Signature of the Objectives and Performance Contract (COP) 2023- 2027 by Institut Mines-Télécom and the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.
On December 21, 2023, Mr. Bruno Le Maire, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and Odile Gauthier, Executive President of Institut Mines-Télécom, representing the directors of IMT graduate schools signed the Institut Mines-Télécom Objectives and Performance Contract (COP) for 2023-2027. This contract is consistent with the IMT strategy for 2023-2027, adopted by its Management Board on November 25, 2022. It underlines the Institute’s commitment to training and qualifying more engineers, and making a significant contribution, through its various specialists, to addressing the major challenges facing the economy and society at both national and European levels.
Key issues of the COP and links with the overall strategy
The ambitious objectives set out in the COP specify and quantify the main thrusts of Institut Mines-Télécom’s overall strategy. These objectives reflect the challenges and requirements associated with ecological transition, digital transformation and industrial changes and, more generally, concerning our country’s economic and social development. This contract is based on economic assumptions, notably government support, and on the commitment of our teams to the success of a project to promote the growth of IMT and each of its graduate schools.
The COP was drawn up in the first half of 2023 and approved by the IMT Board of Directors in June of the same year. In line with the expectations of its supervising ministry, Institut Mines-Télécom and each of its graduate schools are focusing their efforts on supporting the nation and the competitiveness of companies, in a context of green reindustrialization and a pressing need for engineers and managers. To this end, Institut Mines-Télécom is marshaling the expertise of all its activities: training, research, innovation and business support.
The COP sets global objectives that are differentiated for each graduate school according to its specific situation, identity and characteristics. This approach can be fine-tuned according to the specific circumstances of each graduate school, while contributing to the overall coherence of the institution. The COP therefore builds on the strength of the collective formed by the IMT’s engineering schools and management school to develop the overall training provision, further intensify scientific and technological research, and break new ground in terms of innovation and support for businesses locally and regionally.
Institut Mines-Télécom’s expertise covers four strategic topics: Responsible Industry of the Future – Digital Sovereignty and Sobriety – Energy, the Circular Economy and Society – Health and Well-Being Engineering. Through the development of its various activities, and in conjunction with public authorities and companies, Institut Mines-Télécom will contribute more strongly to the national acceleration strategies set out in the “France 2030” plan, especially on topics in which Institut Mines-Télécom is a leader or major contributor, such as: 5/6G and Networks of the Future, Cloud, Data and AI, Cybersecurity, Materials, Resource Management, Decarbonization, Green Hydrogen, Recyclability, Eco-Design, Solutions for the Industry of the Future (including Industrial 5G), Digital Health, and Augmented Medicine.
Adapting and transforming training to meet stakeholders’ needs and expectations
In concrete terms, to meet the needs of industrial sectors, the French government is asking Institut Mines-Télécom to train more engineering students in its graduate schools by 2027 (+20%), and to recruit more young women into its graduate schools (target of 30% of engineering student cohorts).
To achieve this, IMT will need to diversify its student recruitment pools and profiles, recruit more women, promote social diversity, support the specific needs of students, become more internationally oriented, and experiment with new admission systems based on qualifications and post-secondary-school studies… while rigorously maintaining the high quality of its diplomas. At the same time, IMT will boost its attractiveness through training topics, teaching methods, campus and community life, scientific expertise, and internationalization.
Meeting sectoral needs through academic research and partnerships
Institut Mines-Télécom is unique in ensuring a continuum between the three constituent facets spanning the spectrum of its research: expansion of knowledge boundaries; elimination of technological obstacles; commercialization and transfers to serve the economy and society. The aim is to increase the impact of its graduate schools and the institution in line with the needs of strategic sectors. IMT will be targeting an 8-10% increase in scientific publications, a 5% increase in its own resources for research-commercialization-innovation in constant euros, and a 20% increase for European research.
With this in mind, our teams will be maintaining their efforts in pursuit of these objectives. At the same time, IMT will marshaling its forces in a cross-disciplinary manner, notably through resourcing schemes (linked to the Carnot institutes, among others) and the creation of “totem objects” – original devices combining the scientific and technological expertise present in the graduate schools (disciplinary and interdisciplinary). Offering strong development potential for the competitiveness of industries and companies, this will bring together several scientific communities.
Assisting companies with their ecological, industrial and digital transformations.
In accordance with its decree and its missions, Institut Mines-Télécom plans, via the COP, to build a graduate school, inter-graduate-school or global innovation and support offering to assist the transformation of companies according to their level of maturity (SMEs/mid-caps and large corporations). Part of this “global offering” will also be devoted to furthering the development of entrepreneurship among students, PhD students, staff and project leaders, and to improving the incubation facilities in the graduate schools.
Stepping up commitment to the ecological transition at all levels and increasing the impacts
Institut Mines-Télécom has long been actively involved in ecological transition issues. To remain a forerunner and a driving force in the associated ecological, energy and societal transformations, we are constantly developing our practices and offerings in our graduate schools. In addition to reducing its environmental impact (e.g., by accelerating the rate of reduction in energy consumption in its buildings compared to the 2010-2021 period), IMT will continue to integrate the ecological transition into its graduate schools’ study programs and the roadmaps of its scientific communities, which are common to the graduate schools. An increase in the number of publications associated with the main MDGs relevant to IMT is another requirement set out in the COP.
Structuring and consolidating collective functioning to improve strategy and attain the COP targets
The 2023-2027 strategy also aims to consolidate the establishment’s recent achievements, notably by improving its operational and economic efficiency. Within the framework of the COP, IMT will obtain the necessary resources, and optimize its group and graduate school operations (pursuit of the IS roadmap): HRIS, Infocenter for IMT-wide data, LMS coordination and convergence, joint cost accounting, pricing policy, graduate school and inter-graduate-school processes).
“Institut Mines-Télécom warmly welcomes this government support, confirmed by the signing of this COP, which should enable us to achieve ambitious goals, and build on the 10 years of growth already achieved under the two previous COPs. These objectives reflect our commitment to public service.”
Odile Gauthier, Executive President, with the deans of IMT graduate schools.
