A long process of collaborative thinking was carried out to
· Structure and develop the momentum of the regional digital sciences sector
· Meet the high demand for workers in this sector
· Face the industrial and social challenges of regional development, with the development of a shared, strategic five-year roadmap
This exercise brought together the main representatives from higher education, large research organizations, competitiveness clusters and regional authorities.
OBJECTIVES
Collectively, the Atlanstic 2020 partners must address the challenges of digital practices while taking into account the Pays de la Loire’s specific characteristics.
Broadly speaking, the programme aims to create a Pays de la Loire-Brittany digital sciences interregional hub to develop the region and its stakeholders. This will be done through:
· International promotion of academic strengths in cybernetics and computer science
· Increased visibility of the training available in Pays de la Loire to turn it into a national reference point
· Development of innovation in education and the reinforcement of science mediation

…for territorial development and his players
Six areas of strategic innovation have been identified. These areas are real links between regional academic and industry expertise and the emergence of new markets and practices. These areas will form the main objectives of the programme.

A collective project
Fifteen partners sharing with the same ambitions are involved in this programme, which is supported by the Pays de la Loire region and the cities of Nantes, Angers and Le Mans.
Three schools in 2016,
to guarantee balanced decision-making and effective action
The Research school,
headed by Frank Plestan and Philippe Wenger,
It is composed of :
– directors from university digital sciences laboratories LS2N (Claude Jard, Frank Plestan and Philippe Wenger), LARIS (Jean-Louis Boimond), LERIA (David Lesaint) and LIUM (Sylvain Meignier) ;
– director of labex CominLabs (Patrick Bouthemy) ;
– and scientific representatives from Inria Rennes Bretagne Atlantique (Ludovic Mé) ;
– scientific director of Atlanstic 2020 (Pierre Cointe).
Read moreThe Training school
headed by Emmanuel Morin and Franz Jarry,
It is composed of :
– representatives from the digital sciences training institutions of : University of Angers, University of Maine, University of Nantes, Centrale Nantes and Institut Mines Télécom Atlantique
– the association ADN’Ouest (Franz Jarry)
– the business and the competitiveness clusters Images & Réseaux (Gérard Le Bihan), Atlanpole Biotherapies (Florence Hallouin) and EMC2 (Laurent Aubertin).
Read moreThe Innovation school
headed by Gérard Le Bihan and Laurent Aubertin,
It is composed of :
– the business and the competitiveness clusters Images & Réseaux (Gérard le Bihan), EMC2 (Laurent Aubertin), and Atlanpole Biothérapie (Florence Hallouin) ;
– the association ADN’Ouest (Franz Jarry) ;
– the VP valorisation and transfert of technologies of University of Angers ( Paul Calès), Nantes (Thierry Brousse) and Maine (Charles Pezerat) ;
– the valorisation responsables of Centrale Nantes (Bertrand Alessandrini), IMT Atlantique (Frédéric Pallu) and Inria (Patrice Gelin).
Read more
A regional team
to implement the programme.
Atlanstic 2020, which covers the whole of the Loire region, is coordinated by Pierre Cointe, scientific director, and Laurent Autrique and Yannick Estève, directors of the Angers and Le Mans sites, respectively.
Implementation will be overseen by Murielle Manin, director of operations, Stéphany Dutreil, assistant and Julie Grosclaude, training mission head.
The executive committee meets on a monthly basis. In attendance are the directors of the three schools and the scientific and operations directors. It reports annually to the steering committee, which brings together the fifteen signatories to the convention and the members of the scientific committee.
This committee is comprised of leading scientists who represent the research laboratories’ areas of expertise :
- Data science : François Bancilhon (Data Publica)
- Complex systems : Marion Gilson-Bagrel (U. Lorraine, CRAN) and François Villeneuve (G-SCOP Grenoble)
- Content and interactions : Eric Gaussier (J. Fourier, LIG) and Hugues Vinet (IRCAM)
- Software sciences : Laurence Duchien (Lille, LIFL)
- Robotics: Philippe Fraisse (Montpellier, LIRMM)
- Education: Brigitte Rozoy (Paris-Sud, LRI)
