PGG corporate brochure

“It’s the unknown that appeals to me. I’m always looking for Ariadne’s thread each time I come across

a labyrinth”Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

AUTREMENTl’innovation

20

08

-20

09

An alternative route to Innovation

In the footsteps of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes ....................................... p. 04

A strategy, An organization ....................................... p. 06

Toward a new model of innovation ....................................... p. 08

Responding to business issues ....................................... p. 10

Building innovation in three stages ....................................... p. 12

Laboratories, Projects ....................................... p. 14

Developing talents, Transmitting knowledge ....................................... p. 16

Scientifi c excellenceAlumnus of the École Normale Supérieure, scientifi c visitor in the group of Charles Kittel

at Berkeley from 1967 to 1971, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes became the Director of the École

Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles [Graduate School of Industrial Physics and

Chemistry] in 1976, professor at the Collège de France, and eventually was awarded the Nobel

Prize in physics in 1991. PGG lately joined the Curie Institute in 2002.

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes left us a vast body of achievements. He essentially created the fi eld of

soft-matter physics, opening up an area that was viewed by his peers as irrelevant at that time.

His enthusiasm and his sense of curiosity led him unceasingly to address issues that were new

to him (for instance neurosciences).

There is a certain approach to physics that can be characterized as the “de Gennes” style,

typifi ed by the conviction that the phenomena observed in everyday life also pose worthwhile

scientifi c problems and challenges – that shall be explained in simple terms and understood

by everyone, regardless of the complexity of the underlying mechanisms.

His unfl agging desire to convey knowledge and share his discoveries impelled Pierre-Gilles de

Gennes to teach throughout his life: at the Faculté des Sciences d’Orsay [Orsay School of the

Sciences], in primary schools and colleges after receiving his Nobel prize, and at the Collège de

France, where he held the condensed-matter physics chair until 2007, the very year when he

passed away at the age of 75.

The meeting of industrial know-how and academic knowledge

For Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, the essential thing was to breach the barrier separating industrial

research from basic Science. PGG was able to maintain links with industrial engineers, based

on intellectual stimulation and exchanges, supported by a truly egalitarian approach. His own

researches into aquaplaning and emulsions were heavily infl uenced and driven by his industrial

experience. As he himself said, “Both sides have everything to gain!”. The discoveries of Pierre-

Gilles de Gennes contributed toward numerous industrial innovations, such as the role played

by polymerization processes in the plastics industry, or the mastery of textures and the release

of active ingredients in shampoos or detergents, and the assisted recovery of petroleum.

The convictions held by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes include the need for concerted action, for a

dialog, and for the creation of two-way channels between the academic world and the industrial

world. In his own words, “a proper national policy would consist of harmonizing both spheres, so that industrialists will be able to delegate the problems that they themselves cannot address, because of the extremely long timeframes of those issues.”

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

In the footsteps of

FONDATIONPIERRE-GILLES

DE GENNES

p. 4

Inspired every day by scientifi c interdisciplinarity, and with a commitment

to major societal missions (the symbiotic cooperation of basic and

industrial research, the dissemination of scientifi c progresses in the fi elds of

health, the environmentally concerned sustainable development, and the

transmission of knowledge), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes left a mark on science,

business, and society. It was with the goal of enshrining his missions

within the continuation of the activities of this great servant of science

that the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research was created.

The convergence of scientifi c disciplines“The frontiers between great empires are often populated by the most interesting peoples. Similarly, the interfaces between two blocks of matter cause the most unexpected effects.” Pierre-Gilles de Gennes crossed the boundaries of numerous different scientifi c domains – or,

in other words, he took advantage of those boundaries in order to make them more fruitful

and to derive from them the full measure of their substance and their potential. He explo-

red the physics of condensed matter, the chemistry of polymers, and the universe of plastics

– which, he was fond of saying, represented an ideal marriage between physics and chemistry.

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was an explorer : a frontierman who never lost his enthusiasm, even

while working at the Curie Institute on the physico-chemical foundations of the biology of the

brain.

Innovation within start-up ventures“The most fruitful industrial research is being done at small start-up ventures, where life is exciting but diffi cult. I love this example of stubborn, penniless experimenters. Small high-tech companies, which embody the hopes for our future, thrive on these kinds of people.” The goal of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was to prevent the drain of technological projects away

from their place of birth and to create conditions that would encourage the emergence of

industrial applications from the locus of initial discovery, the academic laboratories.

For him, helping innovative young companies take off, thanks to the convergence of skills and

resources, was the ideal way to concretize the inherent potential of Research.

p. 5

FONDATIONPIERRE-GILLESDE GENNES

At a time when the ability to discover, invent, and transform knowledge into applications is

becoming globalized, more than ever the modern world needs technological breakthroughs

and major innovations in order to maintain a sustainable development, create value for inves-

tors, bring new resource-preservation solutions to light, and fi ght against the great diseases

that plague humanity. It was within this setting that the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for

Research was created in March of 2007. And it is in this spirit that the Foundation now invites

innovative businesses to create the conditions for innovation breakthrough in partnership with

the research laboratories within its network.

Through the meeting of industrial know-how and academic research

Through the creation of new research topics and new sources of inspiration

Through the simplifi cation of the administrative management of joint public-private projects

Through the responsiveness and fl exibility provided for individual, collective, academic, and

industrial initiatives

The Foundation:

Allows access to a think-tank of extremely high-level researchers Facilitates meetings

among potential partners and the creation of partnerships Serves as a facilitator for joint research projects Provides security for the

acquisition of proofs of concept Offers three sequential stages for the secure establishment of

partnerships (see p. 13)

The Foundation:

Invests 2.5 million euro/year in research projects proposed by researchers within the network Offers an alternative source of inspiration and challenges: exploring the hard-to-reach scientifi c area consisting of industrial know-how Proposes working alongside industrial partners Evaluates and sets up projects in a responsive manner

The Foundation is building and enriching its network of private partners (including innovative

small and medium-sized businesses, as well as major companies) alongside the laboratories of its

founding members. Dedicated to industrialists and academic researchers, the Foundation laun-

ches public-private research projects and facilitates the transformation of discoveries into inno-

vative applications. Between now and the year 2012, the Foundation will be investing its initial

capital of 20 million euros in the fi nancing of research projects undertaken by its laboratories.

For academic researchersFor industrialists

A strategy...


DE GENNES

p. 6

Board of Directors YVES GULDNER, Deputy Director, ENS

MARYLÈNE MESTON DE REN, Secretary General, ENS

FRANÇOIS FUSEAU, Treasurer of the PGG Foundation,

Secretary General of the ESPCI

JACQUES PROST, Director, ESPCI

GIUSEPPE BALDACCI, Deputy Director, the Curie Institute

CORINNE CUMIN, Secretary General of the Curie

Institute Research Center

CHRISTIANE BRANLANT, Research Director, CNRS

PATRICK NETTER, Life Sciences Director, CNRS

CLAUDE BOUCHEIX, Research Director, INSERM

CÉCILE THARAUD, General Director, INSERM Transfert

JEAN-PIERRE HENRY, Chairman of the Montagne Sainte

Geneviève Association

JEAN-CLAUDE LEHMANN, qualifi ed individual

ANDRÉ LEVY-LANG, qualifi ed individual

HERVÉ LE LOUS, Chairman of the PGG Foundation

MAURICE QUENET, Government Commissioner and

Dean of the Academy of Paris

JEAN-LOUIS MISSIKA, Deputy Director for Innovation,

Research, and the Universities, in the Offi ce of the

Mayor of Paris

ANGÉLA TADDEI, representative of researchers, teaching

researchers, and teachers

PASCAL SILBERZAN, representative of researchers,

teaching researchers, and teachers

OLIVIER VALLON, representative of researchers, teaching

researchers, and teachers

For the determination of its broad guidelines and oversight of their implementation, the

Foundation relies on a Board of Directors consisting of representatives of its fi ve founding members, the scientifi c community, local collective bodies, and civil society. To defi ne its scientifi c strategy, specify its goals, and evaluate its performance, the Foundation

consults its International Science Committee. To manage its activities, the Foundation has established a dual operational entity consisting of

an Executive Team and a particularly responsive Steering Committee. As a driving force

behind the Foundation’s excellence, this Steering Committee identifi es and selects the best

opportunities among internal research projects and projects conducted in the form of industrial

partnerships.

The École Normale Supérieure (ENS), the École Supérieure de

Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI), the Institut Curie, the CNRS

and the INSERM have built a virtual center of excellence based on

interdisciplinarity, exchanges among the institutions and public-private

partnerships: a center known as the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

for Research

Steering Committee DANIEL LOUVARD, Director of the Curie Institute

Research Center

FRANÇOIS DOZ, Chairman of the Clinical Trials and

Research Committee (CERC) of the Curie Institute

CLAUDE BOCCARA, Science Director of the ESPCI

JANINE COSSY, Director of the Organic Chemistry

Laboratory of the ESPCI

ANTOINE TRILLER, Director of the Biology Department

of the ENS

VINCENT CROQUETTE, Director of Research at the

Physics Department of the ENS

Science Committee B. CANNON, Wenner-Gren Institute

A.H. GANDJBAKHCHE, National Institutes of Health

B. GEIGER, Weizmann Institute

D. TAWFIK, Weizmann Institute

E. SACKMANN, University of Munich

K. SIMONS, Max Planck Institute

P.A. PINCUS, University of California

P. VOGEL, École Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne

An organization

p. 7


In the traditional Tech-Transfer model, the industrial partnership is established only downstream

for the translation of an “academic innovation” into marketable applications. However, this de-

layed dialog between the industrial interests and the publicly funded research activities makes it

very unlikely that this type of innovation will fi nd its market.

Toward a new model of innovation

The Foundation by the numbers 140 research teams 1,450 researchers 20 million euros: seed capital 2.5 million euros: pro-

prietary funds for projects per year, over a 5-year period 1 to 3 months to validate a research project 3 to 6 months to launch partnerships Less than

one month to recruit a researcher


DE GENNES

p. 8

The Foundation is refi ning the traditional model for

research enhancement. Its approach converts the

meeting between the academic community and the

industrial world into a driving force for innovation.

Discovery alone cannot lead to innovation. In the model proposed by the Foundation, the

upstream combination of the industrial know-how and the knowledge of academic research

constitutes a “partnership for discovery” that encourages the transformation of discoveries into

innovation breakthroughs, with a greater likelihood that those innovations will fi nd their market.

The prerequisite for this original approach is the creation of an interface between the locus

of discovery and the locus of innovation. The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research

provides this interface between the academic and industrial worlds.

The Foundation’s operations attest to its alternative vision :

To open up an avenue for innovative companies, the 4 public founding members and the

Curie Institute have installed an executive team with solid experience in small and me-

dium-sized companies.

The Foundation intent is to use its seed capital between now and the year 2012, and

thereafter to ensure its sustainable growth through the implementation of public-private

partnerships.

For applications in healthThe Foundation invests in research projects that shall lead to specifi c breakthroughs in the health

fi eld, including mastery of natural and pathological tissue dynamics; new diagnostic tests; medical

imaging systems; targeted therapeutic systems; new biotechnologies; new analytical devices; new

neurosensory modeling methods; and biomimetic chemistry.

p. 9


Facilitating access to basic research Capitalizing on industrial know-how

The laboratories in the Foundation’s network and, more generally, those in the French public

Research, include world-class researchers and hold an enviable position in terms of international

scientifi c excellence. They are a primary locus for scientifi c discoveries.

In parallel, an industrial company that has a stock of know-how is the owner of a true asset and

a powerful engine for growth through the renewal of its innovations and the enhancement of

this asset.

Within this complex dialog between innovation and discovery, innovation breakthroughs

cannot exist without prior discoveries. The meeting of industry and academic research is

fertile for this discoveries. The Foundation has set itself the primary task of bringing about this meeting, facilitating and maintaining the dialog between these two worlds, and encouraging (through a drastic administrative simplifi cation) the initiation of research projects in the form of partnerships.

The engineer should be able to formalize her/his know-how in order to create new scientifi c

challenges that will be presented to high-level academic researchers. This capitalization of know-how is made possible through access to all of the areas of scientifi c expertise within the Foundation’s network, while the Foundation itself provides security for the formalization phase by protecting the confi dentiality of the information.

Responding to business issues

Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research - International visibility

Harvard Karolinska OxfordUniv. Coll.

London

Inst.

Pasteur

Fondation

PGG

Immunology 32,7 14,6 24 16,7 18,5 27,6

Neurosciences 30,6 18,1 28,5 22,6 22,4 27,4

Mol. Biol. / Genetics 51,5 26,5 38,3 35 30,8 33

Citation Index - Essential Science Indicators - ISI (1996 - 2006)


DE GENNES

p. 10

For businesses, supporting the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research means embarking on a unique intellectual and economic adventure. It means participating, either directly, as an innovative entrepreneur,* or indirectly, as a fi nancial partner,** in the genesis of a new culture of innovation and discovery. *Through its know-how , the company contributes to the identifi cation and implementation of new research projects in partnership

with the Foundation’s laboratories, and to the industrial implementation of the discoveries. The company benefi ts from a Research Tax

Credit that lowers the cost of equity to 5.6%.

**The partner becomes a member of the Foundation’s scientifi c community; benefi ts from all of the information generated by the

network; supports the Foundation’s numerous activities (international symposia, chairs of excellence, and the establishment of junior

teams). As a contributor to a Fondation Reconnue d’Utilité Publique [Foundation of Acknowledged Public Interest], the company enjoys

tax-related benefi ts, in the form of a tax allowance in the amount of 60% of its contribution.

The Foundation’s natural industrial partners are innovative companies

in the health fi eld, which invest in R&D in order to support their

growth and the durability of their economic success. They have the

courage to stake and to share their know-how, in order to create

breakthroughs.

Customized offerings For innovative businesses, the Foundation offers multiple levels of partnership and involvement

in the Foundation’s life:

Its industrial and fi nancial partners are an integral part of the Foundation’s network of labora-

tories. Depending on their level of involvement, they can then sponsor or contract for research

projects inspired by their own know-how, from the furthest upstream stage down through the

proof of concept. Partners then become agents for the benefi cial industrial development of a

shared discovery, from innovation through market introduction. And in so doing, they build their

own ongoing future as innovative businesses.

Example for one joint research project between one Industrial Partner and the Foundation

Opportunity

cost

Turnover

Tax Reduction

Research

Tax Credit

Cost

of equity

2 full time equivalent researchers (PhD and/or Post-doc)

200 000 € 68 800 € 120 000 € 11 200 €

Consumables 35 000 € 12 040 € 21 000 € 1 960 €

Others costs 15 000 € 5 160 € 9 000 € 840 €

Total 250 000 € 86 000 € 150 000 € 14 000 €

Research Tax Credit 2008-2009

p. 11


Support the Foundation and join its networkSpecifi cally, the” action partner” supports the Foundation in sponsoring individual events

(conferences, seminars, recruiting programs, etc.). Yttrium partners (named after a key element

in the fi eld of superconductivity) and Iridium partners (named after an element used in numerous

therapeutic applications) participate in the Foundation’s life. They become active members

of the Foundation’s research community, with benefi ts that include access to the extranet

platform, recognition in communications media, invitations to internal events, and meetings with

the network’s researchers.

The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research offers Iridium partners unrestricted access to

fi ve specifi c value axes that are being developed around the Internet/extranet platform:

Talent

Knowledge and know-how

Ideas

Projects

A ”label of quality” in the world of innovation

• The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research is rooted in an outstanding talent pool that also embraces the human and social sciences, literature, and philosophy.

• Thus, the Foundation serves as a bellwether for identifying up-and-coming talents, in conjunction with the vision of its Iridium partners, among the 1,450 researchers, 140 team leaders, 200 post-docs, and 350 young doctoral researchers within its network.

• Iridium partners can obtain the assistance and support of scientifi c experts for questioning the state of the art in new fi elds, or for obtaining a better understanding of development issues.

• Iridium partners participate in the knowledge-dissemination activities organized by the Foundation. The partner’s colleagues, as well as the academic researchers within the network, are enrolled as members of the extranet, and have direct access to these events.

• Iridium partners have an ongoing source of innovative concepts to evaluate.• They can obtain, at a very early stage, a full range of opportunities for development and for innovative partnerships.

• The ideas and meetings initiated through the Foundation lead to R&D projects in partnership with one or more research teams. Iridium partnership opens a pathway marked out by the Foundation:

Upstream validation of the project by the Foundation’s steering committee, clarifying the partnership in terms of the Research Tax Credit (CIR) Simplifi cation of the administrative management of public-private projects, through the installation of a single agent or representative for handling the legal aspects and IP issues The security for the acquisition of proofs of concept, through the Foundation’s supervision of the projects.

• Each year, ten promising ventures are identifi ed within the Foundation’s laboratories. These start-ups are naturally attracted to the Foundation’s Iridium partners in order to participate to their growth.

• Acknowledgment as an Iridium Partner of the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research is a powerful indicator of innovation activism - which, of course, is displayed at the Foundation’s Internet site.

• Iridium partners are mentioned prominent in all broadcast media, at institutional activities, and at all of the Foundation’s events.

Building innovation in three stages


DE GENNES

p. 12

The Foundation and innovative companies seed innovation in three

successives stages: project establishment, active participation to research

and development of results...

Stage 2: Participate in research projects

The Foundation prepares a provisional budget for the project, and proposes to the Iridium partner:

Two possible types of fi nancing • In the form of tax-exempt sponsored research, under the auspices of the discretion granted to foundations that are

acknowledged to be in the public interest, or

• In the form of contractual joint research that can be included in full under the Research Tax Credit (CIR) assessment.

This contract specifi es, among other things, the treatment of IP.

Optimized management • Founding Members of the Foundation offer a single point of contact for all legal issues and issues relating to the

benefi cial use of the results of the research projects.

• Tax-related matters are optimized, and the handling of intellectual property issues is simplifi ed, through the signing of

contracts directly between the industrial partner and the national laboratories, with no additional intermediaries.

• Progress reports are submitted through access to the Foundation’s extranet project platform, and are also presented

at the milestone and results meetings. This system provides security for the acquisition of proofs of concept.

Although the development of the scientifi c results for benefi cial use can be handled directly by the partners and the public

agencies, the Foundation can support and assist the industrialists or academic researchers in the following three instances:

For the creation of consortia / The Foundation may provide a locus for the creation of the consortia, including consortia

with external French or foreign academic partners, thereby facilitating fundraising or the acquisition of the subsidies that

are necessary for the success of the project.

Technology transfer / The Foundation assists researchers in the establishment of technology transfers.

• The Founding Members appoint a single patent manager, who becomes the Foundation’s partner for the development

and benefi cial use of the invention.

• The Founding Members entrust the pair consisting of the Foundation and the manager with the task of serving as the

point of contact with the industrial partners.

Support for promising ventures / The Foundation encourages the emergence of innovative start-ups by accompanying

them and allowing them to make progress toward technical and/or economic proof of concept, without departing from

the fertile environment of its network.

Stage 3: Develop Innovation

Build research projects:Stage 1:

Yttrium and Iridium partners are directly involved in the Foundation’s activities, and engage in

dialogue with the Foundation’s researchers in order to conduct research projects in partnership.

p. 13


Laboratories The Foundation brings together the full potential of the research laboratories of the École

Normale Supérieure, the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, the

Institut Curie to which come to be added those of the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique

(IBPC). These laboratories unite scientifi c excellence over a full range of disciplines: from clinical

medicine to theoretical physics, and from chemistry to molecular and cell biology.

The École Normale Supérieure is a teaching and research institution.

The long tradition of basic research at the ENS ranges from mathematics

to the human sciences, via physics, chemistry, and biology.

The mission of the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Indus-trielles is to train scientifi c engineers in the areas of physics and chemistry,

with a grounding in biology; to develop a world-class research center ; and

to maintain close links with the industrial world. Thus, the ESPCI holds a

position at the heart of a tradition of relations between theoretical and

applied science.

The Institut Curie combines at a single site France’s largest cancer

research center and a hospital that specializes in the treatment of cancer.

The Curie Institute includes biologists, chemists, physicists, biostatisticians,

and physicians, all working toward the single shared goal of providing

diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to human pathologies in general and

to cancer in particular.

Laboratories…


DE GENNES

p. 14

ProjectsScientifi c rigor, quality, and high risk/impact are the primary selection criteria applied to the

research programs considered by the Foundation’s steering committee.

The Foundation launches only projects that qualify for two out of the three additional criteria :

• Inter-institutional, to maximize the synergies of the research laboratories of the ENS, the

ESPCI, and the Curie Institute.

• Interdisciplinary, to shorten the discovery/innovation cycle, by interfacing physics with

biology, chemistry, and clinics.

• Public-private, to facilitate the implementation of the scientifi c partnerships that support

the research efforts and the rapid implementation of the innovations.

The Foundation’s three founding research centers include 140 teams

and 1,450 researchers working in all areas of chemistry, physics, biology,

and clinical applications.

Intermediate Scales for Translational Research The range between macromolecules size and cell or tissue – on the scale from 100 nanometers to 50 microns – is where

certain major biological events take place: tumor stability, neural communication, and cell adhesion…

The study of all of these events requires a multidisciplinary approach, and is taking on the major challenge of achieving

cooperation among very diverse cultures, e.g., those of physicians, biostatisticians, chemists, biologists, and pharmacologists.

Over the last 40 years, the Foundation’s teams have developed unique skills in the study and modeling of the events that

occur at these so-called “intermediate scales.”

These skills place the researchers in an ideal position for a concrete approach to Translational Research, because the “inter-

mediate scales” are the locus of most of the causes of failure for standard therapeutic development strategies. These scales

may thus make it possible to align animal models with clinical observations. Consequently, the researchers of the Fondation

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research are resolutely embracing this fi eld of exploration, which has often been overlooked

but which is of the utmost importance for the therapeutic successes of tomorrow.

Projects

p. 15


Fabio Terpone has joined the

theoretical chemistry labora-

tory of the ENS Department of

Chemistry for post-doc work under the

leadership of Damien Laage. Fabio is a

specialist in the modeling of the behavior

of complex multimolecular assemblies;

he is working on the design of a predic-

tive model for the topology and nature

of water-protein reactions.

Roberto Sitia, a professor of mo-

lecular biology at the Università

Vita Salute San Raffaele in Milan,

is being hosted by the Cell Compart-

mentalization and Dynamics Labora-

tory headed by Bruno Goud (UMR 144

CNRS / Curie Institute) and the ENS De-

partment of Biology as a member of the

team led by Jean Massoulié (UMR 8544

CNRS / ENS).

Sarah Yasmine Suck is working on

her PhD at the Laboratory for

the Photons and Matter (LPEM

- UPR5 ESPCI), under the supervision

of Gilles Tessier. Her project focuses on

numerical holography and microscopy of

the electromagnetic fi eld around nano-

systems of biological interest.

Developing talents...

The Foundation’s researchers1,450 men and women with broad backgrounds and scientifi c careers, distributed

among the 140 laboratories in the Foundation’s network, constitute a lea-

ding international scientifi c community. These researchers are ready to work with

industrial know-how to which they do not currently have access, in order to derive from it

the discoveries that will be tomorrow’s wellsprings of innovation. These are the researchers

who have the courage to face new challenges by leaving the well-beaten paths of the

traditional approach of research.

From basic to applied research, from theory to inventions and industrial development for

benefi cial use, from concepts to therapeutic solutions, the Foundation’s research centers form

a unique scientifi c hub for the creation of international “chairs of excellence,” while welcoming

visiting scientists, young researchers, and PhD students.

International chairsInternational research chairs allow well-regarded researchers to conti-nue their work on scientifi c projects, by implementing a new thematic approach to research and a new team, while strengthening the bonds among the Foundation’s laboratories.

Visiting scientistsThe Foundation is a site for scientifi c exchanges and the sharing of knowledge. It draws to France recognized researchers who, during their stay, participate in the research programs conducted by the Foundation’s laboratories.

Post-docsThe scientifi c excellence of the laboratories within the network make the

Foundation a center that is particularly well suited to the needs of young

researchers seeking a post-doctoral fellowship. Accordingly, the Founda-

tion offers grants, in order to:

Allow the Foundation’s laboratories to expand their research potential

in a responsive manner, and

Attract bright young researchers.

Ph.D.sThrough the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, the

Foundation’s laboratories welcome foreign doctoral candidates and offer

them all of the conditions necessary for their training, e.g., fi nancing, a

high-level research laboratory, and personal coaching.


DE GENNES

p. 16

www.trc.fondation-pgg.org

Transmitting knowledge

The Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes for Research organizes scientifi c

conferences, created the PGG International Seminars, and sponsors

university summer sessions. Its goal, through these events, is to offer

the scientifi c community high-level lectures on the research topics that

it addresses, and to strengthen the international scientifi c scope of its

network. The dissemination of knowledge through scientifi c events also

gives the Foundation’s partner businesses access to the latest progress

in their research fi elds.

PGG International Seminars 2008-2009 Translational Research & CancerThe purpose of the international seminars sponsored by the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

Foundation is to present the state of the art in a given research fi eld, and to contribute to it

through a new vision or a novel approach.

With the launch of the PGG International Seminars, the Foundation is offering a cycle of

multiple conferences in 2008 and 2009, whose goal is to enable a better understanding of

translational research in the fi eld of oncology through complementary viewpoints.

Translational research aims to bring about cooperation among diverse cultures, and to combine

individual approaches that are in a state of constant evolution (including applied mathematics, the

physical of wave-matter interaction, molecular biology, and advanced biotechnological systems) with

solidly established know-how (including clinical observation, anatomopathology, and technical and

regulatory affairs). Thus, the conduct of translational research and the conversion of its fi ndings

into specifi c applications are particularly dependent not only on the sharing of knowledge, but

also on the union of skills and the creation of public-private partnerships.

It is within this context that the Foundation has made an investment in translational research and

organized a cycle of meetings. Eight meetings will present, from four different viewpoints (clinical

practice, imaging, molecular biology and bioinformatics, and industrial challenges), a multidisciplinary,

public-private, and up-to-the-minute vision of translational research in the fi eld of oncology.

The DeGennesDays 2008Held in Paris in May 2008, the De Gennes Days international seminar seek to encourage closer

links among different disciplines, including physics, biology, chemistry, biophysics, and biochemis-

try. Recent developments in the scientifi c fi elds that are most heavily infl uenced by the work of

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes were presented.

www.fondation-pgg.org/events/degennesdays

p. 17


Iridium Partners


DE GENNES

Photos: Originals Photos :

Serge Chapuis for the Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes

p. 4 : © Gilles Bassignac - Fondation d’Entreprise L’Oréal

The founding

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PGG corporate brochure

Health & Medicine

Transcript of PGG corporate brochure