increasing importance
of digital technology
in everyday life, whether
in a visible and tangible
Digital technology or invisible and intangible
at the heart manner, raises many
PAGE
of our lives
17
questions.
As the printing press,
the telephone and railways P. 58 We are all
did in the past, digital stakeholders
technology is massively in regulation
changing our homes, our Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin,
businesses, our industries 2011, President of the French
and our schools by at the heart National Committee for
broadening the options of Inria Data Protection (CNIL).
for communication, The research landscape is
P. 61 Fertile disorder
by automating certain constantly evolving. The
Daniel Kaplan, CEO of the
tasks in order to increase institute’s management
Next Generation Internet
productivity and by and researchers talk about
Foundation (FING).
inventing new ways of the past year.
exchanging information. P. 64 Let researchers
P.18 Key figures
research!
P.19 Strategy Henri Verdier, President
From the point of view of the Cap Digital
of Michel Cosnard, competitiveness cluster.
Claude Kirchner and
Hervé Mathieu.
P.23 Assignments
Research, partnerships,
technology transfer
and the spread of digital
sciences.
P.49 Coordination
The challenges of
modernisation, the eight
research centres.
• Pages bearing the mark opposite are interactive! Photograph the image using the Pixee
application to access the content on line. Pixee is a free application, which is available on iPhone,
Android and BlackBerry. • How does it work? Mobile phones are equipped with a built-in camera
for taking photos... but not just photos. Mathematical formulae developed recently within Inria
allow mobile phones to decipher the content of images like the human brain does. Thus, the phone
compares the image captured with several thousand images to identify the closest one and to provide us
with the information.

3. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
AT THE HEART
OF OUR LIVES…
… Now and
in the future
Digital technology now forms a central part of our
everyday lives. It can be found in the majority of objects and
services that we use every day, including the Internet,
computers, mobile phones, cameras, portable music players,
televisions, game consoles and GPS receivers, but it is also
hidden away, sometimes in a less visible manner, in vehicles,
industrial tools, medical devices, decision support systems, etc.
In the space of barely a few years, all these technologies have
already profoundly changed our lives, to the point of becoming
indispensable. They will continue to do so in the future, thanks
to applications that are currently being developed. This is the
route taken by researchers at Inria, a public research body,
which is inventing the digital world of the future.
1

4. Inria
How should we
handle this
overdose?
It is well known that too much
information can be as useful as
no information at all. The fact
that we have access to knowledge
does not necessarily mean we are
fully benefiting from it. With the
development of digital technologies
and the democratisation of
communication tools, we are now
swamped with information of
all kinds, which is becoming
increasingly difficult to analyse,
rank and store. Huge numbers of
e-mails, tweets and other messages
Information circulate everyday on networks and
even the most minor request via
a search engine returns dozens of
web pages, all of which represent
sources of information that need to
be patiently explored. What are we
supposed to do, given that our brains
cannot absorb everything?
Numerous Inria teams are carrying
out research aiming to organise and
clarify this ever-increasing mass of
data, in order to make it usable and
understandable for everyone.This is
precisely the case of the Orpailleur
project-team, which is developing
smart tools for managing and
extracting knowledge from databases,
or of Aviz , which is working on new
ways of visualising and summarising
information while browsing through
large masses of data, by focussing
on contextualising it.
2

5. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
3

6. Inria
The target is zero
defects
On 4th June 1996, Ariane 5 exploded
in mid-air during its inaugural flight.
The cause was a simple bug in one
of the pieces of software managing
Software the rocket’s autopilot. In fact, in
computer sciences, the smallest
design error can have disastrous
human or economic consequences,
above all when this involves a critical
embedded program, like those
within control aerospace, nuclear,
medical or automotive systems.
To prevent this kind of accident
occurring, several Inria teams,
specialising in algorithms and
programming, have devoted
themselves to the issue of software
reliability by developing tools
designed to track down faults in
programs, from the design phase
onwards.Thus, Abstraction has
developed Astrée , a code analyser
that is able to detect errors by
performing automatic calculations.
Gallium is seeking to improve
the reliability of software thanks
to Objective Caml , a high-level
programming language, which
is more reliable and expressive,
and CompCert , a compiler that
faithfully translates source code,
without introducing any errors.
Numerous ongoing projects, making
use of powerful computing and
mathematical concepts, have
the same goal: to make software
perfectly reliable, whether it is used
for navigation, control, automation
or communication. For the sake
of all our safety!
4

7. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
5

8. Inria
The Magrit team
Virtual technology
for surgeons
Preparing for an operation using
a computer simulation, or even
performing an operation by
superimposing additional information
within the surgeon’s field of vision;
these practices, which appear to come
straight from a science fiction novel,
could actually become commonplace
in the near future.This is due in
Medicine particular to augmented reality,
a technique that allows the surgical
field to be enhanced by adding
information such as 3D models of
organs or vessels, therefore enabling
specialists to see beyond what is
actually visible, in order to better
guide their actions.
The Shacra team is working
on this topic within MIX-Surg, one
of three university hospital institutes
(IHU) with which Inria has formed a
partnership, of the six selected as part
of the Future Investments programme
launched in 2010. As for the Magrit
project-team, it is working on faithful
digital representations of the
vascular network and on simulations
of organs. By combining imaging,
simulation, modelling and even robotics
(automating and improving the
reliability of certain technical
operations), these approaches should
significantly improve minimally
invasive surgery and help to advance
medicine and patient comfort.
6

9. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
7

10. Inria
The Wam team
Progression
towards
smart cities
More than half the world’s population
now lives in an urban environment,
and this trend is set to intensify over
the course of this century. In order
to adapt to this profound change
and its social and environmental
effects, cities need to revise their
infrastructures and services by taking
maximum advantage of the
opportunities offered by digital
systems and new technologies.
Numerous smartphone applications
are already showing the way by
using Internet connections, for
example, to allow you to find out,
in real time, the location and arrival
time of the bus you are waiting for,
Urban or the address of a restaurant in
planning an area you are unfamiliar with.
Nevertheless, there is still a great
deal to do to really make cities smart,
in particular by providing residents
with the means to sustain contextual
information networks, which are
of use to everyone.
Inria is devising and preparing for
this change.The Wam project-team
has developed an augmented reality
application allowing users to visit
Grenoble with the benefit of additional
visual and audio information on
a smartphone. By using web
geolocation data and wireless
communication technologies,
including wi-fi, 3G telephony and
RFID tags on devices, a multitude
of interactive services designed
to assist disabled people, guide
motorists and provide users with
information, will soon be available
in digital cities.
8

11. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
9

12. Inria
10

13. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
The Coprin team
Digital home help
By 2020, Europe will be home to
almost 84 million people above the
age of 75. With steadily increasing
life expectancy and eroding family
and social ties, increasing numbers
of elderly people are finding
themselves completely isolated,
and not everyone is able to make use
Support of home help services to assist them
with their day-to-day activities.
This is a problem also encountered
by disabled people, who are forced
to perform all kinds of “tricks” in
order to carry out everyday tasks.
What if solutions could be provided
by digital technology and robotics?
As part of the large-scale PAL
initiative (Personally Assisted Living) ,
Inria has devoted nine teams, spread
across its research centres, to
developing solutions to improve the
lives of dependent people.The Coprin
project-team has therefore developed
Marionet-Assist, an automated
system allowing people with reduced
mobility to get out of a chair or to get
up after a fall (the most common
accident). E-motion is exploring
artificial systems with sufficiently
advanced perception, decision-
making and action capabilities to
interact with humans, and Maia is
working on stand-alone machines
with artificial intelligence, allowing
us to imagine, one day, genuine
domestic robots that are able
to help us in our daily lives.
11

14. Inria
The art of sharing
electricity
Everyone is now aware that energy
is precious and that managing it is a
major challenge for the 21st century,
in both economic and ecological
terms. Faced with the intrinsic limits
of fossil resources, there is a need
for new production and consumption
patterns, favouring and exploiting
renewable energies, including solar,
hydraulic and wind power. Nowadays,
private individuals and companies are
Energy able to produce electricity and use it
for their own needs or sell it on to
a national operator, in order for it
to be shared. However, in order for the
system to work and develop, powerful
digital tools are needed to manage
this real-time distribution via smart
grid type networks.
Inria is working towards this goal
by means of the Metis I-Lab , a joint
structure bringing together the
company Artelys and the Tao
and Maxplus project-teams.Within
this joint laboratory, researchers and
industrial operators are pooling their
resources and expertise to create a
smart grid-based energy management
system. Specialising in optimisation,
statistics and decision support
systems, Artelys uses the teams’
research into algorithms and
modelling, in order to speed up
the development of operational
solutions to be offered to clients
in France and around the world.
12

15. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
13

16. Indiscretions
on the Internet
On the net, everyone believes
they are safely hidden behind
a pseudonym. However, a study
by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology), involving Inria
researchers, reveals that the majority
of Internet users have the same user
names on the various web sites that
they visit. With the development
of social networks and e-commerce,
it is relatively easy to connect these
virtual identities in order to target,
track and even identify users for
Communi- commercial, political or criminal
cation purposes. At a time when the Internet
and digital communication are at
the heart of society, the question
of the security and confidentiality
of personal data is crucial, in terms
of both privacy and sound
functioning of the economy.
Around fifty Inria teams are
currently working on this topic,
which is a major challenge in this era
of communication. Some of them,
including Secsi and Caramel ,
are concentrating on protocols
and encryption keys allowing
the confidentiality of information
exchanges to be guaranteed.
Others, such as Planete , are
examining security gaps in popular
communication software and the
anonymity of user names.The Secret
project-team has been involved
in the development of Shabal ,
an algorithm allowing the encryption
standards for confidential data to be
tested. These are so many avenues
to explore, methods to invent and
tools to be developed in order to
make use of digital technology
in a completely safe environment.
14

17. Digital technology
at the heart of our lives
15

18. Digital technology, an engine of growth
Digital technology lies at the heart A study by Coe-Rexecode, published
of our society, in our homes, of course, in May 2011, estimates that the digital
but also in our schools, companies economy was on average responsible
and industries. As the printing press, (directly and indirectly) for 26% of
the telephone and railways did in the growth in France between 1980 and
past, digital technology is massively 2008, 32% in Germany and Japan and
changing our economy by broadening 37% in the United States. This proves
the options for communication, its importance and shows the potential
by automating certain tasks in order for growth that is yet to be exploited
to increase productivity and by inventing in France.
new ways of exchanging information.
Although digital technology still relies Inria is playing an active part in this
on physical devices (processors, change with its research and technology
computers, servers, networks, etc.), transfer projects, in particular by means
it also gives a proper value to intangible of I-Labs, joint structures combining
aspects, whether these are cultural teams of researchers and SMEs-SMIs
assets (music, cinema, etc.), services within joint laboratories to work
or intellectual creation. The same on industrial projects.
applies to software tools. What’s more,
digital technology is changing the
economic landscape by significantly
reducing the cost of innovation, as
illustrated by the story of e-commerce
platforms and social networks.
16

19. 2011,
AT THE HEART
of Inria
17

20. Inria — Annual Report 2011
STRATEGY
Key figures
• 83 %
7
start-up created.
179
project-teams (on 1st January
2012), 83% of which are
joint teams with universities
and other research institutions.
4,432
reference publications.
4,351
people who have contributed
to Inria’s assignments, of which
106
68% are scientific personnel.
• 68 %
software applications submitted
,
1282
to the APP (France’s software
protection agency).
PhD students within research
teams.
23
66
initial patents filed.
teams linked to foreign
universities and laboratories.
304
theses produced.
18

21. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Interview
“INCREASING
THE IMPACT OF
OUR RESEARCH
IS VITAL”
Interview
“INRIA EST
PRÊT ÀCosnard,
Michel
ABORDER
LA DÉCENNIE
Chairman and CEO
QUI S’OUVRE”
Michel Cosnard,
Président-Directeur général
19

22. Inria — Annual Report 2011
STRATEGY
Interview
On a European level,
our global approach
encompasses education,
research, innovation
and uses.
In 2011, the institute established Engineering Schools (CDEFI) and our
new sites in Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay, as institute – and the year in which numer-
well as opening the PCRI in Saclay. How are ous future investments were initiated.
you managing to go ahead with these The creation of Allistene provides proof
developments against the background of a that digital sciences are a priority for our
freeze on state funding? country, in the same way as health, en-
Michel Cosnard • On the ergy, the environment and human and
one hand, by means of an social sciences.This alliance has allowed
increase in our own re- us to strengthen our partnerships and
sources, largely associated to define the national priorities for dig-
with the success of our ital science and technology in a con-
teams in terms of calls for certed manner.The Future Investments
projects, and on the other programme has also provided the op-
hand, by means of improved efficiency in portunity to launch new partnership
terms of their use, with the aim of achiev- activities, in particular in the fields of
ing excellence in the field of management. health, the environment and human and
Our first edition of the Inria awards also social sciences. Many of our research
perfectly reflects these two aspects. teams are involved in laboratories of
excellence (Labex) and excellence-in
The French research landscape has equipment (Équipex) projects with local
changed a great deal. How have these academic partners. As a national insti-
changes affected the institute? tute, Inria has partnerships with three
•
M. C. In 2011 we saw the first full year university hospital institutes (Paris,
of Allistene – a dedicated consultation Strasbourg and Bordeaux), and, as part
structure for digital science and technol- of the digital economy programme and
ogy, which brings together the French even technology research institutes
Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the (IRT), our partners are industrial opera-
French National Centre for Scientific tors, major groups and SMEs.
Research (CNRS), the Institut Mines-
Télécom, the French Conference of European research has also been
University Chancellors (CPU), the booming since the creation, in 2010, of EIT
Conference of the Heads of French ICT Labs, for which Inria coordinates the
research arm. Where do we stand now?
Our aim is to achieve •
M. C. EIT ICT Labs, one of the European
excellence in the field Institute of Innovation andTechnology’s
of management. (EIT) three knowledge and innovation
communities devoted to digital sci-
ences, is taking shape and looks very
promising. It should allow a bridge to
be built between research and industry
by funding innovation, as far as actual
20

23. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
technological development – including
patent applications, software, start-up
Claude Kirchner,
companies and other technology trans- Executive Officer for Research and
fer methods. Its two strengths are: joint Technology Transfer for Innovation
programming (the 23 partners propose
research topics and fund them with Eu- 2011 Inria Awards
ropean support) and a new global ap-
proach incorporating education,
“The first emblematic
research, innovation and uses, one of the embodiment
variants of which could, for example, be
training for new student profiles, both
of our approach”
scientists and entrepreneurs.
“The purpose of the Inria Stéphane Donikian, the
Do these developments influence Awards is to recognise creator of the spin-off
and reward scientists who Golaem and its digital
your research subjects? have made an outstanding human behaviour
•
M. C. Our research retains a certain con- contribution in the field simulators in 3D
tinuity and is in keeping with the burgeon- of computer sciences and environments.The Award
ing development of digital technologies. mathematics, or who have for Research and
In this “world under construction”we are
, made major contributions Innovation Support was
particularly attentive to increasing the to technology transfer or won by Julien Wintz,
innovation in these fields. a young engineer who
impact of our research. We are increas- They also recognise has established and leads
ingly interested in uses, an approach that engineers or technicians a scientific computing
encompasses studying social networks, who have made a notable platform allowing
– whether this is for privacy protection or contribution in terms of researchers to test their
the right to oblivion – the Internet of ob- support or backing for software in their fields
research. In 2011, the of application. Finally,
jects, human-machine interaction and the Research Support
Grand Prize was awarded
home help, as well as issues relating to to Gérard Huet, a pioneer Department Award
sustainable development. from the French school of recognised the
This is why we are in close contact with computer science, whose outstanding teamwork
major economic and social players in work has been crucial in that contributed to
the digital world. We have also asked terms of guaranteeing the certification of the
quality of software.The institute’s accounts,
three of them to contribute on the fol- Young Researcher Award the first stage in the
lowing pages. highlighted the talent of process of simplifying
Bruno Lévy, a geometry and harmonising
enthusiast who is practices within Inria.”
radically changing 3D
representation for both
computer game graphics
and computer simulation
images.The Inria-Dassault
Systèmes Award for
Innovation recognised
21

24. Inria — Annual Report 2011
STRATEGY
Retrospective
“Permanence in terms
of strategy and renewed
ambitions”
“Initial observation: the of research teams. All these
appropriateness of the aspects are summed up
fundamental principles, perfectly by the motto for
around which the institute the institute’s first strategic
was built, as set down by plan, in 1994: scientific
the first chairman of Inria, excellence and technology
Jacques-Louis Lions, in transfer.
1979. More than forty years
later, they are still relevant, Second observation: the
whether this lies in the ambitious plan to double
combination of computer Inria’s activities and resources
science and mathematics, (staff and budgets) in ten
the importance of years, driven by Bernard
technology transfer to Larrouturou (Chairman from
industry, the structure 1996 to 2003), with the aim
of research in small and of taking the institute to
the highest global level,
Hervé Mathieu,
responsive project-teams, Executive Officer for Resources
education/training by formalised by the agreement
welcoming PhD students concluded with the and Service Administration
and young engineers or government in 2000, has until March 2012
international openness. been an undeniable success.
Over the course of the years Proof of this is provided by
and successive chairmen, the international Visiting
this has been demonstrated Committee, which, having with universities, schools
by the creation of start-up, evaluated the institute at and businesses. Yet, there
involvement in various the end of 2008, rated it as is still a great deal to be
European programmes and the European leader and done for computer science
the establishment of lasting one of the world’s best to be recognised not only
partnerships, such as the research organisations in as a tool but also as
Ercim organisation, its field. Another telling a science in its own right. ”
involvement in W3C since indicator is the large number
the inception of the web, of grants that our researchers
numerous subcontracting obtain from the European
activities, strong international Research Council (ERC).
relationships and even While maintaining this
the stringent assessment strategy, our aim is to further
open up our research to
industry and society, on the
one hand, by incorporating
social and environmental
issues into our research,
as we have done in the past
for telecoms and life sciences,
and on the other hand, by
playing the role of a catalyst
for research and a facilitator
of projects, in order to
support strong partnerships
22

25. 2011, at the heart of Inria
ASSIGN-
MENTS
… FROM THE POINT OF VIEW
OF OUR RESEARCHERS
RESEARCH
PARTNERSHIPS
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
THE SPREAD OF DIGITAL SCIENCES
23

26. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
… from the point
of view of
our researchers
have already been
envisaged, in particular
in the environmental field:
for example, detecting forest
On completion of her engineering fires using temperature
studies at the Insa in Lyon, sensors, monitoring air
where she specialised in or water pollution and even
networks and telecommunications, studying the behaviour of
Nathalie Mitton joined groups of animals by fitting
the Pops project-team. them with sensors. What
As an Inria Research Scientist, I like about Inria is its
she now leads the brand new openness: dialogue with
Fun team, which is examining other regional research
heterogeneous networks of centres, relationships with
communicating objects. numerous researchers
around the world and close
“Having been attracted to contacts with industry. We
science since my childhood, have concluded an external
I studied as an engineer research agreement (CRE)
at the Insa in Lyon. with FranceTélécom, and
As I had chosen to created the EtiPops I-Lab
specialise in networks with the local SME Etineo.
and telecommunications, This joint structure, within
I continued with a thesis which we are working on
on wireless networks within geolocation, has a number
the framework of CITI, an of advantages: it allows us
Insa laboratory which was to pool our resources, define
working in partnership with our research with a 3-year
Inria.This research really road map and set ourselves
fascinated me and I wanted industrial goals, with the
to continue within Inria. creation of products, which
In 2006, I joined the Pops is a way of giving our
project-team, where research a highly visible
I gradually took on form. ”
responsibilities, before
Nathalie Mitton, setting up the Fun team,
which will extend its work
Fun Team Leader, on future ubiquitous
Lille – Nord Europe Research Centre networks from 2012
onwards. We are actually
aiming to develop and
“Working with unify networks of RFID tags,
sensors and robotic
companies on actuators, which are
battery-operated and
industrial projects” communicate wirelessly
using radio waves.
Numerous applications
24

27. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Rémi Gribonval, François-Xavier Le Dimet,
Inria Senior Research Scientist, Professor Emeritus at Joseph-Fourier University,
Rennes - Bretagne Atlantique Research Centre Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes Research Centre
“My research combines “Inria has trusted me
my two favourite to continue my research”
subjects: music
and mathematics”
“It was my love of mathematics that drew me
to ENS, and my love of music that led me to choose
a master’s degree combining the two. I continued
in the same vein by writing a thesis on sound
processing with the IRCAM and the École
Polytechnique. I subsequently left to take up
a post-doctoral position at the University of South
Carolina in the United States, where I studied the
theoretical aspects of the algorithms I was using
in greater depth. Since I was invited to join the
Metiss team in 2001, I have been exploring the
notion of parsimony, which specifically allows audio
signals to be represented and processed with very François-Xavier Le Dimet is conducting
few parameters.The resulting techniques allow his research within the Moise project-team,
audio data to be compressed, voices to be isolated which has taken over the Idopt project,
and instruments to be separated within a recording, for which he was responsible. He also teaches
for instance. However, my research goes far beyond at Florida State University and has just been
just sound, with applications for medical imaging, appointed a fellow of the American
biology, astronomy and, even more broadly, Meteorological Society.
machine learning. Some of these have already
been examined within the framework of Small “The life of a researcher majority of weather centres
and Échange, two projects that I coordinated, one is made up of encounters. around the world, thereby
a European project and the other for the ANR I owe a great deal to helping to improve their
(the French National Research Agency).These are Jacques-Louis Lions, the forecasts. At present, I am
just some of the many avenues to be explored Chairman of Inria at the continuing to develop it
with the team, which I will soon be leading. ” beginning of the 1980s. within the Moise team,
I attended his classes for by specifically attempting
my post-graduate diploma to make use of the dynamic
A graduate of the École normale supérieure, in numerical analysis and information provided by
Rémi Gribonval is currently working on the concept he has always actively and satellite images. However,
of parsimony in signal processing within the wholeheartedly supported the question of a link between
Metiss project-team. In 2011, he was awarded the
me in my research.This data gathered by observation
Blaise Pascal prize by the Académie des Sciences
(French Academy of Sciences) for his work.
human dimension has been and mathematical models
He received an ERC (European Research Council) vitally important, as have representing complex
grant for his Please project. the discussions I have had phenomena clearly has
with other scientists on my implications for areas other
travels to the United States, than climate, such as
Russia, China, etc. Jacques- oceanography, hydrology,
Louis Lions’ optimal control biology and even petroleum
theory also formed the basis research. ”
for my concept of a data
assimilation method,
which was of interest
to meteorologists. Initially,
this approach was faced with
the limited computational
capacities of computers
at the time, but it has since
been adopted by the
25

28. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
… from the point of view
of our researchers
Michel Banâtre,
Inria Senior Research Scientist,
Rennes - Bretagne Atlantique Research Centre
“Carrying out original
research in direct
contact with the world
of business“
Michel Banâtre has conducted a real environment, or even,
numerous projects with where possible and relevant,
the LSP , Solidor and Aces for industrial use. Obviously,
teams, focussing his research we shouldn’t hesitate
on distributed systems, fault to immerse ourselves in our
tolerant architectures and chosen areas of application
ambient computing. Guided by
and not ignore issues
the constant goal of technology
transfer, he is behind the filing
surrounding industrial
of twenty or so patents, the protection rights, including
establishment of numerous patents and prototyping.
large-scale collaborations with This is what has guided my
industrial partners and the entire career as a researcher,
creation of two start-up. and what still drives me. My
first experience in this area logistics, with all its
“I took my first steps in dates back to 1979-1985, potential applications in
research as an engineer at with the Enchère system, sectors as varied as luxury
the University of Rennes 1, a perfect example of my goods and medical items.
where I studied for my approach. My aim was My approach is not opposed
entire degree in the field to apply the principle of to more academic research.
of computer science, which distributed systems, which In my opinion, it should go
had just been born, at the I had been studying as part without saying when the
beginning of the 1970s, of my doctoral thesis, to concepts or tools proposed
before becoming a senior auctions held by fruit and by researchers could form
research scientist for Inria, vegetable producers in my part of industrial solutions,
in 1986. I like research that native Brittany. Undertaken or even be the products
is off the beaten track, in close cooperation with of the future.”
research that allows the local cooperatives, this
systems and services project formed the subject
of the future to be shaped. of a technology transfer
However, I am still convinced with an SME based in
of the need for technology Rennes, but did not result
transfer as a means to in it being marketed. This
validate the results of was where I really began
research. For many to understand the difficulty
researchers, the promotion of turning a great idea into
of a scientific idea often a commercial solution, but
ends with a list of the I persevered with Bull, Texas
publications it may have Instruments and Alcatel-
generated. For my part, Lucent in the field of
I want to see it tested in architectures and systems.
Similarly, my research on
ambient computing has
formed the subject of a
technology transfer to the
JCDecaux Group. More
recently, my work on paired
physical objects has allowed
me to tackle the issue of
reliable traceability within
26

29. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Catherine Bonnet, Martin Hachet,
Disco Team Leader, Potioc Team Leader,
Saclay – île-de-France Research Centre Bordeaux – Sud-Ouest Research Centre
“Exchanging ideas with “Making interactive 3D
others opens our minds“ technologies accessible
As an Inria researcher and
leader of the Disco team, which
in complex environments, to everyone“
we are working on acute
comprises around fifteen myeloid leukaemia, a
members, Catherine Bonnet specific form of this cancer.
is working on the analysis We are working in
and control of interconnected
partnership with a doctor
systems in complex
environments. Being extremely
from the Saint-Antoine
committed to scientific hospital and his team of
mediation, she is also a member biologists, who are helping
of the board of the ’Femmes et us to test and refine the
mathématiques’ association. models we are developing.
Within the institute, I also
“After completing my like being in close contact
secondary education, with all kinds of scientists,
I studied mathematics, on trips, at conferences or
because I liked it, without on the premises of Supélec,
any idea of where it would where we are based, as we
take me. I continued with a know that exchanging ideas
thesis on the modelling of opens our minds and
helicopter rotor blades for sustains us. I also take part
Aérospatiale. When I arrived in outreach activities for
at Inria in 1994, I worked on mathematics and research, From the University of Bordeaux,
an engine control issue for by explaining to young girls Martin Hachet joined the institute to take
Renault. This experience that these fields are not part in the Iparla project. As an Inria
helped me to understand incompatible with life as research scientist, he is currently
the challenges of theoretical a woman, and that they leading the brand new Potioc team,
research and exact are not forced to cut which is developing interactive 3D
methods, which allow themselves off from the technologies for use by the general public.
generic models and tools outside world, as is still
for resolving specific too often the perception. ” “Initially attracted to the audiovisual sector,
problems to be developed. I began studying computer science rather by
Since then, I always think of chance. I rapidly recognised the creative potential
potential applications even of this science: you start from scratch and shape
when my research appears everything! During the course of my thesis
very abstract. Therefore, as on virtual reality, I produced a device allowing
part of Disco , which relates manual actions to be performed using 3D objects
to the analysis and control displayed on a large screen. However, the
of interconnected systems solutions available at that time, mainly developed
for the automotive and aeronautical industries,
required complex and expensive devices. What is
driving my current research is precisely the desire
to make these tools accessible to as many people
as possible, in order for everyone to be able to use
them intuitively. I have been working along these
lines within the Iparla project, where we have
made use of the touch-screen interfaces of tablets
and smartphones to redefine human-computer
relations within mobility situations. I am hoping
to go further with Potioc , by exploring new ways
of manipulating 3D images while placing greater
emphasis on the pleasure of use, in particular
in the fields of art, culture, education and even
personal assistance. ”
27

30. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Research
New scientific
and social challenges
CONTRIBUTORS The institute has identified and is responding
Pascal Guitton,
Senior Research Scientist to new scientific and social challenges. Furthering
Stéphane Ubeda,
knowledge and developing technological expertise
Director of Technological and its effects is crucial for the research community
Development
and industrial operators.
Jean Roman,
Deputy Scientific Director
with responsibility for Applied Digital systems, which have permeated all aspects of our pro-
Mathematics, Computing fessional and private lives, are at the heart of our modern
and Simulation society. “We are working on numerous aspects associated
Roberto Di Cosmo,
with this revolution, which is frequently only perceived by
Director of Irill users, recalls Pascal Guitton, “but our role is also to produce
”
breakthrough research, which tackles new challenges that are
Jean-Pierre Banâtre, often hard to identify on the face of it. We specifically exam-
”
Director of European
Partnerships
ine these new subjects with Heads of Science and Deputy
Scientific Directors, by setting up meetings between research-
ers on shared topics, for example.
Generating new research topics
“In 2011, we organised three national seminars on cross-
disciplinary topics, he adds. Researchers swap ideas and work
together for several days. New connections and even, occa-
sionally, new multidisciplinary projects emerge. Thus, fifteen
”
or so people met to discuss their work on brain-computer
interfaces; devices that allow computers or machines to be
controlled on the basis of measurements of the brain’s electri-
cal activity. Although it is still at the early exploratory stage,
this research will, one day, allow severely disabled people to
access part of the digital world (games, virtual museums, etc.).
In addition, Inria has independently organised days designed
to present the results of various joint scientific actions.These
talks have generally only been attended by a small number
of researchers.To increase their visibility, scientific workshops
covering all incentive actions were organised for the first time
28

31. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Algorithmic geometry:
quadrics intersection,
Vegas team.
Christine Guillemot,
Inria Senior Research Scientist, Rennes –
Bretagne Atlantique Research Centre
“Standardising is a way
of promoting our experience“
For the majority of audiovisual alongside them. This is extremely
and multimedia applications, time-consuming, but, nevertheless,
as for telecommunications, strategic.This ensures direct contact
standardisation is essential to with the technological challenges
guarantee interoperability between of the moment and, in the event of
equipment developed by industrial a successful outcome, it guarantees
operators. As soon as a new that our results have a marked
technology emerges, like 3D impact within applications. The
”
television did recently, a group standardisation process generally
of industrial operators takes the lasts a number of years, during
42
initiative (in this case MPEG, which the algorithm is improved.
Motion Picture Experts Group) This entails comprehensive testing.
to develop standards. “As part “For these aspects of software
of our research into compression development, we benefit from
and image transmission three years funding for an engineer standardisation
algorithms, standardisation via a technology development assignments were
is a natural and important step action. This allows us to finalise undertaken in 2011,
in promoting our results, our algorithms and to improve in particular with bodies
even though publication our chances, even though success including the IET F, ISO,
remains an essential means may not always be forthcoming. ” W3C, ETSI and OGF.
of making our work and progress
known to the scientific
community. Nevertheless,
”
given what is at stake economically,
it is mainly industrial operators
who submit solutions to
standardisation bodies such
as the ISO. Researchers generally
work upstream, transferring
their technology to an industrial
operator who files patents
and protects the solution. “We
occasionally need to contribute
Christine Guillemot is leader of the Temics project-team, which has
become Sirocco . With four researchers, two engineers and 11 PhD students
and post-doctoral researchers, she is working on 2D and 3D image
and video sequence processing including, specifically, on aspects relating
to the compression and communication of content.
29

32. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Research
On the left: Social robotics,
in November 2011. “These joint research presentations, which
prototype robots in the form are often packed with information, have therefore been ben-
of lamps designed to interact eficial to around a hundred researchers from all the research
with humans in their daily centres, explains Pascal Guitton. “Forty or so subjects,
”
environment, Flowers team.
grouped into seven topics, have been discussed. These meet-
”
On the right: An immersive ings will continue in 2012.
and interactive video wall
(CadWall) from Inria Sophia Supporting large-scale projects
Antipolis – Méditerranée.
To encourage synergy between teams and promote multi-
disciplinary research, the institute is supporting large-scale
initiatives; these are four-year projects, which bring together
several project-teams that complement each other to tackle a
complex challenge.The aim is for this research to have a sig-
nificant impact – including outside Inria – whether the result
is finalised software, a tried and tested approach or a major
7
theoretical breakthrough. In this way, the large-scale PAL
(Personally Assisted Living) initiative is enabling nine project-
teams (Grenoble, Sophia Antipolis, Nancy and Rennes) to
jointly design and test personal home assistance technologies
active large-scale
initiatives in 2011. (for elderly, disabled or injured individuals).
“What makes the system original is the ability to combine the
acquisition of data, indicating a fall, for example, with a re-
sponse by autonomous robotic systems, explains Stéphane
”
Ubeda, “all at an affordable cost. We have fitted two apartments
19
(in Nancy and Grenoble) with non-intrusive sensors and con-
ducted initial automated experiments, as well as protocols,
with around thirty patients. Academics and industrial opera-
”
active collaborative tors have also been able to share these experiences.To increase
research actions (ARC) the impact of this research, the institute has decided to broad-
in 2011. ly strengthen its support for large-scale initiatives in 2012.
Promoting technological development
Software development forms part of the daily lives of every
Inria team, within the framework of European or French
National Research Agency (ANR) projects or, quite simply,
30

33. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Anne Canteaut,
Inria Senior Research Scientist,
Paris – Rocquencourt Research Centre
“We are evaluating
the security
of cryptographic
algorithms“
It’s a strange game that
cryptography researchers play:
on the one hand, they invent
algorithms for authenticating
confidential files, and on the other,
they launch attacks on competing
algorithms to expose their flaws.
This is precisely how, in 2004,
the dozen “hash” standards – key
functions that create a sort of file
fingerprint – were found to have
when illustrating or explaining a research task. Inria has flaws. The American NIST (National
created a dedicated organisation to ensure that all the teams Institute of Standards andTechnology)
are able to develop high quality code or put hardware launched a competition to define
a new and more robust standard
platforms in place (such as the wheelchairs or hinged arms by the end of 2012. “Having reached
developed within PAL). the semi-finals with our algorithm
Engineers from the Experimentation and Development known as Shabal, we have been
Departments (SED) within each Inria research centre – all evaluating the security of the five
scientists and the majority of them with a PhD – and the fifty finalists that are still in the running,
or so young contracted engineers who assist them every since 2009. Seeking and examining
new attacks also gives us new ideas
year provide the researchers with support. for functions. For example, knowing
Within the framework of technology development actions that the high level of polynomials
(ADT), the engineers join research teams for at least two for hashing is one of the relevant
years. These ADTs, launched via internal calls for projects, security criteria, we developed
are expanding with between 30 and 50 new ones every year. a brand new mathematical tool
for evaluating it correctly. This
resulted in the Japanese Luffa
Increasing fruitful collaborations algorithm being eliminated from
The Mobsim ADT, for example, is bringing together three the finalists. It has become the
”
engineers as part of the development of the NS3 radio net- basis for more general theoretical
work simulator which, promoted by Inria, is in the process work. “In order to successfully
of becoming the worldwide standard. quantify the security of hashing
functions, we have developed
Within the framework of the excellence-in-equipment (Équipex) new techniques, which precisely
FIT (Future Internet ofThings) project, which was launched in evaluate the quality of the algorithm’s
2011, web-based communication by networks of several hun- construction and the impact
dred physical measurement sensors installed on five sites of imperfections. ”
(Grenoble, Lyon, Rennes, Lille and Paris) is tested, thanks to
technologies developed by around a dozen engineers. This
equipment is made available to all French researchers. Anne Canteaut has been the Secret
Finally, as part of the Sofa research platform, which brought project- team leader since 2008.
Within her team, with three permanent
together five project-teams to work on a realistic simulation researchers and around ten PhD students
of organs, in 2011, four engineers completed the development and post-doctoral researchers, she takes
of a real-time medical simulation software suite (Mix-Surg), an interest in the protection of information,
which will be used in the future university hospital institute in particular in the security of cryptographic
algorithms. In 2012, she will chair the
(IHU) in Strasbourg. programme committee for the domain’s
This therefore means that development is able to break international conference: Fast Software
through barriers: “Engineers from Inria and the Fraunhofer Encryption (FSE) in Washington.
31

34. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Research
On the left: ANG,
Institute in Darmstadt (Germany) will take three to four years
an experimental smart to create a fully interoperable generic environment for
walking frame, Coprin team. controlling virtual or augmented reality systems, which are
applicable to all domains, with the focus on remote learning
On the right: wifibot all-terrain
guided robots, Pops team.
for surgical operations and remote industrial maintenance, ”
explains Stéphane Ubeda.
Creating experimental platforms
Dedicated to scientific experimentation for the evaluation of
algorithms, for example, experimental platforms, generally
developed with territorial partners, are managed by research-
ers and, mainly, by development engineers. They are open
to scientists and companies in a wide variety of research and
400
application fields.
“Num3sis in Sophia Antipolis is a modular architecture
devoted to scientific computation and digital simulation“ ,
explains Jean Roman. “It allows software to be rapidly inte-
development engineers.
grated, complex simulations to be run and results to be
viewed. Thanks to the work undertaken by the SED, it can
potentially be adapted for all applications, including medical
imaging and fluid dynamics. ”
Jean Roman also refers to the PlaFRIM (Bordeaux), a fed-
erative high-performance computing platform for research
in computer science and mathematics. Operational since
May 2010, it allows algorithms and scientific computation
codes to be tested before being deployed by large national
computing centres.
32

35. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
©GeoEye
©ASI
On the left: Data visualisation
using Graphdice software,
Aviz team.
On the right: Automatic
satellite image classification
(©GeoEye and ASI),
Ayin/Ariana team.
The European Research Council
recognises the visionary aspect of Inria
x2
For the fourth year in succession, new call for projects. “Seven
this European funding programme researchers from our teams won
(the European Research Council, ERC awards in 2011: Xavier Rival,
more widely known by its English Rémi Gribonval, Erwan Faou and
acronym the ERC) is rewarding Andreas Enge in the young Inria’s workforce has
researchers with particularly researchers’ category, and doubled in ten years.
ambitious and visionary ideas. The Marie-Paule Cani (INP Grenoble),
first ever prize winners from 2007 , Nicholas Ayache and Dale Miller
will submit their final results in in the experienced researchers
2012. “Inria has had winners every category. What is needed for
”
10
time, which is rare, both for young this funding is to be individual.
researchers (for which funding can Selection takes account of the
be up to 1.5 million euros) and for candidate’s potential and the
experienced researchers (up to excellence of his/her career as well
2.5 million euros). The 23 winners as the quality of his/her project, to 15 Inria candidates
within Inria project-teams – 18 for the originality of his/her approach apply for each ERC awards
computer science research and and the anticipated impact. The programme.
5 for applied mathematics – benefit ERC has already awarded more
from exceptional conditions, says
” than 2,200 grants across all
Jean-Pierre Banâtre, Director of disciplines. In the field of computer
European Partnerships. In concrete science, Inria is the European
terms, thanks to these unusual establishment which is home to
financial resources, they create or the largest number of winners.
strengthen their team and devote The ERC’s ambitious and globally
75 to 80 % of their time to their unique funding programme
project, with a great deal of (7 billion euro over five years) will
freedom. This is every researcher’s be repeated and even expanded
dream, which is why there is an for the period between 2013 and
increasing interest in the ERC, 2020. This funding has now
even though the selection process become coveted and candidates
is rigorous (the success rate is from all around the world apply
10 to 15 %). There are now between to conduct research in Europe.
10 and 15 Inria candidates for each
33

36. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Research
On the left: Scan of white
human brain matter
(coronal image),
Asclepios team.
On the right: Molecular
manipulation via a multi-
touch screen, Mint team.
Irill or free software
as a research topic
6%
market share for free
software and related
The Initiative for Research and Innovation in Free
Software (Irill) was launched in October 2010 by Inria,
Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University and Paris-Diderot
University. The research centre welcomes researchers
services in France
(2.5 billion euros on a who are interested in new problems posed by the
national market for
software and services
development of free software, who are prepared to
worth 40 billion euro). create tools to resolve them and to promote them
with developers. This is a particularly innovative
scheme in terms of both shape and substance.
x2
The quantity of free
software has almost
“Nowadays, almost all software users make use of free soft-
ware, claims Roberto Di Cosmo, Director of Irill. This means
”
that this movement, which began in the 1980s, has expanded.
“We cannot support the idea that all software should be free,
but this will become the rule for technical reasons: there needs
doubled every two years
within Debian distribution
to be access to all the source code in order to create and de-
(used by Ubuntu). velop increasingly complex computer systems, which are
subject to increasingly stringent quality requirements. ”
Therefore, the monitoring, management and communication
tools used by developers of free software need to evolve: the
size of these “technical objects” is growing as the amount of
software rises and the communities developing them expand.
Irill’s primary mission is to become a globally unique centre
of expertise, attracting researchers who are able to identify
the issues of these growing code bases and to finalise solu-
tions and tools permitting this collaborative development.
“These kinds of candidates are still fairly rare. In the world of
computer science, researchers who publish articles and source
code developers rarely speak to each other. Our aim is to con-
nect these communities with each other and with industrial
operators, in particular the SMEs who use free software. ”
34

37. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Julia Lawall,
Inria Senior Research Scientist, Paris –
Rocquencourt Research Centre
“It provides
the opportunity to
interact closely with
this community“
Julia Lawall is a quiet campaigner
for free software. Nevertheless,
her research has already helped
radically change practices within
the Linux community, with its
Free software disrupts the lines… of code free operating system developed
The efforts of Irill, which is home to around twenty people, in 1991 now being one of the most
are starting to bear fruit. Fifteen or so meetings were organised reliable and widely used. She
in 2011 to bring dozens of developers from different commu- became interested in free software
nities together (GNU, Debian, LibreOffice suite) for several somewhat by chance, in 2005,
days and to foster contacts. when studying the problems of
switching from one version of Linux
“We don’t offer any permanent posts, but welcome research- to another, with Gilles Muller, at
ers working for our partners. Our goal is to support projects the time at the École des Mines
that bring together researchers who share our view, to make in Nantes (now at the Inria Paris –
them more visible and allow them to benefit from our dy- Rocquencourt Research Centre).
namic approach for a few years.They will subsequently make They identified a key issue for
which they developed a language
room for other researchers and projects and remain in contact, that was able to identify
building a large community. At present, Irill is hosting three
” conversions from millions of lines
flagship research projects, all designed to improve the qual- of Linux code, to specify them and
ity of code, programmed in OCaml language developed by even to search for errors, a unique
Inria: the Coccinelle project, involving the development of generic tool. This was a fantastic gift
Linux kernel code, headed by Julia Lawall, the Mancoosi for Linux, incorporated into the
kernel of the system in 2010
project examining the quality of free software distribution, and now used by the majority
with, specifically, Stefano Zacchiroli, the leader of the Debian of developers. “Working in the field
project and the Ocsigen project, investigating a new way of of free software, which is outstanding
programming rich web applications. in terms of quality and functions,
Irill’s second mission is to help modernise education in order provides a fantastic opportunity to
to prepare computer science students for these new forms of interact directly with the developers
and to discover new issues for
collaborative working, from both a technical and human point research. It also guarantees that
of view.The working environment can actually be confusing, our work will have a direct impact. ”
with discussions between contributors occasionally being Although Julia Lawall is a special
animated. “We began by getting computer science research- case within the Linux community,
lecturers together to swap experiences and best practice. having joined Irill in order to
continue with her project, she is
Ultimately, this could give rise to a shared model for courses, now surrounded by scientists
or even masters degrees specialising in free software. ” engaged in similar research.
Its third mission is technology transfer and development.
“This is what will take the longest, acknowledges Roberto Di
”
Cosmo. For forty years, the software business has been based Following a degree in mathematics and
on the sale of licences, a model that is now reaching its limits, computer sciences in Ohio (United States),
including for music and video.There is now a need to promote a PhD thesis at the University of Indiana
on programming languages, followed by
the adaptation of software, its qualification and certification, post-doctoral research into the optimisation
training and other related services – all emerging fields that of programs at Inria’s Rennes – Bretagne
require new skills. Atlantique Research Centre, Julia Lawall has
been a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen
(Denmark) for eleven years working on the
robustness of operating systems. She is now
head of the Coccinelle project at Irill.
35

38. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Partnerships
Increasingly structured
partnerships
CONTRIBUTORS Research structuring plans within computational
Antoine Petit,
Deputy Managing Director sciences are continuing to bear fruit. At the same time,
Hélène Kirchner,
the numerous calls for proposals for the Future
Director of International Investments Programme, which punctuated the year
Relations
2011, have allowed for the consolidation of
Olivier Festor,
Senior Research Scientist
partnership and technology transfer policies, which
at EIT ICT Labs are a priority for the institute.
Thierry Priol,
former Senior Research
“Partnerships, whether in France or around the world, are es-
Scientist at EIT ICT Labs sential if we are to be at the forefront in our fields of research and
known and recognised on the international stage, says Antoine
”
Petit, Deputy Managing Director of Inria.This view guides the
institute’s partnership policy on all levels.That is why, this year,
Inria signed a framework cooperation agreement with the French
National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). “This agreement
underlines the complementarity of our actions and our desire to
work together” explains Antoine Petit. “It also documents our
joint contribution to the establishment of site policies in the field
of digital sciences, in close cooperation with universities and
schools. Thus, holding an annual site committee meeting will
”
allow the two organisations, universities and schools to discuss
their priorities and establish a genuine coordinated policy.
Investments that consolidate Inria’s policy
Within the framework of calls for proposals for the Future
Investments Programme (PIA), Inria has supported universities
and schools by becoming involved in 17 selected laboratories of
excellence (Labex) and three excellence initiatives (Idex). “This
programme has also provided the opportunity for the institute
to assert its presence within life and environmental sciences, ”
explains Antoine Petit. For example, the institute is involved in
three of the six selected university hospital institutes, in a number
of bioinformatics projects and two institute of excellence projects
36

39. 2011,
at the heart of Inria
Optimisation of semantic web
data storage, Leo team.
Marc Thiriet,
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
researcher, Paris – Rocquencourt Research Centre
“Our action has two aspects:
research and dissemination“
“Tony Wen-Hann Sheu, from earned us a Franco-Taiwanese
National Taiwan University, spent award, each receiving 19,000
nine months at the Jacques-Louis- euros. This money allowed me to
Lions laboratory in Paris in 2001. fund the summer school (Cermacs)
We had a mutual interest in the at Luminy, and Tony Wen-Hann
biomechanics of respiratory and Sheu organised a similar seminar
circulatory systems and began the following year in Taiwan. We
a collaboration, which has since are currently looking to establish
extended to the Taida Institute a twinning programme between
for Mathematical Sciences and our two laboratories in order,
the Taiwanese high-performance in particular, to explore acupuncture
83%
computing centre. We also devoted remedies. We will be submitting
a great deal of energy to the an application as part of the
dissemination of knowledge, cooperation agreement concluded
by establishing student exchanges between the National Science
for summer schools and by Council of Taiwan (NSC) and Inria, of project-teams are joint
regularly holding conferences. which will enable associate teams teams with universities,
Our activities were supported both to be formed between the two grandes écoles and other
by France (Inria and Égide, the countries. ” research organisations.
French Institute in Taiwan) and
Taiwan (the National Science
Council and representatives
in France). For 2007-2008, we
specifically benefited from a
“Hubert-Curien partnership” (PHC)
for the development of scientific
exchanges, funded by the French
Ministry of Foreign and European
Affairs with the support of the
French Ministry of Higher Education
and Research. This dual aspect
of research and dissemination
MarcThiriet is a member of the Reo project-team. In 2011, together with his colleague
TonyWen-Hann Sheu, from the University of Taipei, he received the Franco-
Taiwanese Scientific Foundation Award, created by the National Science Council of
Taiwan (NSC) and the French Academy of Sciences.This prize was awarded for their
work on physiological fluids, which they began together around ten years previously.
37

40. Inria — Annual Report 2011
ASSIGNMENTS
Partnerships
o o o o o o
Multi-resolution study
of tropical instability
waves in the Pacific Ocean,
collaboration between
the French National Centre
for Scientific Research (LPO), relating to carbon-free energies (IEED). “The PIA has also allowed
Inria (Moise team) and us to reinforce our role as a national player in the field of technol-
the IRD (Legos, Locean).
ogy transfer and innovation. Inria is therefore an active member
of two of the eight projects approved by the technology research
institute (IRT) and a partner in two other projects. ”
The first fruits of the major European alliance
Created at the end of 2009, the European Knowledge and
11
Innovation Community EIT ICT Labs (French involvement in
which is coordinated by Inria) has witnessed research projects
actually being established this year. “Inria is the 3rd largest con-
million euros of funding tributor, participating in 47 activities, in terms of research, technol-
provided for ten years ogy transfer and training, and the 2nd largest contributor in terms
by the Chilean government, of budget, receiving 1.9 million euro in 2011, underlines Olivier
”
for the Ciric research and
innovation centre project.
Festor, who succeeded Thierry Priol as the Senior Research
Scientist for EIT ICT Labs in November. Inria teams are involved
in two research action lines relating to the architecture of the
Internet and cloud computing.
They are also very much involved in ICT Labs thematic actions
11
as well as in its technology transfer activities. “The action lines
assemble interested partners around a given topic in order to
identify avenues for research, prototyping or technology trans-
Inria teams involved in fer, which are implemented under the aegis of activities, ex- ”
associate teams with Chile. plains Thierry Priol.These tools specifically allow shortcomings
between research and technology transfer to be remedied by
providing the means to progress further in terms of developing
a technology. Consequently, for example, the Myriads project-
team has been able to evaluate prototypes produced by the
100
people attended
the first Inria@Silicon
European XtreemOS and Contrail projects on cloud infrastruc-
ture software in order to facilitate technology transfers.
Increasing involvement in South America…
International news has heavily featured two major projects.The
Valley workshop.
Ciric project (Communication and Information Research and
Innovation Center) was selected at the end of 2011, in response to a
38