Inria - Strategic plan 2008-2012

INRIA

Strategic
Plan
2008 2012
-

C ontents

1
1.1
INRIA: A Brief History
From Inception to the Late 1990s page 6
1.2 1999-2003: Unprecedented Growth page 8
1.3 2004-2007: Consolidation and New Growth page 10

2
2.1
ICST Research: Context and Key Issues
Societal Issues page 28
2.2 Scientific and Technological Challenges page 31
2.3 The International and National Framework

3
for ICST Research page 33

INRIA: Strategic Priorities and Ambitions
3.1 Modeling, Programming, Communicating
and Interacting page 41
3.1.1 Modeling, Simulation and Optimization

of Complex Dynamic Systems page 42
3.1.2 rogramming: security and reliability
P
of computing systems page 48
3.1.3 Information, Computation

and Communication Everywhere page 56
3.1.4 Interaction with Real and Virtual Worlds page 64
3.2 Computational Sciences and Engineering page 71
3.2.2 Computational Sciences page 78
3.2.3 Computational Medicine page 88
3.3 Social Concerns Covered by INRIA Priorities page 93

4
3.4 Emerging Fields page 95

Actions and Strategy for Achieving the Objectives
4.1 INRIA’s Role in France page 98
4.2 Improving the Institute’s Attractiveness page 100
4.3 Research, Development and Transfer page 110
4.4 European and International Relations page 118
4.5 Internal Organization and Operation page 120

Glossary page 124

Strategic Plan 2008-2012

INRIA:
A Brief History

In this chapter:

H
1.1 From Inception to the Late 1990s page 6

1.2 1999-2003: Unprecedented Growth page 8

1.3 2004-2007: Consolidation and New Growth page 10

1.1 From Inception to the Late 1990s

INRIA’s strategy for the coming years draws on its but also a visionary who, as early as the 1950s,
history, and in particular the strong growth dynamic understood that the advent of computers would
lead to major advances in applied mathematics
that developed in the early 2000s.
and computer science. Several aspects of the
rich heritage left by Jacques-Louis Lions are still

1.1
IRIA, the French institute for computer science in evidence at INRIA today:
and automatic control research, was founded in • a research institute combining computer
197 at Rocquencourt, near Versailles, as part of science, automatic control and applied mathe-
From Inception to the “Computer Development Plan” designed to
improve French computer science research and
matics within a single institution, where they
interact with each other in depth;
the Late 1990s the industry. It was renamed INRIA in 1979 and • a positive vision of industrial relations as a
gained the status of EPST* (public scientific and source of promising new research questions;
technological establishment) in 1985. • a structure based on teams of 10-20 resear-
Most of the foundational work was carried out by chers sharing common goals, called “research
Jacques-Louis Lions, who performed research project-teams”, without any intermediate,
in applied mathematics at IRIA starting in 197 department-like structure;
and became the first chairman of INRIA, from • special attention paid to training, particularly
1979 until 1984. He was not only one of the grea- doctoral training, in close cooperation with
test applied mathematicians of the 20th century, universities and engineering schools;
• strong involvement in international
cooperation.
Alain Bensoussan, automatic control specialist,
professor at the University of Paris-Dauphine
and former colleague of Jacques-Louis Lions,
succeeded the latter as chairman of INRIA from
1984 to 199. Bensoussan continued in the
same vein as his predecessor, consolidating
INRIA’s reputation in Europe and worldwide. The
Institute played a pioneering role in introducing
the Internet in France and supporting the creation
of companies as early as 1984: 25 companies
were launched between 1984 and 1994, including
Ilog, a world leader in software components for
optimization. INRIA became heavily involved
in consolidating European Research Area, in
particular by creating the ERCIM Consortium in
Germany, founded in 1989 with the GMD, and
the CWI in the Netherlands. In 1995, INRIA was
chosen by MIT and the European Commission
to be the European host for the World Wide Web
Consortium (WC), the web standards body.
During the same period, INRIA developed
major partnerships with French research orga-
nizations and universities. New research units
were created : the first one on the Rennes
University campus in 1980, followed by one in
198 in the brand new Sophia-Antipolis techno-
logy cluster near Nice and still another in Lorraine
in 198 on the Nancy University campus. The
fifth research unit, Rhône-Alpes, was opened in
Grenoble in 1992, with a branch in Lyon.

Jacques-Louis Lions - 1980. * A list of acronyms can be found in the appendix.

Strategic Plan 2008-2012

H istory
In 1994, INRIA issued its first Strategic Plan, Lorraine and Rhône-Alpes. The Institute’s work
which emphasized the role of information and in general suffered from the lack of research
communication science and technology (ICST) support staff (engineers, technicians and admi-
in disseminating information, as well as the nistrative personnel) needed to support research
importance of applications and industrial rela- adequately. The situation was further complicated
tions, and introduced the motto reflecting the by the fact that CNRS and university research
Institute’s strategic goals: scientific excellence departments had to start signing contracts with
and technology transfer. The plan energized the Ministry for their funding around 1995-199.
INRIA and its staff to develop activities capi- This new development created tension between
talizing on research, as can be seen from the INRIA and these establishments, because it was
fact that the Institute’s resources for research difficult to reconcile the Institute’s organization
contracts doubled between 1994 and 1999, into small teams with organizations based on
whereas the permanent workforce increased departments.
by barely 10%. This was also a period of major
external change, with the “convergence” of
computing, telecommunications and audiovisual
technology, the deregulation of telecommunica-
tions, and the rapid growth of the Internet and
information and communication technology. In
keeping with these changes, INRIA significantly
redirected its research efforts and began to focus
on communications, especially on Internet and
web technologies and network modeling. At the
same time, the Institute actively continued its
work in the field of medical technology, which
had been developing gradually since the early
1990s.
During the period from 1984-199, several aspects
of INRIA’s internal policy were re-emphasized:
• the Institute improved the quality and rigor of
the research project-team assessment process
and encouraged researchers to create new
project-teams and take on more leadership
roles within them;
• it increased its efforts to support the creation
of companies;
• it promoted openness by strongly encouraging
mobility for researchers and engineers and by
recruiting more widely from the pool of external
candidates;
• INRIA expanded its partnerships with French
research organizations by developing more
projects jointly with other establishments and
by launching the highly successful concept of
“cooperative research initiatives,” which were
open to external teams, to develop new joint
efforts and address original research topics.
During this period, however, the Institute also
encountered some serious problems. These
difficulties were linked in part to the unfavorable
economic context and the heavy constraints on
the State budget, which made it very difficult to
expand the two most recent research units in

Strategic Plan 2008-2012 7

1.2 1999-200: Unprecedented Growth

Bernard Larrouturou, applied mathematician four-year contract, which called for increasing
1.2 and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, was
appointed president of INRIA in 199. From 1997
the number of government-funded positions at
INRIA from 7 in 2000 to 1,100 and 80 fixed-
1999-2003: onward, INRIA increased its efforts to advocate
the strategic importance of information and
term contracts in 200. Receiving such a high
priority despite the budget constraints on funding
Unprecedented communication science and technology (ICST) for research over the following years meant that

Growth in France and throughout Europe. In 1999, the
Institute adopted an ambitious new strategic
by 200, INRIA had 1,148 state-funded positions:
1,01 permanent positions and 117 fixed term
plan, strongly urging that ICST be given a clear contracts.
priority in the national research policy. The plan
also stated INRIA’s resolve to consolidate its An Institute in the Thick of International
leading role within the national program and its Competition
ambition to play a more active role in the fierce The Institute considerably stepped up its efforts
international competition in ICST, aiming to be to attract more foreign research scientists,
recognized within a few years as the European aiming to become far more international in
leader and one of the best research centers in scope: one-third of the permanent research
its field worldwide. scientists recruited by INRIA between 2001 and
200 were not of French nationality. In addi-
A Top Priority for Government Authorities tion, the Institute greatly expanded its visiting
2000 was a pivotal year: the Interministerial researcher policy, reserving approximately
Council for the Information Society held on July one-third of all positions created for visiting
10, 2000 and chaired by the prime minister professors and civil servants from French
noted that the strategic plan drafted by INRIA government technical bodies. Fixed-term
the year before had been a determining factor contracts were also offered to recent enginee-
in defining an ambitious national ICST policy, ring graduates to offer them a highly technical
and it announced a significant increase in experience as they entered the working world.
government research efforts in the field. In cooperation with partner universities and
The prime minister agreed to double the engineering schools, INRIA strove to increase
Institute’s resources over a ten-year period, the number of PhD students on research
and announced the signing of the 2000-200 project-teams. This number rose from 50 to
750 between the first half of 2000 and the first
half of 200; one-third of the students were
foreigners.
There were many indicators that INRIA’s inter-
national influence was expanding rapidly:
more articles published in international jour-
nals with greater impact, over and above the
increase in staff; more foreign visitors, especially
from Asia and all across Europe; the Institute’s
heavy involvement in the fifth European Union
Framework Program (FP), where it was much
more involved than in the fourth FP; and the
increasing renown of the ERCIM consortium,
led by INRIA and serving as European host for
the WC in 200, on the Institute’s initiative.
Many observers began to see the institute
as one of the leading European research
centers in its field.
A strategic assessment committee made
up almost exclusively of well-known figures
from abroad – the Visiting Committee – met
for the first time in 2002 to assess the work
Object tracking — MAIA. of the Institute’s management and evaluate

8 Strategic Plan 2008-2012

H istory
INRIA as a whole . Finally, the 200 overhaul of tific golas and the first field of application, the
INRIA’s scientific council provided the oppor- Institute considerably expanded its research
tunity to give the board a clearly European on telecommunications networks (broadband
composition. networks, mobiles, wireless, ad hoc), multimedia
data transport and processing, middleware
Stronger National Partnerships development for distributed computing and grid
and Leadership computing. In addition, the fields of health and
In France, INRIA expanded its partnerships biology were far more successful than expected,
with higher-education establishments. In 200, making substantial advances in bioinformatics,
almost two-thirds of the Institute’s research medical technology and neurosciences.
projects were joint projects with such establis- INRIA’s commitment to focus its efforts on
hments – roughly twice as many as in 1999. The high-priority subjects also affected its work on
development plan approved by the Board of technology transfer. Despite economic diffi-
Directors called for opening three new research culties, the telecommunications sector stood
units over the long term in the southwest and out as the prime industrial field to which INRIA
the north of France and on the Saclay plateau. research contributed, and it developed close
On January 1, 2002, the Institute decided to partnerships with leading European and inter-
create a virtual sixth research unit called Futurs, national companies, including Alcatel, France
based on the Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay sites, Telecom, Hitachi and Philips. The Institute’s
to serve as an incubator for the new units and industrial relationships in France, especially with
assist in integrating them into the internal struc- SMEs, expanded through its involvement with the
ture of INRIA. national research and technological innovation
At the same time, the Institute implemented a networks set up by the government. INRIA and its
INRIA’s commitment geographical expansion policy for each of the five subsidiary INRIA-Transfert, founded in 1998 to act
to focus its efforts on older research units: in 200, there were around
fifteen “off-site” project-teams in Besançon,
as incubator and set up the very first funds, reso-
lutely pursued their start-up support activities. The
high-priority subjects Cachan, Lannion, Marne-la-Vallée, Marseille, number of companies incubated at INRIA topped
Metz, Paris and Lyon. 0. Based on its experience with the WC, the
also affected its Institute encouraged the creation of consortiums
Clear Scientific Policy with academic and industrial partners to share
work on technology In light of the government’s priorities, the Institute development efforts and increase the chances
devoted itself to focusing on the following five of success for several open-source software
transfer. high-priority goals : packages arising from INRIA research, such as
• mastering the digital infrastructure by being able Scilab and ObjectWeb.
to program, compute and communicate over
the Internet and heterogeneous networks; Internal Weak Points
• designing new applications using the Web and Such rapid growth − approximately 50% over
multimedia databases; three years − inevitably came with many internal
• knowing how to produce reliable software; changes that were sometimes difficult to
• designing and mastering automatic control for control. INRIA was faced with a large number of
complex systems; new issues concerning its organization, human
• combining simulation and virtual reality; resources policy, managerial practices and admi-
It also emphasized two major fields of nistrative management. Human resources policy
application: showed the clearest progress, while the greatest
• telecommunications and multimedia; difficulties were encountered in administrative
• health and biology. and financial management, mainly because
This subject-specific focus significantly the support staff was not sufficiently increased
influenced the dynamic of INRIA’s scien- in proportion to administrative tasks; manage-
tific work. In particular, for the first two scien- ment software tools were inappropriate and the
project, launched in 2001, to replace them with
an integrated information system was delayed;
* The recommendations of the Visiting Committee and lastly, management control procedures were
played a major role in drafting the next Strategic Plan. not sufficiently developed.


1. 2004-2007: Consolidation and New Growth

In late 200, Michel Cosnard, a computer As of the end of 200, these objectives collec-
1.3 scientist and professor at the University of Nice
-Sophia Antipolis was appointed chairman
tively represented over 75% of the efforts of
research project-teams, with the last two alone
2004-2007: of the Institute, followed from 2004-200 by
Gilles Kahn, a computer scientist and research
accounting for over 15%. The trend towards
life and health sciences and medical techno-
Consolidation and director at INRIA, who was chairman until his logy has been reflected in the research projects

New Growth death in early 200. Michel Cosnard took over
from Kahn in mid-200.
themselves: there are now more than 500
research scientists working in these areas.
The 2004-2007 strategic plan, approved by
the board of trustees in July 200, confirmed Creating Excellence Clusters
the Institute’s resolve to be recognized as INRIA is the only French national research esta-
the leading European research center and blishment exclusively dedicated to computer
one of the best in the world in the fields of science, automatic control and applied mathe-
computer science, automatic control and matics. The quality of its research scientists,
applied mathematics. To fulfill this ambition, its involvement in training through research
the Institute defined a policy based on clearly and its results in both research and technology
stated choices. transfer, along with its definite commitment
to building the European Research Area and
INRIA’s Seven Scientific and international competition, now make INRIA the
Technological Objectives most internationally visible French research
ICST innovation is essentially based on body in the field.
scientific research, sometimes at the most Working closely with higher education
fundamental level. The 2004-2007 strategic organizations, INRIA is continuing to develop
plan confirmed this priority, closely tying its research units, which play a leading role
together scientific excellence and techno- at the sites where they are located, aiming to
logy transfer. INRIA is, however, fully aware establish them as European and international
that it cannot cover all the research topics excellence clusters. The number of INRIA
in this vast field of science and techno- projects shared with higher education esta-
logy, given that the scope of its applications blishments or research organizations rose
and depth of interaction with other fields from 80 as of January 1, 2004 to 111 as of
is continuously increasing. This demands January 1, 2007. INRIA’s visiting researcher
making choices in scientific and techno- policy plays an important role in this respect.
logical policy. INRIA has set its priorities In 200 and 2007, over 50 research scientist
according to the skills available to it and the positions were reserved for research profes-
Institute’s appraisal of scientific, technolo- sors and research scientists on temporary
gical, economic and social objectives. assignments from other organizations, in
INRIA’s main goal for the period covered particular from other scientific fields, giving
by the 2004-2007 strategic plan was to priority to life sciences. For the same period,
make major scientific and technolo- approximately 55 research professors were
gical breakthroughs in keeping with the sent on assignments elsewhere.
following seven objectives: To prepare for the launch of INRIA research
• designing and mastering future infrastructures units in Bordeaux, Lille and Saclay on January
for networks and communication services; 1, 2008, many of the additional and redeployed
• developing information and multimedia resources were allocated to Futurs, with staff
processing; increasing from 2 as of January 1, 2004 to
• guaranteeing the reliability and security of 12 as of January 1, 2007.
intensive software systems;
• connecting models and data to simulate Research Organization
and master complex systems; During this period, in order to more effecti-
• combining simulation, visualization and vely reflect the national ICST research policy,
interaction; INRIA underwent a complete re-organization:
• modeling living systems; positions were created for a chief officer for
• fully integrating ICST into medical technology. science and technology and a chief officer


H istory
for resources and administration; the scien- activity and improving the quality of these
tific and operational departments were reor- developments have also become crucial
ganized; positions were created for deputy priorities to ensure success and continue
scientific directors and scientific advisors; the encouraging research scientists to optimize
research units were renamed “INRIA Research the most suitable technology transfer mode
Centers and research project were renamed from among the broad range of commercial
“INRIA Project-Teams” (IPT), most of which software licenses and open source software
were shared with other partners; the role of options. Each year, 0 to 70 software packages
research center directors was clearly defined; are now registered by the Institute’s teams.
and the project committee chairman was Technical units have been created and conso-
renamed “scientific officer”. lidated to support, professionalize and sustain
Research organization at INRIA continues technology development efforts of IPTs.
to be based mainly on IPTs. The visibility Technology start-ups are an excellent way
and impact of the work carried out in the of transferring technology, as demonstrated
Institute has been increased by promoting the by the creation of 2 start-ups between 200
collective aspect of research and by gathering and 200.
Working closely with research scientists into teams with clearly
identified goals. This organizational struc- Training and Knowledge Transfer
higher education ture allows for a great deal of flexibility and INRIA has come to see its contribution to
responsiveness as it ensures that IPTs exist training through research for young PhD
organizations, INRIA only for a limited time and are able to evolve students in computer science and applied
and change directions. The number of IPTs mathematics as one of its essential tasks,
is continuing to increased from 85 as of January , 200 to 17 carried out in close cooperation with its partner
as of January 1, 2007. At that point, average doctoral engineering schools. It continues to
develop its research IPT lifespan was 4. years, and the average be very active in doctoral training, focusing
units, which play age of IPT leaders was 4.4. on the quality of theses prepared within its
research project-teams and, more generally,
a leading role at Technology Transfer the quality of training received by PhD students
One priority for the Institute’s strategy has and their preparation for entering professional
the sites where been technology transfer. INRIA continues life after their thesis. The number of PhD
to invest in human and financial resources students in project-teams rose from 70 as
they are located, to improve quality and efficiency, parti- of January 1, 200 to 1,070 as of January 1,
cularly by increasing the number of CDRI 2007. The number of theses defended rose
aiming to establish (Development and Industrial Relations) posi- from 150 in 200 to 291 in 200. To facilitate
them as European tions, strengthening the DirDRI, and setting up
EDT (Experimentation and development tech-
this increase in the number of PhD students
while maintaining very high quality in terms
and international nical units). This organization combines the of recruitment, INRIA set up a state-funded
work of the CDRIs, which work closely with the PhD program to encourage mobility and host
excellence clusters. teams and partners in each center, with greater foreign PhD students. In 200, 25 subsidized
coordination and support responsibilities for (CORDI-S) INRIA doctoral research contracts
the DirDRI: leading strategic partnerships, a were made available, generating over 1,500
specialized department for managing intellec- applications. The PhD students recruited were
tual property, implementation and promotion all from other doctoral schools, and 85% of
of licenses for open source software. The them had a foreign nationality. In 2007, 40 new
Institute concentrated on strong partnerships CORDI-S were made available. In addition to
with major market leaders, both French and its involvement in doctoral training, INRIA also
foreign. These mid- to long-term partnerships extended its program for hosting subsidized
have been an essential tool in cooperation with post-doctoral researchers: the number rose
large industrial companies seeking to share from 7 in 200 to 80 in 2007. More and more
their research and development costs. Such young engineers are acquiring additional
major partners have included FT RD, EDF, technological training through research at
Alcatel Lucent and Thalès. INRIA, usually followed by recruitment into
Professionalizing the software development the industry.



European Partnerships laboratory LIAMA, in Beijing, which played
The creation of the European partnerships an important part in expanding cooperation
department demonstrated that building and with China on ICST, has been bolstered by the
developing the European Research Area is possibility of INRIA granting expatriate status
a high priority in the Institute’s policy. to some of its research scientists: 4 research
Following the fifth FP, where the Institute directors are in charge of joint teams along
participated in 110 projects, the sixth FP with the Institute for Automatic Control at the
was a challenge for INRIA and confirmed its Chinese Science Academy and the University
place as European leader for ICST research, of Tsinghua respectively. The LIAMA is part
particularly in the field of software develo- of an ambitious open-source software deve-
pment. As part of this program, INRIA has lopment project by the Scilab consortium set
participated in 119 European projects, inclu- up by INRIA. The Institute has also continued
ding 21 excellence networks, 2 integrated to develop cooperation programs with Hong
projects and 45 research projects, in liaison Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan,
with industrial partners, and has been respon- notably with major industrial companies such
sible for the scientific coordination of 15 of as Hitachi. A student exchange program has
these projects. also been developed with India. The number
With the Institute’s support, the ERCIM of Asian trainees in the INRIA International
consortium (European Research Consortium Internships program rose from 2 in 2004
on Informatics and Mathematics, which now to 54 in 2007.
brings together 18 national bodies) has INRIA’s relationships with the United States
gradually become more representative of and Canada have of course been very
the scientific and technological community in dynamic, with active cooperation involving
the field of ICST. Its international visibility was over one hundred universities and companies.
consolidated when INRIA entrusted it with the The United States’ undisputed leadership in
responsibility of European host of WC. the field of ICST has made it vitally impor-
The Institute has continued its efforts to tant to hold ongoing dialogue with the NSF
develop relationships with major European and also to establish relations with the NIH
industrial players: examples include taking in the fields of modeling living systems and
part in the Eurêka program, particularly as medical technology.
part of the ITEA program, and setting up the Partnerships with southern countries have
AIRD laboratory jointly with Philips, Thomson also been strengthened. In particular, INRIA
and the Fraunhofer Institute. has maintained its support for Africa with
In all major countries, the importance of regions the biannual CARI symposium and the scien-
in international cooperation has increased, tific interest group SARIMA.
and INRIA research centers have become The partner team program, in which an
involved in the international relations of the INRIA research project is linked to a team
regions in which they are located. Partnership of researchers in a foreign institution, has
agreements have been signed with institutions continued its successful expansion. The
located in Sarrebrücken and Kaiserslautern number of partner teams rose from 2 in
(several universities, the Max Planck Institute 2004 to 54 in 2007.
and DFKI), and these are promising examples Finally, the Institute’s scientific staff has conti-
of this policy. nued to broaden its international horizons,
with the proportion of foreign research scien-
International Relations tists, post-doctoral researchers and engineers
In a context where ICST is prioritized in on INRIA’s staff exceeding 15% in 200.
national research policies everywhere, INRIA
has continued to expand its international Research Support and Management
cooperation, targeting most of its efforts at Structures
a few major partnerships in certain geogra- In addition to the criteria of excellence
The Control Action Table, a 6 DoF interface phical areas. and relevancy for research and technology
for virtual reality — IPARLA. Asia has been the top geographical prio- transfer, the Institute’s work is also assessed
rity outside Europe. The Franco-Chinese in terms of how efficiently it is run.


H istory
Increased quality and efficiency of research significantly increased. Internal and external
support and assistance was a priority during staff mobility was particularly encouraged.
this period: Widespread open mobility campaigns for
• an improved information system, geared all government positions provided for many
to the planned changes for budgetary and support jobs to be opened for temporary
accounting management for EPSTs, was assignments. Lastly, a system was imple-
developed, deployed and gradually rolled mented to maintain an ongoing relationship
to all different levels of work within the with former INRIA personnel.
Institute;
• the policy of decentralization was continued,
and a “quality procedure” was developed to
manage stakeholder accountability; some
administrative and financial responsibilities
were decentralized by making research
unit directors responsible for giving orders;
a new computerized library management
system was acquired and deployed in all
research centers, providing access to a
shared catalogue for the various document
collections;
• a Hal-INRIA open archive server was imple-
mented, providing research scientists with
direct access to scientific literature;
• enhanced management and management
control methods and tools were implemented
ICST is prioritized under the modernization and simplification
protocol signed with the public accounts
in national research office; a “partnership control” was developed
with the accounting department; a mana-
policies everywhere. gement culture was encouraged within the
Institute through a sustained training effort;
flexibility and anticipation were improved,
in particular for purchasing.
The Institute defined and implemented an
ambitious policy on IT and communications
equipment to the best international stan-
dards, with very high performance networks,
computing and visualization resources and
grids allowing for far-reaching experiments
to be run and technological developments
implemented. Developing a dynamic human
resources policy has been a main prio-
rity. Heavy involvement by INRIA staff has
helped the Institute’s extensive recruitment
campaigns to achieve success, and scores
of INRIA staff who had been working under
precarious employment conditions for several
years gained more stable footing thanks to the
publication of new regulations and the high
level of commitment by the Institute’s direc-
tors. INRIA designed and drafted a manager’s
guide for use in supervision and management
training. Ongoing staff training efforts were



INRIA Today: As in other major scientific fields, ICST separated into different organizations, both
research includes producing and organi- in France and abroad. INRIA’s potential for
Burgeoning zing knowledge as well as extracting and scientific and technological contribution
perfecting general and in-depth ideas that would be much more restricted and narrow if
Scientific Fields are then analyzed, developed and applied. it were simply a computer science research
These ideas aim to solve many new and institute, since the interactions between
sometimes unexpected problems, whose computer science and applied mathematics
emergence often results from extremely are constantly growing; furthermore, they are
rapid technological progress, particularly the essential in order to meet new challenges
exponential increase in the power of micro- in the ICST sector and its interactions with
processors, the communications capacity of other fields. Consequently, INRIA’s direc-
fiber optics, memory density and magnetic tors are constantly seeking to ensure that
disk capacity, as well as the considerable research is conducted and assessed within
impact of widespread web implementa- the Institute in a way that breaks down the
tion. The miniaturization of sensors and borders between disciplines and overcomes
the increasing quantities of available data the separation inherent to organizational
have also led to new scientific develop- structures. In this context, interactions
ments creating new algorithms which aim between mathematics, physics, chemistry
to analyze these data and regulate, control and mechanics were explored right from
and simulate increasingly complex systems. the very start of the IRIA and have recently
Lastly, interaction with other sciences is been taken in new directions, as demons-
a vital component of computer science, trated by the contributions made in recent
automatic control and applied mathematics. years in algorithmic and stochastic geometry
This works both ways: the other sciences and computational chemistry. During the
reveal new problems for information proces- last decade, interaction between INRIA
sing and modeling and, conversely, the and the environmental sciences has been
existence of new design and simulation increasing in many directions as well, parti-
tools can change the issues at stake and cularly with the life sciences: some examples
even certain paradigms in these sciences, include bioinformatics, molecular biology,
sometimes profoundly. In this sector more neurobiology, biomechanics, modeling of
than many others, the positive feedback organs and physiological functions, plant
loop linking basic research and applica- growth modeling and simulation, medical
tion is at its best. Research, even in its robotics and renewable resource modeling.
purest form, can be used to develop new INRIA believes that the interaction between
products at an exceptionally rapid rate, as ICST, the life sciences and applications for
the horizons opened up by new technologies medical technologies and the environment
call research areas into question, often at will play a crucial and far-reaching role in
the most basic level. In every field, behind science over the next few decades, just as
the brilliant success of technology and the the profound interaction and mutual enri-
developments facilitating the creation of chment of mathematics and physics have
innovative new companies, there is pure played a major role in the scientific progress
research - leading to new theories, new of recent centuries. Lastly, cross-functional
models and new software tools and giving issues relating to security, developing an
various scientific fields a new lease on life. information-based society, education and
At this point it is important to emphasize sustainable development will all benefit
the relationship with other sciences, which from the progress of ICST research.
play a major role in INRIA’s scientific policy. Before concluding this brief overview, one
First of all, it is a great advantage for one last key point should be mentioned. INRIA
single institute to be able to gather together believes that its research is subject to a parti-
specialists from many disciplines − computer cular type of “tension”: ferocious competition
science, automatic control, signal processing over research applications combined with the
and scientific computation − which are often rapid progress of technology make ICST a


H istory

field of research where time is of the essence. research, which is the key to its ability to
While it finds this tension very stimulating deepen its understanding of its scientific
and productive, INRIA also believes that fields and anticipate developments and
despite the constantly increasing demand technological innovations in these fields
for work on short-term issues, the Institute over the medium to long term.
must continue to focus its energy on pure

Visualization of geological surfaces in a virtual reality interface — ALICE.



INRIA’s 150 research project-teams are involved in five major research topics, and
Major Fields 16 more specific sub-topics. This distribution helps to identify INRIA’s strengths
of Research at INRIA according to these five major topics and, above all, organizes the Institute’s assess-
ment process. Teams from any center working on the same sub-topic (on average a
dozen teams) are simultaneously assessed by one panel of international experts (for
more details on the assessment process, see paragraph 4.3.6).
A brief description of each of these five major issues and a list of the sixteen
sub-topics, with the corresponding number of INRIA project-teams (IPT in
December 2007) is given below.

1 Communicating systems
The Communicating systems field focuses on issues often raised in designing and implemen-
Com-A 12 IPT
ting the computer tools required for current and future information systems. These consist
Distributed systems
of computer systems where multiple processing units are spread out across communication
and shared architectures
networks, with particularly high standards of reliability, availability and performance, such as
real time operation. This is primarily a question of architecture and systems: tools for designing
Com-B 10 IPT
specialized processors and compiling and optimizing source code, especially for embedded
Networks and
systems. Distribution and mobility of computational processing, real time operation and inte-
telecommunications
roperability call for synchronous programming, reactive programming and communicating
processes. Meanwhile, network dimensioning and metrology require probabilistic modeling,
Com-C 10 IPT simulation and graph theory. The design and study of protocols suitable for broadband and
Embedded systems for the characteristics of the new ubiquitous networks (wireless, mobile, heterogeneous, etc.)
and mobility is a very active field.

Com-D 3 IPT
Architecture and compilation

2 Cognitive systems
The Cognitive systems field focuses on man-machine interaction. Cognitive psychology
Cog-A 7 IPT
Statistical modeling and ergonomics help make computer systems more user-friendly. Using and manipulating
and learning multimedia databases involves data searches, interoperability between databases and natural
language interfaces, as well as indexing, knowledge representation, statistical modeling,
Cog-B 8 IPT learning and reasoning. Many new applications are placing more and more emphasis on
Images and video: perception, images. Image analysis covers such varied fields as satellite images, new medical imaging
indexing and communication methods, indexing of video documents and managing robotic systems. Computer-generated
images enable enhanced and virtual reality, and when used with simulation, become man-
Cog-C 9 IPT machine interaction resources that are particularly suited to fields such as design, surgery
Multimedia data: interpretation and scientific calculation. Network development brings with it a new set of considerations
and man-machine interaction for the transmission and encoding of multimedia documents.

Cog-D 7 IPT
Computer-generated images
and virtual reality


H istory
3 Symbolic systems
The field of Symbolic systems focuses on designing and experimenting new programming
Sym-A 12 IPTs
tools in order to master the increasing complexity of software applications, improve their
Software security and reliability
reliability and guarantee secure implementations. This requires high-level languages that
Sym-B 10 IPTs feature generic concepts such as objects and constraints, and composition principles such
Algebraic and geometric as component programming and aspect programming. Research in this field also exami-
structures, algorithms nes compilation and automatic and interactive tools for testing programs and program
properties, including checking computer arithmetic. New applications call upon more
Sym-C 10 IPTs complex algorithms for cryptography, algorithmic geometry, robotics and bioinformatics.
Content and language Designing and analyzing these algorithms use algebraic and geometric structures as well as
organization new mathematical methods and symbolic computing. Research into content and language
organization is also being carried out.

4 Numerical systems
The field of Numerical systems looks into new methods for modeling, simulation, optimi-
Num-A 7 IPTs
zation, large-scale problem solving in engineering, economics, medicine, biology and the
Automatic control
and complex systems environment, and more generally stochastic or large-scale inverse problems. The theory
of complex systems and their control, signal processing and data analysis applies here to
Num-B 11 IPTs robotics, industrial systems management, road and air transport, non-destructive control
Grid and high-performance and telecommunications, as well as to biology and environmental issues. Simulating complex
computing phenomena in the engineering sciences (fluid and structural mechanics, semi-conductors and
electrical engineering, meteorology, new materials), financial models and models of living
Num-C 8 IPTs organisms involves a search for mathematical models, often requiring interaction between
Deterministic and stochastic different scales and different physical phenomena, and the development of accurate and high-
models: identification performance computational methods for large-scale computational simulations. In addition
and optimization to grid computing, large-scale computational applications require parallel or distributed
programming, program transformation and distributed application management.
Num-D 14 IPTs
Simulation and numerical
analysis for physical models

5 Biological systems
The field of Biological systems focuses on modeling and simulation for biology and medi-
Bio-A 12 IPTs cine: analysis and simulation of medical images and biological phenomena, understanding
Modeling and simulation biological vision, bioinformatics, medical robotics and artificial movement. Current subjects
for biology and medicine of study include modeling plant growth, as well as modeling and controlling renewable
resources.



INRIA The eight INRIA research centers in existence as of January 1, 2008 are briefly described
in the boxes on the following three pages. Their scientific orientation in terms of this
Research Centers strategic plan is described in chapter 4 (cf. 4.2).

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NRIA Bordeaux – Sud Ouest Research Center, along with Lille and Saclay, is one of the three centers that were incubated
in the INRIA Futurs research unit between January 2002 and December 2007. It was established as a center in its own
right on January 1, 2008.
Its 13 research teams (7 IPTs) were formed through close partnerships with the Bordeaux and Pau universities and with the
CNRS, or more specifically with their laboratories: the LABRI, IMB, LMA and MIGP.
These dynamic partnerships, in addition to staff transferred from other INRIA sites and a recruitment policy for research
scientists and top-level research support staff, meant that the research center had a workforce of 273 by the beginning of
2008, 111 of whom are paid by INRIA, including 27 research scientists and 21 government-employed support staff.


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NRIA Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes Research Center was founded in 1992; it has a workforce of 500, 260 of whom are paid by
INRIA, including 75 research scientists and 66 support staff.
The center’s main site is at Montbonnot, near Grenoble. Almost one quarter of the workforce is in Lyon, at the ENS sites in
Gerland and on the Doua university campus. At the end of 2007, the center, which has eight research support departments,
had 26 research teams (23 IPTs). Most of these are shared with the CNRS and/or local universities; they were formed with
the help of close partnerships with the universities of Grenoble and Lyon (Joseph Fourier University, National Polytechnic
Institute of Grenoble, Claude Bernard University), the Lyon École Normale Supérieure and the Lyon INSA, in addition to the
CNRS, and more specifically their laboratories including the LIG, LJK, LIP and CITI.
In the area of technology transfer, the center has focused on start-ups, creating 14 companies since 1999, 3 of which were
incubated, and on partnerships with major local players such as ST Microelectronics, France Telecom and Xerox.



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NRIA Lille - Nord Europe Research Center, along with Bordeaux and Saclay, is one of the three centers that were “incu-
bated” in the INRIA Futurs research unit between January 2002 and December 2007. It was established as a center in its
own right on January 1, 2008. It now has a workforce of 200, 80 of whom are paid by INRIA, including 18 research scien-
tists and 15 support staff.
The Center’s 10 research teams were formed with the help of partnerships with Lille University of science and technology
(Lille 1), Charles de Gaulle University (Lille 3), Lille Ecole Centrale and the CRNS. There are seven joint IPTs with the LIFL, two
with the LAGIS and one with the Paul Painlevé laboratory (UMR 8524 CNRS and USTL mathematics laboratory).
In spring 2007, the center moved into a 4,000-m2 building located in the Haute Borne science park, on the edge of the USTL
and Lille École Centrale campus, which was purchased with the help of local government and European funding.


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NRIA Nancy – Grand Est Research Center was founded in 1986; it has a workforce of 480, 210 of whom are paid by INRIA,
including 63 research scientists and 65 support staff.
Its 22 research teams (21 IPTs) were formed with the help of partnerships with Henri Poincaré University in Nancy, the
universities of Metz, Nancy 2 and Strasbourg, the INP in Nancy and the CNRS, and specifically with their laboratories, LORIA
(Lorraine laboratory for computer science and application research) and IECN (Institut Elie Cartan). INRIA is also present at
the Metz, Besançon and Strasbourg sites through dual-location project teams in cooperation with Nancy.
INRIA Nancy – Grand Est Research Center is developing international projects and special cross-border cooperation with
the Saar region. In the area of technology transfer, it has set up 9 companies since 2000, and circulates forty or so software
packages.



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ounded in 1967 at the same time as the Institute, INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt now has a workforce of 600, 370 of whom
are paid by INRIA, including 128 research scientists and 130 support staff.
It has 9 departments and 35 research teams (31 IPTs), 17 of which are joint teams with Pierre et Marie Curie University
(Paris 6), Denis Diderot University (Paris 7), Marne-la-Vallée University and Versailles - Saint-Quentin University, the École
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, the Paris École Normale Supérieure, the National Higher School of Advanced Techniques
and the CNRS.
Its highly effective teams have enabled the Center to set up 25 companies and circulate 50 high-quality software packages,
half of which are open source.


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NRIA Rennes - Bretagne Atlantique research center was founded in 1979 when IRIA became INRIA. In Rennes and
Lannion, it is a partner of the CNRS, the University of Rennes 1 and the Rennes INSA, together with the IRISA, UMR
6074 and Cachan ENS (Brittany branch). There are two joint project-teams in Nantes cooperating with LINA (part of the
University of Nantes, the Nantes École des Mines and the CNRS).
The research center has a workforce of 580, including 67 INRIA research scientists, 82 research scientist professors, 15
CRNS research scientists, 80 INRIA support staff, 21 technical and administrative support staff from other establishments,
approximately 180 PhD students and 25 post-doctoral researchers. There are 7 research support departments and 26 joint
project-teams cooperating with one or several of the partners mentioned above.
A large part of the research work is conducted in the framework of bilateral partnerships (international academic partners,
applications partners, major industrial groups, SMEs, state bodies) or multilateral programs (national research agency,
competitiveness clusters, European programs with participation in over 40 projects in the 6th framework program). More
specifically, the center is very involved in the Images Networks competitiveness cluster. The creation of innovating compa-
nies and the application of software and patents complement the technology transfer field.



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he Saclay - Île-de-France Research Center, along with Lille and Bordeaux, is one of the three centers incubated in the
INRIA Futurs research unit between January 2002 and December 2007. It was established as a center in its own right
on January 1, 2008. INRIA Saclay - Île-de-France Research Center has a workforce of 350, 180 of whom are paid by
INRIA, including 50 research scientists and 38 support staff.
Its 21 research teams (15 IPTs) were formed through close partnerships with the University of Paris-Sud, the École
Polytechnique, the Cachan École Normale Supérieure, the CNRS, and more specifically with their laboratories: the LRI, the
LIX, the LSV, the CMAP and the University of Paris-Sud’s mathematics department.


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NRIA Sophia Antipolis - Mediterranée Research Center was founded in 1983; it has a workforce of 460, 340 of whom are
paid by INRIA, including 119 research scientists and 80 support staff.
Half of its 30 research teams (28 IPTs) were formed through close partnerships with the Universities of Nice-Sophia Antipolis
and Montpellier, with CNRS, the INRA and the CIRAD, and in particular with the I3S, JAD and LIRMM laboratories.
The center works in close collaboration with companies located in its geographical area and elsewhere, and its teams are
working on over 40 European-level projects. It is involved with the work of eight competitiveness clusters and is a foun-
ding member of the world SCS cluster (Secure Communications Solutions). It plays a key role in the Sophia Antipolis tech-
nology cluster by actively participating in associations such as Telecom Valley and through the Center’s 15 spin-offs. It is
also involved in development for the Montpellier cluster, particularly through its contributions to the Montpellier Agricultural
Research and Sustainable Development foundation. Lastly, the center is home to the ERCIM office and the W3C European
development team.


ICST Research:
Context and Key
Issues

In this chapter:

2.1 Societal Issues page 28

2.2 Scientific and Technological Challenges page 31

2.3 The International and National Framework
for ICST Research page 33
2.3.1 International Context page 33
2.3.2 European Context page 33
2.3.3 French Context page 34

2.1 Societal Issues

Information science and technology are present and protecting the earth’s environment. This
2.1 in virtually all business sectors. They play an
essential role in accelerating scientific and
challenge takes the form of seeking sustainable
development, improving health, addressing
Societal Issues technological progress and increasing produc-
tivity and growth. The new infrastructures and
the aging that results, and providing universal
access to knowledge.
resources for communication, interaction and In addressing environmental issues, combi-
production have vastly altered the economy, ning modeling and simulation with the poten-
in the broad sense of all exchanges between tial for observation and detection enables the
people and within an entire society. complex, natural phenomena at play to be
ICST is radically changing the methods and examined with ever-greater precision. These
resources used by scientists and engineers to methods can provide tools for forecasting,
observe, draw conclusions from vast quanti- forming strategies, prevention and adapta-
ties of data, represent and abstract, model, tion, scenario analysis and risk assessment
visualize, design and make decisions. This of a given environmental policy or of a lack of
technology is at the heart of computational action. They supply essential tools to examine
sciences and computational engineering. vital risks linked to the build-up of greenhouse
INRIA has made its strategic choices so as to gases and major climatic and oceanic changes.
meet the challenges posed by society and by the The possibilities for demonstrative display
economic issues that ICST helps to solve. of forecasts can be used to influence public
The greatest challenge in social terms is to opinion in favor of prevention, a long-term
improve living conditions for all of mankind, approach that requires resources and a strong
narrowing the gap between North and South commitment by politicians and society.
In the field of sustainable development, long-
term solutions must be found for the needs of
mankind – some 9.5 billion people by the middle
of the century. Meeting food requirements will
demand that soil erosion, impoverishment and
pollution through overexploitation and overuse
of fertilizers and pesticides be brought under
control. Agricultural production requirements
can be met without impeding sustainable deve-
lopment if the needs of both plants and their
environment are taken into account. Modeling
and computing techniques can make a signi-
ficant contribution to solving these and other
related problems, such as the issue of fishing
resources.
These techniques, in addition to design, opti-
mization and automatic control, may also
help to meet energy requirements. Support
for designing HEQ buildings and intelligent
management using different energy sources,
in particular renewable sources, could be
provided online by means of control/command
systems implemented for a house, building or
town. Active control can be found everywhere
where energy needs to be saved, particularly
in various modes of transport, where electric
actuators are being increasingly used. Finally,
ICST may also help in managing new energy
sources: biofuels, solar, geothermal, wind, and
the future ITER project generators.
Health is an area where ICST has made a


C ontext
major impact over the past few decades public transit and new modes of travel. The
and which offers significant possibilities for techniques of geo-location, personal spatial
scientific and technological progress. Areas information and ambient intelligence open
of interest include major viral diseases, cancer up new methods of urban organization and
and neuro-degenerative disorders. INRIA is expand freedom of movement, particularly
very involved in this field. Other noteworthy for disabled people.
activities include: integrating various medical Education, learning and training are essential
imaging and measurement methods with to a knowledge society. Communication, visua-
multi-physical modeling in order to obtain lization, virtual reality and interactive tools can
high-definition, personalized representations meet these needs, in particular by providing
of organs; epidemiology modeling; modeling access directly to the semantic content of
the effects of drugs; bioinformatics (which has information and using natural languages and
led to spectacular progress in genomics and modes of interaction (speech, vision, body
post-genomics); the design and control of movement).
organs and palliative care for sensory or motor One important characteristic of information and
impairment; and robotic-assisted surgery. Over communication technology is its high potential
and above these state-of-the-art technologies, for boosting economic and industrial growth. It
patients remain the focus of any healthcare has already had a significant impact. Estimates
ICST is radically mechanism, such as setting up appropriate show that almost half of world economic growth
information systems and developing at-home now stems from ICST. The production of
changing the methods care using remote monitoring, remote medical goods has become considerably more effective
care and even, in some circumstances, remote and flexible, leading to highly differentiated
and resources used surgery. supply, and customized products with high
Demographic changes, specifically population added value. ICST has become an essential
by scientists and aging and urban concentration, open up other factor in industrial innovation through the new
engineers to observe, areas of intervention, for example indepen-
dence for the elderly, safety and security, urban
engineering and production possibilities it offers
as well as its ability to offer unprecedented
draw conclusions organization and transportation issues. features by integrating – into a wide range of
The safety and protection of people and devices – sensors, actuators, communication
from vast quantities organizations is becoming a major issue for and data processing circuits.
developed societies; information technology ICST’s role in all products, particularly products
of data, represent is once again at the forefront, both in terms intended for the general public, is expanding
of risk factors and protection tools. Intelligent rapidly. In services, the growth of ICST is even
and abstract, model, monitoring, biometrics and tracking techni- more rapid. Electronic commerce between
visualize, design and ques aim to improve security; the necessary
precautions must be taken so that they do not
companies, and increasingly between indivi-
duals, is experiencing spectacular growth. The
make decisions. hamper personal freedom; this is yet another same is true of electronic exchange services,
example of the essential link between ICST which are based on the technological capabili-
and society. Encryption is one technique for ties of the Internet, ubiquitous access and the
protecting information exchanges, but other manipulation of semantic content. Networking
aspects of security and confidentiality are just among businesses and people has changed
as important: detecting fraud and intrusions, the way work is organized, for example by
combating economic espionage and cyber allowing greater versatility, autonomy and
crime in networks and protecting privacy. delegation of responsibility.
In the field of private transportation, com- These changes are continuing with the develo-
puter-assisted driving and safety functions are pment of collaborative work technologies. The
becoming more complex and more widespread. notion of collective intelligence is now taking
There is room for improvement in overall archi- on practical meaning in all sectors, as internet
tectural design, optimization and vehicle and users become involved in everything from
transit system reliability. More generally, ICST epidemiology studies to expert services and
can contribute through real-time or delayed technical problem solving, from engineering,
optimization: multimodal journeys for private designing, testing new products and marketing
individuals, logistics, road/rail freight, modular to large-scale economic, political and social


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