France 2030: Université Paris-Saclay fully integrated into priority research programmes and equipment (PEPR)
Priority research programmes and equipment (PEPR) are part of the government's "France 2030" investment plan, which aims to develop industrial competitiveness and future technologies and build or consolidate French scientific and technological leadership. PEPR finance upstream research and development (R&D) activities (levels 1 to 4 on the Technology Readiness Level or TRL scale) conducted in scientific fields considered to be priorities at a national or European level. These fields are those linked to - or likely to lead to - a major technological, economic, societal, health or environmental transformation. Involved in a significant number of them, Université Paris-Saclay co-pilots the exploratory PEPR, eNSEMBLE.
Launched in the second half of 2021 in successive waves, PEPR are operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and each one mobilises a large scientific community specialising in the field along with numerous partners. Each PEPR has one or more scientific pilots (national research organisations, universities, etc.) appointed by the French government. These pilots develop an effective and coherent scientific and technological strategy and coordinate the efforts of the scientific community to achieve the programme's objectives.
There are two types of PEPR: PEPR linked to national acceleration strategies and exploratory PEPR. The former accompany a transformation that is already underway, with an established market, products, services, uses and clearly identified stakeholders. Such PEPR are intended to support the acceleration of the transformation by establishing a comprehensive and coordinated national strategy and help remove scientific barriers or obstacles. Exploratory PEPR prepare for the emergence of new strategies. They accompany a transformation that is still in its infancy or early stages, without a market. They support the exploration of the strategy's potential and its possible impact. Each PEPR gives rise to the financing of targeted projects, already mature when the PEPR is outlined, or projects selected later through calls for projects or expressions of interest.
At this time, 25 national acceleration strategy PEPR and 18 exploratory PEPR have been launched, for up to eight years. These PEPR are at very different stages of progress: some have established work programmes, with known stakeholders, while others are still developing a roadmap, without an exact identification of the stakeholders.
25 national acceleration strategy PEPR launched to date:
(In bold: PEPR in which Université Paris-Saclay is an institutional partner or in which the University's laboratories are already involved)
PEPR name |
Objective |
Pilot(s) |
| 5G and future telecom network technologies | Develop advanced technologies for 5G and future networks, by integrating their environmental and societal impacts and the security of transmitted data | French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Institut Mines Télécom |
| AE&N: agroecology and digital technology | Develop sustainable agricultural systems and agricultural equipment contributing to the ecological transition | French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) |
| Batteries | Develop future generations of batteries | CEA, CNRS |
| B-BEST: biomass, biotechnologies and sustainable environmental technologies for chemicals and fuels | Provide a better understanding and activate the levers of an efficient transformation of biomass by different chemical, thermal and biological processes and their couplings | French Institute of Petroleum (IFP Energies Nouvelles), INRAE |
| Biotherapies and bioproduction of innovative therapies | Accelerate the engineering and deployment of biotherapies (gene, cell and tissue therapy, extracellular vesicles, mRNA, therapeutic antibodies) | CEA, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) |
| Cloud | Develop advanced cloud technologies | CEA, Inria |
| Cybersecurity | Support research in the field by exploring new avenues likely to lead to breakthrough innovations, and develop the sector | CEA, CNRS, Inria |
| Digitalisation and decarbonisation of mobility | Improve the knowledge of uses and impacts and prepare tools intended for users, contracting parties and public policy makers | IPF Energies nouvelles, Univ. Gustave Eiffel |
| Electronics | Design innovations to accelerate growth and relocate production to France or Europe through new technological solutions | CEA, CNRS |
| EnsNum: education and digital | Stimulate and structure the digital education sector by developing viable markets | Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, Inria |
| FORESTT: forests and global changes; socio-ecological systems in transition | Develop the resilience and biodiversity of forests, an agile bioeconomy and shared governance | INRAE |
| Deep ocean floor | Address the physical, biogeochemical and biological processes at work on the deep ocean floor, and the relationships of coastal populations with these environments | CNRS, Research Institute for Development (IRD), French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) |
| H2 : Carbon-free hydrogen | Solve the problems of production, storage and transport of blue hydrogen and its use for heavy mobility | CEA, CNRS |
| Cultural and creative industries | Promote the radical transformation of uses and consumption patterns and the emergence of new players on a global scale | CNRS |
| Artificial intelligence | Develop a "made in Europe" artificial intelligence with common priorities (embedded AI or used for ecological transition) | CEA, CNRS, Inria |
| EID: emerging infectious diseases | Understand, prevent and control pandemics in a One Health approach and along the entire innovation chain | Inserm |
| Prezode: prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases | Define innovative strategies for risk reduction and early detection of emergence, through a decompartmentalised approach between human health, animal health and the environment | French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), INRAE, IRD |
| Recyclability, recycling and reincorporation of recycled materials | Accelerate the transition to a competitive and environmentally friendly circular economy, focusing on five materials used on a daily basis (plastics, composites, textiles, strategic metals and paper/cardboard) | CNRS |
| SAMS: food systems, microbiome and health | Provide a better understanding of the influence of the human microbiota on the regulation and maintenance of vital functions, and develop prevention tools or treatments | INRAE, Inserm |
| SanteNum: digital health | Develop the knowledge and methods of data acquisition and exploitation using mathematical models, data security and reliability (for cardiovascular and neurological diseases as a priority) | Inria, Inserm |
| SPLEEN - Industry decarbonisation | Support innovation to develop new, largely carbon-free industrial processes | CNRS, IFP Energies Nouvelles |
| SVA: advanced plant breeding in the face of the climate challenge and the agro-ecological transition | Select new species and traits favourable to agro-ecological transition and adaptation to climate change | INRAE |
| TASE: advanced energy systems technologies | Generate innovations for solar photovoltaic and floating offshore wind energy and create flexible and resilient energy networks | CEA, CNRS |
| Quantum technologies | Strengthen the national effort in quantum technologies and fuel the downstream actions of the national quantum strategy | CEA, CNRS, Inria |
| Solutions for the sustainable city and territorial innovations | Promote the emergence of new ways of designing, building and managing cities, around four challenges (sufficiency, resilience, inclusion and urban production) | CNRS, Univ. Gustave Eiffel |
18 exploratory PEPR launched to date :
(In bold: PEPR in which Université Paris-Saclay is an institutional partner or in which the University's laboratories are already involved)
PEPR name |
Objective |
Pilot(s) |
| ATLASea: atlas of marine genomes; from big data to innovation | Create the first atlas of marine species genomes on the coastline of mainland France and its overseas territories so as to provide a better understanding of this biotope, explore the synthesis of molecules of interest and study the impact of invasive species | CEA, CNRS |
| BRIDGES: link conservation, development and cooperation objectives to increase resilience to climate change, food insecurity and emerging conflicts in the Southwest Indian Ocean | Shift the paradigm of governance of communal areas to reduce environmental vulnerability and conflict risk in coastal areas | CNRS, Ifremer, IRD |
| DIADEME: integrated devices for accelerating the deployment of emerging materials | Combine responsible design of resources with numerical calculation to offer French industry highly competitive next generation materials | CEA, CNRS |
| eNSEMBLE: future of digital collaboration | Significantly redefine digital collaboration tools | CNRS, Inria, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Paris-Saclay |
| FairCarboN: carbon in continental ecosystems; levers and trajectories for carbon neutrality | Provide a better understanding of biogeochemical cycles in order to change scale and move towards carbon neutrality | CNRS, INRAE |
| IRiMa: integrated risk management for more resilient societies in an era of global change | Improve the way risks from natural and technological hazards are analysed, understood, modelled, and predicted for greater control over their impacts | French Geological Survey (BRGM), CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes |
| LUMA: enhance light-matter interactions | Study, understand, develop and exploit light as a means to explore and control physical-chemical and biological systems, at the interface of physics, chemistry, engineering, life sciences, health, environmental and climate sciences | CEA, CNRS |
| MoleculArXiv: storage of big data on DNA and artificial polymers | Develop data storage on DNA or derivatives to solve the problem of storage over time of ever more big data | CNRS |
| NumPEx: high performance digital for exascale | Design and develop the software components that will equip future exascale machines and prepare the major application domains for full exploitation of the capabilities of these machines | CEA, CNRS, Inria |
| O2R: organic robotics | Implement a robotics system that is socially adapted and open in its principles, behaviour, performance and uses to the complexity of society's challenges | CEA, CNRS, Inria |
| OneWater: water as a common good | Move towards a more responsible conception and management of water as an essential common good | BRGM, CNRS, INRAE |
| Origins: origins, from planets to life | Understand the origin of life and discover and characterise other Earths | CNRS |
| PROPSY: precision psychiatry draft project | Provide solutions for deploying precision medicine in psychiatry | CNRS, Inserm |
| Women's health, couples' health | Understand the cellular mechanisms of endometriosis through to patient care, fertility, assisted reproduction and the effects of in utero exposure to anti-epileptic drugs | Inserm |
| SOLU-BIOD: biodiversity and nature-based solutions | Support profound changes in the design, implementation and evaluation of nature-based solutions, and strengthen ecosystem adaptation and resilience to global change | CNRS, INRAE |
| SOUS-Sol: subsoil, a common good | Develop knowledge around the national subsoil for a better understanding of its resources and uses, and improve the management of the increasing conflicts of use | BRGM, CNRS |
| SPIN: spintronic innovations for a frugal, agile and sustainable digital world | Support a new cycle of innovations resulting from scientific breakthroughs in spintronics, through emerging themes in spin-orbitronics, magnonics or multifunctional materials | CEA, CNRS |
| TRACCS: transform climate modelling for climate services | Improve knowledge and tools regarding climate impacts and risks in order to deal with current challenges, meet societal expectations and contribute to the development of climate services | CNRS, Météo-France |