ESPCI Paris

Introduction

ESPCI ParisTech is a leading French Grande École training scientists and engineers at the graduate level, as well as a world-renowned research institution and an engine of innovation for industry. Founded in 1882, ESPCI ParisTech has been under the ægis of the City of Paris for over 125 years. Among its current and former faculty are a number of Nobel laureates (Pierre and Marie Curie, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and Georges Charpak), as well asother exceptionally innovative scientists (most notably Paul Langevin). Located in the heart of Paris, ESPCI ParisTech is a founding member of Paris Sciences et Lettres, the prestigious network of academic institutions on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève campus, in the heart of Paris. ESPCI ParisTech is also a founding member of ParisTech, the Paris Institute of Technology, which brings together the top12 engineering and business schools in France. ESPCI ParisTech students are selected through an exacting, highly competitive process and are particularly well trained: classes are made of 80 students, with an exceptionally high faculty/student ratio. As the ability to master both knowledge and skills across disciplines is crucial to foster innovation and solve increasingly complex technological challenges, ESPCI ParisTech provides students with a truly cross-disciplinary education in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, rounded with the basics in social sciences. The 4-year curriculum balances a high level of theory with extensive practice in the labs on campus and offers students numerous opportunities to hone their skills in actual research situations. After graduation, 65% of a class typically follows up with a PhD. Eventually, 80% of ESPCI ParisTech graduates pursue a career in industry, mostly in R&D but also downstream thereof (production, recycling, etc.), as well as in IP, financials, etc. A few graduates launch a start-up each year. ESPCI ParisTech is home to 17 high-profile laboratories advancing scientific knowledge and pioneering technical know-how in a variety of research areas, ranging from polymers to telecommunications, from nanobiophysics to organic synthesis, from environmental science to biomedical imaging, from neurobiology to microfluidics, from soft matter to quantum physics, from colloids to prototyping for industry. Research at ESPCI ParisTech lies ahead of the industry R&D curve. It focuses on anticipating the needs that will arise in the short to distant future, and on inventing the adequate solutions. Using these real-world opportunities to explore and understand fundamental aspects of nature or matter, scientists at ESPCI ParisTech publish one peer-reviewed article per day. Exposure to the perspectives and issues of industry fosters a culture of commercial success achieved through technological innovation. Scientists at ESPCI ParisTech file one patent each week and regularly launch technology-driven start-ups to capitalize on the new avenues that their research opens.