Inria - Activity report 2009

Computational sciences at the heart of societyAnnuAl report 2009

fields of application

healthcare

transport

communication

industry

agriculture

sciences

and educationtraining

02 InrIA AnnuAl report 2009

INRIA’s scientific priorities

More information on inria.fr

ModELINGCombining mathematics and computer science, modeling serves to mathematically describe meteorological, physical, geological and physiological phenomena in order to understand, analyze and predict them more effectively

CoMMuNICatINGBeyond infrastructure issues (protocols, distribution, rules), the goal is to make the knowledge and services Internet a reality (smart Internet).

INtEraCtINGInteraction between the real and the virtual and interchange between man and machine require software control of sight, touch, gesture, natural language and speech. robotics is another promising field with potential applications in many sectors.

ProGraMMINGAt the very core of computer science, programming attempts to ensure software security and reliability and resolve problems concerning confidentiality, authentification, data protection and traceability, etc.

CoMPutatIoNaL sCIENCEsBy marrying modeling, simulation, multiscale computing and nanotechnologies, research efforts are aiming to develop models for use in biology, agronomics, ecology and the study of ecosystems and materials.

CoMPutatIoNaL ENGINEErINGthis field involves studying and predicting the behaviour of industrial objects (virtual prototypes) and aims to guarantee the correct functioning of embedded software (validation of autopilot systems on aircraft etc.).

CoMPutatIoNaL MEdICINEthis field of research seeks to develop models of organs for improving the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular or neurological diseases.

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03

InrIA’s scientific priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 02

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

InrIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

Interview with the Ceo, Michel Cosnard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

research centres

eight centres at the heart of the InrIA system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Influence in the scientific community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Indicators in good shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

software development plots a new course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Familiarising schools with digital sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

research in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

smart research through coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

applied mathematics, computation and simulation

Financial crisis: mathematicians to the rescue? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

researchers rub shoulders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

algorithmics, programming, software and architecture

Shabal in the semi-final! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

How long until secure electronic voting becomes a reality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Networks, systems and services, distributed computing

energy-saving computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Working today on the supercomputers of tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Perception, Cognition, Interaction

An all-terrain crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

learning to search for images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Computational sciences for biology, medicine and the environment

Computer scientists go green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Fighting cancer with modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

A policy of openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

a strengthened organizational structure to prepare for the future . . . 52

Partnerships in continuous progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

a breath of fresh air for transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

project-teams active in 2009 Project-teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

organization chart and councils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

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174project-teams active in 2009

3,150 scientists

4,100 collaborators all over france

e217million (2009) – 21% of which from its own resources

8research centres

INRIA is a public research establishment entirely dedicated to information and communication sciences. For more than 40 years, it has supported the economic and social transformations linked with the dissemination of digital technologies. As such, together with its academic and industrial partners, it conducts at the highest international level an increasingly influential activity in fundamental research and technology development. the knowledge produced at InrIA has become essential in medicine, biology and many other sciences. It enriches our everyday lives (communication, safety, Internet usages) and sheds light on the issues of sustainable development and energy conservation.

inRia

97companies formed since 1984


inteRview with the ceo, Michel cosnaRd

Michel Cosnard, (Chairman and Ceo since 2006) answers the questions most frequently asked by different groups of society regarding the challenges facing

information and communication science and technology (ICSt).

general puBlic What contribution is inria making to the digital technologies now filling our daily lives?

Michel Cosnard. InrIA is involved in many ways in the design of technologies now appearing on the market. the development of intelligent devices such as the Smartphone, which can be used not only for calls but also for using online services, is based on work in telecommunications, human-computer inter-faces, and software, to which institute researchers have contributed. Another example – social net-works, currently very much in vogue, are generating a great deal of research into software security and reliability, confidentiality of interchanges, and pri-vacy protection. our teams are also tackling crucial issues affecting all traffic on the Internet. We are also involved in the deliberations surrounding the ethical questions which may be raised by rapid advances in technology and their widespread adoption. We have recommended the creation of an ethics com-mittee for our fields, so as to be able to take such concerns into consideration at a very early stage in the research process.

young people how does icst research contribute to solving society’s big questions?

M. C. InrIA is showing an interest now in those ques-tions which are real issues for future generations, such as sustainable development, medicine and personal care services. We have placed these big questions in our strategic plan, and our work in this area has been much strengthened over the last four years. For example, our researchers are modelling plant growth with a view to improving food production, and are

Whether in terms of the environment, education, health, economics

or research, INrIa is trying to meet the issues of tomorrow’s society.”

Wide-ranging science open to society at large

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INrIa intends to consolidate its role in technology transfer

for society’s benefit.”

building diagnosis support tools for medicine. they are designing energy saving technologies, invent-ing shared automatic transport methods, and are creating services for the elderly and disabled. the omnipresence of ICSt in all areas of economic activity makes these very lucrative areas for the future. We will need talented and creative researchers, and I hope that this work, which now finds itself at the core of some exciting social and human issues, will be able to generate still more roles, especially for women, who are still under-represented in our disciplines. our work on disseminating science to young people and on boosting computer education in secondary schools is likely to make a contribution to this.

doctors medicine increasingly relies on digital technologies, what role does the institute intend to take in this area?

M. C. Computational medicine is a research prior-ity for the institute, and our efforts in that area are growing. our researchers are contributing to the highly-accurate modelling and simula-tion of those organs (liver, heart or brain) the workings of which it is possible to study. they are also modeling illnesses, in particular cancers, and are developing imaging tools and aids for treatment and surgery, such as cataract operation support tools. InrIA is

HIgHlIgHtS 2009

20 febRuaRy

the Visiting Committee submitted its evaluation report on the institute to valérie pécresse, french minister for Research. the report follows a visit to inRia by this committee of international experts in december 2008.

14 JanuaRy

INrIa and oNEra, the french centre for aerospace research, signed a partnership agreement to undertake joint projects in the areas of data processing and systems.

1-5 June

INrIa attended the Javaone conference in san francisco for the first time. an opportunity to present technologies developed by its researchers in the services sector.

11 June

Birth of a joint supercomputing laboratory between INrIa and the national centre for supercomputing applications (ncsa) at the university of illinois in the united states.

see p. 55.

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inteRview with the ceo, Michel cosnaRd

HIgHlIgHtS 2009

9 noveMbeR

the European Centre for research and advanced training in scientific computation (ceRfacs) and inRia announced the creation of a joint laboratory to meet the challenges of high-performance digital simulation, often the only approach possible for analyzing complex systems.

see p. 54.

6 octobeR

INrIa and Microsoft research renewed the agreement on their joint laboratory in saclay for 4 years.

see p. 54.

14 septeMbeR

the French National radioactive Waste Management agency (andRa) and inRia signed a partnership agreement on digital simulation in particular. this is a fundamental area for simulating changes in radioactive waste stored underground.

also involved in remote medical care systems allowing patients to remain at home, and in the development of new generations of implanted devices, such as pacemakers, giving rise to patent applications. Such research requires working in close collaboration with bio-medical staff, which is why we are developing joint platforms and teams. teamwork of this kind is

only going to expand. We are already participating in the new alliance for health and life sciences; we are involved in most multi-organization subject-based research programmes at the French national Institute for Health and Medical research (InSerM), where InrIA researchers’ talents are recognised.

industry can inria’s research help with economic recovery?

M. C. For two years, we have been developing our procedures to increase the impact of our technol-ogy on the economy. to do so, we have given top priority to strategic partnerships with major com-panies. these partnerships are based on a shared vision of current economic challenges, and enable our staff’s efforts to be directed at fundamental issues in order to overcome technological hurdles. We have also ensured we have the tools to work to best effect with SMes in our sector, such as the small joint laboratories, I-labs. At the same time we have improved our ability to reach these SMes. the estab-lishment of new research centres in lille, Bordeaux and Saclay has enabled the institute to weave itself into the regional economic fabric, and get involved in the local business community in close conjunction with the competitiveness clusters. the InrIA Industry meetings which took place this year in lille with the retail industry sector are a good illustration of this. Similar initiatives will increase in number in all centres. lastly, 2010 is expected to see the transformation of our InrIA-transfer subsidiary to improve the pen-etrative strength of our start-ups by helping them to create products with wider distribution.

research will be increasingly multi-disciplinary, collaborative

and Europe-oriented.”

22 July

Latin americaduring the colibri conference, inRia signed an agreement with the federal university of Rio Grande do sul in brazil to include its computer science institute within Grid’5000.

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researchers What will computing research look like in the future?

M. C. the addition of computer science to the pres-tigious higher education and research establish-ment, the Collège de France, this year, was a major advancement with symbolic resonance. this event marks the recognition both of computer science as a discipline in its own right, and that of its increas-ingly substantial contribution to other sciences. this recognition is accompanied by the target of securing computer science its rightful place in education. It is currently an option in the science syllabus post-16 years of age. It is our duty to get involved in the training of mathematics teachers, who will be tasked with teaching this subject. this work has got off to a successful start in Sophia Antipolis. this recognition also backs up the comprehensive, cross-disciplinary approach we have adopted in our strategic plan to meet the major challenges of our time. the cooperative aspect of our work is therefore liable to be consolidated not only within large-scale projects supported by the institute, but also under more substantial joint ventures like the new Alliances. the role of researcher will take on a more european dimension, with more integra-tion and coordination. We are definitely part of this

inRia is a stakeholder in eit ict labs, one of the three Knowledge and innovation communities selected on december 16 by the european institute of innovation and technology (eit) initiated by the european commission. “The objective of EIT ICT Labs is to strengthen the European industry’s position in an economically strategic domain,

namely services and applications linked with tomorrow’s information society,” says Jean-Pierre Banâtre, director of european partnerships. “This major initiative, lasting for between 12 and 15 years, draws on the synergy

between research, education and innovation to create conditions conducive to the emergence of companies capable of taking a place on the global stage.”eic ict labs is deployed across five geographical sites (berlin, eindhoven, helsinki, paris and stockholm) and has 23 partnerships with ten manufacturers, six research organizations and seven universities with a leading position europe-wide, as well as innovation centres (certain competitiveness clusters in france). the sites in Rennes and sophia antipolis are also involved in this initiative.“We’re hoping for direct effects in the form of business and job creation. More than this, the research activity of EIT ICT Labs will benefit the whole of society by tackling major topical subjects such as health, the city of the future and the problems of energy, environment and climate change.”

gIvIng InnovAtIon a Boost IN EuroPE

10 deceMbeR

INrIa and the french institute for agricultural and environmental engineering, ceMaGRef, created a joint project team, fluminance. it is original in that it combines the institute researchers’ skills in image analyzis and processing with those of ceMaGRef’s researchers in fluid mechanics.

2-4 deceMbeR

INrIa organized, with the french Ministry of higher education and Research, the university of paris 1 and the Max-planck institute, the 7th conference on the knowledge internet, berlin 7.

see p. 16.

24 noveMbeR

INrIa signed an agreement with six african partners establishing the creation of a joint virtual laboratory called the international laboratory for Research in computer science and applied Mathematics (liRiMa).

see p. 55.

10 noveMbeR

INrIa and the Collège de France created an annual chair in computer science and computational sciences. Gérard berry is the first holder of this chair.

see p. 21.

trend, with our erC prize winners, our cross-border teams and, most importantly, (and a source of pride in this eventful year), with the success of the eIt ICt labs project. A fine project to build wholly oriented towards europe and social concerns.

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ReseaRch centRes

lilleCoMMErCIaL INdustrIEsthe InrIA-Industry meetings, which took place in lille in June on the topic of commercial

industries, were given a warm reception. the format adopted

was well matched with the expectations of manufacturers in the sector, which are taking a growing interest in r&D issues. We retained a highly practical approach, with demonstrations offered by all InrIA centres. this event is a high point of our efforts

(concerning manufacturers), which aim to build a genuine community between researchers and manufacturers at both a regional and national level.

Max dauchet, director of the inria lille – nord europe research centre.

Rennesa WINdoW oN thE BraINthe neurinfo platform, launched with our partners from InSerM (national Institute for Health and Medical research), the university of rennes 1 and the university Hospital Centre, is intended for the study of inflammatory and degenerative brain diseases. It stands out due to its triple use, in research, clinical applications and for industry, for example in the testing of drugs. our researchers add innovative tools to neurinfo for the acquisition and utilisation of images and the management of databases. In the long term, we’re planning to insert the platform into european research infrastructures.

Patrick Bouthemy, director of the inria rennes – Bretagne atlantique research centre.

GRenoblea BooM IN EMBEddEd soFtWarEresearch into embedded software is a strong point of the centre and the partnerships that we’re developing with St Microelectronics and the CeA (French Atomic energy Commission) are at the heart of the regional dynamic on this topic. this is a rich field for research, as well as being crucial for manufacturers, as the programming of multicore architectures - a major component of our research into embedded software - is the key to their competitive future. this year we launched 10 projects on the subject, as well as the integrative research centre pIlSI together with our partners.

François sillon, director of the inria grenoble – rhône alpes centre.

the centres, which are firmly established in the local landscape, are a gateway (access, path) for their partners to all of the Institute’s skills. We take a closer look at the year’s key initiatives.

Eight centres at the heart of the INRIA system

the irm, core of the neurinfo platform, financed by a state-region project contract together with a significant contribution from inria.

demonstration of a virtual store at

the inria-industry meetings in lille.

sensor for embedded

systems.

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boRdeauxMaJor VIsIBILIty IN aEroNautICs aNd sPaCE the le Bourget Show was one of the high points of the year. As part of the show, we participated in inviting the Aerospace valley competitiveness cluster, in which we are closely involved and with which we have around ten projects addressing modelling, simulation, visualisation and high-performance computing, which are also specialities of the centre.

At this event we played a pivotal role between the local and national levels by bringing in demonstrations from other InrIA centres. Along the same lines, we’re preparing InrIA industry meetings that will take place in 2010 in Bordeaux and then toulouse.

Claude Kirchner, director of the inria Bordeaux – sud-ouest research centre.

sophia antipolisICst: BENEFICIaL CaMPusthe result of extensive work, the launch of the ICSt campus unites local academic players around themes that are key for InrIA (network, health, environment and usage). Its formative role is beneficial for everyone, providing increased visibility, shared involvement in major projects such as the oIn (national interest operation) ecovallée and the development of a coherent training offering. the campus will also house one of the sites of the eIt ICt labs project, bringing together partners present in our department.

Gérard Giraudon, director of the inria sophia antipolis – méditerranée centre.

saclaysharING thE aMBItIoNs oF thE saCLay PLatEau this new building, which will bring together the lrI and InrIA teams, gives concrete form to the partnership between the digital sciences players of the Saclay plateau. It also reflects the commitment of the Institute and its academic partners to building the research excellence park Digiteo, of which they are the co-founders, and their joint involvement in the campus of the Saclay plateau. these new districts will be given a european dimension by hosting a portion of the paris-region site of the eIt ICt labs project.

Michel Bidoit, director of the saclay – Île-de-France research centre (in 2009).

the walls feature the ideas of the paris sub-office.

laying the first stone of the saclay plateau construction project.

nancyGEttING youths INtErEstEd IN sCIENCEour researchers have made major efforts to interest young people in science. In partnership with the Academy of nancy-Metz, they have given 28 conferences in secondary schools and contributed to the success of the Mathematics olympiads. In a major first, nearly 80 researchers welcomed one or two students to their team for an entire day to introduce them to their job. the Science Festival was also a big event. We were present there in the lorraine stations and trains with the Sillon lorrain project, which was selected by the ministry.

Karl tombre, director of the inria nancy – grand est centre.

paRis-RocquencouRtINrIa EstaBLIshEs ItsELF IN thE hEart oF ParIsWith this paris sub-office, the centre will be more able to develop scientific relationships with its paris-based partners. the offices on Avenue d’Italie are home to the joint teams with the pierre et Marie Curie and paris-Diderot universities, the École normale Supérieure de paris and the CnrS (French national Centre for Scientific research). this sub-office is also a strategic component for hosting the paris site of the eIt ICt labs project and the It Innovation and research Centre for Free Software (Cirill@paris), with which the Institute is involved.

antoine Petit, director of the inria paris – rocquencourt centre.

A Day with a Scientist initiative.

laying the first stone of the icst campus.

demonstration by the iparla team at the inria-industry meetings.

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Influence in the scientific community

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Influence in the scientific community

Present everywhere, for everyoneLike the networks that link sometimes very distant entities, INRIA forges links with numerous academic and industrial partners in France and abroad. It regularly ventures out to meet young people and its fellow citizens. Its scientific results and its technologies enrich the business and social world.

NETWORK

Athéna/Odyssée The brain and its billions of connections reconstructed by imaging.

INfluENcE IN ThE scIENTIfIc cOmmuNITy

16 INRIA ANNuAL RepoRt 2009

INRIA assigns its performance assessment to an internal monitoring unit, which is three years old this year. Its goal is to evaluate the progress of the Institute’s activities by monitoring certain indicators covering its scientific production, its management and its transfer activities. the verdict? A clean bill of health!

Indicators in good shape

“The monitoring unit, created in 2007, is now an essential tool. Research is now thought out in terms

of objectives, whether as part of the modernisation of govern-ment management (organic law relating to finance laws - LOLF) or the four-year contract,” explains Madeleine Zalkind, in

charge of the INRIA activity monitoring unit. “Work on the database, which is a real investigatory task, serves to calculate the indicators needed to

Rapidly disseminating the result of their research is a priority for scientists. To this end, in 2004, INRIA signed the Berlin Declaration, which committed the major signatory organizations to working towards the direct, open and free communication of all scientific knowledge (an initiative supported by the ANR and the European science foundation). The Institute has since teamed up with the cNRs (french National centre for scientific Research) to promote the open archives platform

“The Institute is on the whole achieving the objectives set under the four-year contract signed with the government, which comes to an end this year.”

This year, INRIA researchers have once again had their projects praised by the European Research council. marie-france sagot was named as the winner of the “senior researchers” category and received a €2.5 million grant for her innovative project in the mathematical, algorithmic and biological study of symbiosis. The close relationship between different species could potentially lead us to revisit the notions of health, our relationship with the environment and even the concept of space and the individual.francis Bach (see page 43) and Pierre-yves Oudeyer were winners in the “junior researchers” category and received a five-year grant of €1.5 million.

ERC: A vINtAge yeAR IN 2009 SpEEdIng up ThE dISSEMInATIOn oF scIeNtIFIc ResuLts

evaluate activity.” these indicators, covering fac-tors such as the number of publications, research-ers, patents, submissions to the HAL-INRIA open archives and european contracts, are all positive. the institute can be proud of the number of pro-posals that have been accepted by european programs (around 25%) – testament to the quality of the projects submitted. Activity is also increasing on the data transfer side. For example: the amount of software submitted to the Agency for the protection of programs (87 copyrights in 2009) has risen by 14%

hAl and has strongly urged its researchers to submit their articles to the platform. furthermore, the 7th edition of the conference on the knowledge Internet was held in December this year at the sorbonne, together with the support of the ministry for higher Education and Research, the university of Paris 1 and the max-Planck Institute. “This is recognition of INRIA’s involvement in open access in France and worldwide,” notes Jean-Jacques Millet, representative of scientific and technical information at the Institute and head of the conference’s organization committee. “The French session provided an opportunity to reflect on the future of HAL and speak about its transformation into a national shared-governance platform.”

17

15,000 submissions and 32% of scientific publications entered into hAl.

compared to 2008. As for the principal indicator of scientific production from the Inria team-projects (quantity of “internationally recognized scientific publications” calculated on the same basis for the past ten years), it is constantly increasing and rose from 4,034 in 2008 to 4,351 in 2009.“An analysis of the indicators shows that only the distribution of the Institute’s financing has changed compared with the forecasts of the four-year con-tract,” says Madeleine Zalkind. “Whereas, initially, an equal contribution was expected from the government, Europe and industrial contracts, the share from the government, via the new National Research Agency (ANR), and Europe increased, while the share from industrial contracts decreased.” INRIA has taken note of this develop-ment and is now focusing its attention, particularly within competitiveness clusters, on sMes with a major potential for innovation.

A REwARdEd cAReeRgérard huet received the prestigious award from the European Association for Theoretical computer science (EATcs Award) in Rhodes on July 9 in recognition of an illustrious career in fundamental computing research. This researcher, a member of the Académie des sciences and the Academia Europaea, is notably responsible for a variety of work in the field of formal verification. This work includes the design of the verification assistant coq, currently used to ensure the reliability of programs intended for applications including air transport and financial transactions.

A best-seLLeR In RObOTICSsix INRIA researchers contributed to the Springer Handbook of Robotics, the 2008 best-seller of the scientific publisher springer in the engineering category. This book, which looks back at 50 years of research and the social and ethical implications of this field, received two awards from the Association of American scientific Publishers: the Award in Engineering & Technology and the Award for Excellence in Physical sciences & mathematics.

Europe ANR and other state funds Businesses miscellaneous

COnTRACTuAl INcoMes 2009 (IN %)

6

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22 project-teams created in 2009.

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INRIA is currently turning its attention to the production of completed software programs to improve their impact in scientific and industrial circles. the implementation of a new organizational structure for software development is already bearing fruit and opening up new prospects. stéphane ubeda, director of technology development, tells us more.

Software development plots a new course

Over the last few years the Institute has been aiming to enhance software development. what stage are things at today?Stéphane ubeda. three years ago, we began a revision of our policy in order to improve the matu-ration stage for software developed by research and to encourage its use by a larger number of researchers and industry players. our labour power has grown thanks to the recruitment of engineers, the creation of experimentation and development services (seD) in each research centre and management at a national level. At the same time, we have organized software development actions (ADt). these are initiatives that bring together seD engineers and researchers as part of a technology development program. It’s a large-scale structured approach. this system is now firmly in place and is beginning to bear fruit. As a result, we have around 60 ADts and are beginning the third call for project tenders.

what are the effects of this new organizational structure?S. u. thanks to this policy, we have reasserted the value of the role played by engineers. seDs are now seen as dynamic places for the training of young engineers. Around 100 of them have already worked in these structures since 2007. the R&D culture acquired during their stay at INRIA will be an asset in their professional lives and a benefit for the industry that will employ them later on. ADts also offer a visibility that encourages projects with common interests to come together. For example, cardiosense3D (a major initiative on the digital modeling of the heart) now uses

The Genouest platform is a resource centre for biology laboratories. It is now IsO 9001 certified, IBisA* labelled and a part of the Renabi national network of bioinformatics platforms. It develops tools for managing large bulk data such as the Biomaj software, a flagship product developed together with INRA. It also actively participates in the implementation of information systems required due to the larger volume of data on living species. Another advantage is that the

platform is attached to the symbiose bioinformatics team, which has a direct link with biologists. As a result, Genouest was chosen by INRA to develop the bioinformatics section of the pest genomics program. One of its tasks is hosting a specialised database on aphids, AphidBase, which is used as a source of baseline information around the world.

gEnOuEST bIoINFoRMAtIcs pLAtFoRM

In-Situ The Wild platform is a shared working environment comprising a 32-screen interactive wall. Using simple gestures, it is possible to move an image, zoom in on a detail or show documents to all participants.

*National life sciences platforms.

19

the sofa platform (created by an ADt dedicated to medical simulation algorithms). this fosters the wider use of software programs.

what prospects lie ahead?S. u. today our priority is to combine certain actions in order to reduce the number of opera-tions, while at the same time enlarging the base of teams participating in each one. the aim is to increase the effect of the resources and personnel made available in order to obtain more complete software programs and increase the impact of results. We will also be uniting development efforts around major challenges facing society. A plat-

“The ideal is to have a limited number of large platforms covering growth topics that are capable

of uniting various projects.” STéphane Ubeda, director of technology development

New radiocommunication standards are banking on multi-antenna transmission, which enhances the performance of mobile phones and laptops. The Radio platform – financed by INsA (National Institute of Applied sciences), the Rhône-Alpes region and INRIA – enables the creation and simulation of devices operating on all sorts of standards (Wi-fi, umTs, lTE) in order to fine-tune their performance and power consumption models and adapt the protocols. using this, it is possible to shorten the design cycle for new-generation devices, which is an advantage for the platform’s industrial partners such as Orange labs. “The platform is also the strong point of a European project on the planning of the future fourth-generation networks that began this year,” says Jean-Marie gorce, leader of the swing team. “Our expertise in modeling is also being put to use as part of a joint laboratory with Alcatel-Lucent.”

MulTI-AnTEnnA coMMuNIcAtIoN oN tHe HoRIZoN

form on the intelligent home is currently in the making. this will unite actions relating to home help, the intelligent office and energy conserva-tion. It’s a way of breaking work down into its constituent elements but also provides an opportunity to encour-age the emergence of new research topics. For example, current research combining robot-ics and the home is undoubtedly an approach that should be addressed more widely given its promising prospects.

Vgate: a full-scale 3D immersion platform at INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes.



InRIA fIlMS oN uNIveRscIeNce.tvEight videos explaining digital sciences to the general public have been chosen to be shown on universcience.tv. This weekly updated Internet television site was launched at the end of 2009 by the Palais de la Découverte and the cité des sciences. INRIA is a partner of this new media resource dedicated to sciences and technologies and accessible to all users.

Aware of the loss of interest among youths in research and mathematics, INRIA is stepping up its efforts in liaison with teachers and academics in order to help primary and secondary school students learn more about Icst. this is paving the way for computing to enter into the school curriculum.

Familiarising schools with digital sciences

“INRIA has a role to play in disseminating digital sciences among the general public, as well as

more specifically among stu-dents and their teachers, who themselves have little training in this discipline,” notes Yannick le Thiec, head of the general public communication project.

INRIA has for years been campaigning for digital sciences to be introduced into school syllabuses. consequently, it is delighted at news that these disciplines will be entering secondary schools from 2012 as an optional subject in the final year of science. the research centres have made a major contribution to this development by providing training aimed at mathematics teachers, includ-ing the algorithmics course offered this year by

Since 2008, INRIA has been a partner of the Ministry for National Education in the Mathematics Olympiads.

The Open-Vibe film made in 2009 shows how to directly control a computer using thought. It will be available on universcience.tv

the sophia Antipolis centre. INRIA is also involved in the Digital universities plan in partnership with the unisciel and unit university groupings. It runs the Fuscia project, the aim of which is to improve the accessibility of educational resources in Icst. the virtual reception office, which opened this year, has enabled 200 students from secondary schools and preparatory classes to directly con-tact researchers in order to prepare their personal supervised work (tpe) and personal supervised initiative work (tIpe).

gAInIng MORE vISIbIlITYthis support in the teaching of Icst complements the business awareness activity that the Institute has been carrying out for a number of years, notably through collaborations with academies.

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“Being visible on the Web is essential for the attractiveness of both a university

and a research organization and, more generally, for disseminating a country’s scientific and industrial thinking.” Patrick ramBert, head of the Fuscia project

75% of mathematics teachers at the Academy of Nice have taken the algorithmics training offered by the INRIA sophia Antipolis centre.

In 2009, the INRIA Lille – Nord europe centre signed an agreement with the Academy of Lille, bringing the number of agreements nationwide to six. each of the eight centres regularly makes arrangements for students to join the teams or researchers to speak at the establishments. In the long term, INRIA is also contributing towards the creation of a digital scientific culture fund. since 2004, it has been running a popularisation site called Interstices that now has 246 contributors and is this year offering special entry for second-ary school students. It is involved in the publica-tion of popularisation documents, such as the DocSciences issue on digital sciences and life sciences. At each of the centres, events such as the science Festival have finally provided an opportunity for a major initiative to be carried out aimed at the general public.

A MAjoR step FoRWARD FoR COMpuTER SCIEnCE TEAChIng

whY IS ThE CREATIOn Of ThIS ChAIR A SpECIAl EvEnT?

The creation of this chair establishes the discipline as an independent science and marks its recognition by the other sciences. This is only right, as with 29% of global R&D, this discipline currently offers the biggest growth prospects. The chair also allows a highly varied audience to be reached thanks to radio and Internet broadcasts. for example, my first course was downloaded tens of thousands of times.

whY dO YOu plACE A MAJOR EMphASIS On ThE nEEd fOR COMpuTER SCIEnCE TO bE TAughT In SECOndARY SChOOlS?

To prepare for the future and develop individuals who are active participants in the information society, it is essential to teach this discipline very early on in life. computer science’s entry into the collège de france has provided an opportunity to make the teaching of the science that underpins digital technologies rather than their usage a priority in primary and secondary schools.

the collège de France and INRIA have created a five-year “computing and Digital sciences” chair. gérard berry, a world-renowned researcher and a member of the Academy of sciences and the Academy of technologies, will be the first holder. We asked this leading computer sciences educator two questions.

Lillosciences in Lille. This event, organized by the INRIA Lille – Nord Europe centre and the University of Lille 1, was one of the seven national winners of the Science Festival 2009 call for project tenders. At all INRIA centres, researchers actively participate in this public event.

100,000 visitors have attended INRIA events.

10,000students have visited INRIA this year or attended courses given by researchers at educational establishments.

Research in action

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Securing the future with green sciencesMathematics and computer science are today decisive in understanding environmental issues (agronomics, climatology, energy). These disciplines help us to devise and develop essential tools for responding to the major challenges of our time: energy savings, health, finance, industrial design and the emergence of a safer, more intelligent and more usage-focused Internet generation.

ENVIRONMENT

Digiplante Modeling the impact of climate change on plant growth.

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26 INRIA ANNuAl RepoRT 2009

after INRIa was created in 1967, little had changed in the way research was organized. The new organizational structure introduced in 2009 is expected to enable the Institute to respond better in a collective, coordinated and rapid manner to the increasingly complex and multidisciplined problems facing researchers.

Smart research through coordination

What was the idea behind reorganizing research?Claude Puech (Direc-tor of Research Depart-ment). The main aim was

to achieve improved efficiency, particularly because of the considerable growth in the Institute’s workforce. In the space of 10 years,

sible that the Institute’s responsiveness could eventually be restricted. It seemed useful and important to implement an organizational structure that would facilitate the coordi-nation of teams and skills and would be more suited to their geographical dispersion. The aim was also to adapt to developments in the institutional framework of research, which often require collective responses to requests for project tenders by european structures or the National Research Agency. This improved coordination is also one of the objectives of the new Alliance of Digital Sciences and Tech-nologies (Allistène), bringing together the Con-ference of the Heads of French engineering Schools (CDeFI.), the French Atomic energy Commission (CeA), the French National Insti-tute for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Con-ference of university presidents (Cpu), INRIA and the Institut Telecom.

How will research be run from now on?C. P. Five main fields have been defined around four main activities (modeling, pro-gramming, communicating and interacting) and one application field (life and environ-ment sciences). In each field, a deputy scientific director is supported by a com-mittee of five to seven people with in-depth

the number of project-teams rose from 87 at the end of 2000 to 169 at the end of 2009, plus around 20 teams in the evaluation process. Relations between research teams were previously established very spontaneously, whenever personal relations sprang up or meetings between researchers took place, for example at conferences. The increase in the number of teams meant it was pos-

Gamma Visualization of different speeds around a Falcon plane.

Clime Air quality forecast.

Nano-D Modeling nanoscopic objects using Samson software.

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knowledge of the field and its different facets. Together, they explore the main chal-lenges, coordinate the scientific community in their field and initiate new collaborations between researchers from INRIA’s various centres or between the Institute’s teams and outside parties. Cross-departmental subjects such as high-performance computing also benefit from this improved visibility.This new management structure has proved very useful in working towards the creation of new industrial and academic strategic partnerships. For example, it has enabled us to respond to recent demands in the field of sus-tainable development by quickly identifying the skills concerned. It is also more attentive to the emerging subjects raised by researchers with the aim of initiating new scientific fields.

Are the current tools suitable?C. P. Yes. exploratory actions foster the emer-gence of new subjects that constitute a departure from the traditional approaches. Collaborative research actions encourage synergies between teams and support research efforts that require the involvement of researchers from several disciplines, or even several organizations. large-scale ini-tiative actions aim to give a particular scope

to a strategic project that the Institute wants to focus on in keeping with its strategic plan and the milestones identified in this plan.Research at INRIA: 8 research centres (Rocquencourt, Rennes, Sophia Antipolis, Grenoble, Nancy, Bordeaux, lille and Saclay), 2,800 researchers, 174 INRIA project-teams, 25 teams, 20 Collaborative Research Actions, 3 exploratory Actions, 6 large-Scale Initiative Actions, and 19 Technology Devel-opment Actions.

1. CDEFI: Conference of Directors of French Engineering Schools.

2. CPU: French Conference of University Presidents.

SuStAiNAble eNviRoNmeNt: IMpROVINg ThE cOORdINaTION Of REsEaRch EffORTs aNd MakINg ThEM MORE VIsIblE

“INRIA has skills in the majority of cross-discipline themes in sustainable development,” explains isabelle Herlin, who participated in a working group on the subject. No less than

65 project-teams contribute to this topic, in various sectors: energy (green computing and ITER project), transport (road traffic modeling and control etc.), sustainable towns, health, ecology and the environment (plant, ocean and air quality modeling, etc.). To achieve better coordination of scientific work and an improvement of its impact, the Research department identified three core

areas for the consistency of work. The first concerns green IT and the development of more resource-friendly software, communication protocols, operating systems and compilers. The second core work area is sustainable towns and ambient intelligence, including the development of sensor networks (for observing and monitoring), software (for measuring actions or managing networks) and tools that facilitate teleworking. The final core area, which is cross-departmental, brings together work in information and communication science and technology (IcsT) that “serves” sustainable development: energy, transport, environment and ecology.

3,150researchers work within eight centres of the INRIa distributed in all france.

The ability to predict the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food enables consumer safety to be more effectively guaranteed. The collaborative research action Eps (statistical projected Eco-microbiology), coordinated by Pierre Del moral from the alea team, develops sophisticated statistical tools for improving the predictions made on the basis of microbiology models. These tools produce a reliable estimate of the model’s parameters, while also factoring in the multiple sources of errors associated with the experimental handling necessary to test the model. after millions of virtual counts and hundreds of hours of computing, the specific filtering methods can satisfactorily estimate the probability, for example, of locating a can of food that carries a health risk before its use-by date.

ePS: A MICRoBIoloGY pReDICTIoN Tool

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You find a lot of INRIA mathematicians and computer code developers in this field: 35 teams in total, or

around 500 people. These researchers work in close collaboration with their counterparts from other scientific disciplines (physics, biology, materials science, sciences of the universe), with whom they develop specific applications. To do so, they write equations, analyze them and find numerical schemes for conversion into computer programs. Based on this modeling, they simulate systems and, for some applications, go as far as controlling them (in other words,

beRNARD eSPiAu,DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC DIReCToR, “FIelD: ApplIeD MATHeMATICS, CoMpuTATIoN AND SIMulATIoN”

The financial crisis in 2008 took the entire world by surprise and made life rather difficult for mathematicians. “The objective of the soft-ware Premia that we’re developing is to set

up a technology watch for numerical problems related to the evaluation and hedging of financial derivative products,” explains Agnès Sulem,

financial mathematics is a real challenge for mathematicians. The development of increasingly complex products and the emergence of new markets for derivatives linked with energy, commodities, climate and even pollution require specific modeling, advanced mathematical analysis and efficient computational methods.

Financial crisis: mathematicians to the rescue?

FIelD: ApplIeD MATHeMATICS, CoMpuTATIoN AND SIMulATIoN

head of the Mathfi project-team. “Partner banks are adapting our algorithms to their specific needs and take their own decisions about risk hedging.”

HeDGiNG RiSkSInterdependence of the markets, lack of regulation and badly hedged risks (in particular for the well-known subprime mortgages) were the initial cause of the crisis. The global economy is founded on these risk exchange techniques, which require increasingly sophisticated software programs. So what can mathematicians do in this context? “I think that it is necessary to enhance the research activity, and con-tinue to develop the mathematical tools to better handle model uncertainty, sud-den fluctuations and risk control, with con-stant computational concerns,” responds Agnès Sulem. These researchers’ daily activities con-sist of analyzing and controlling random processes. They develop sophisticated algorithms to address pricing of finan-cial derivatives and to evaluate their risk hedging.

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“automation”). Thanks to these cross-discipline skills in computing, optimization, statistics and control, they are also led to collaborate with many other colleagues within INRIA.In the future, the challenge for these teams will be the growing complexity of the problems to address, with an increasing volume of data to handle, models from highly diverse origins needing to be combined and ever-more advanced computing resources conducting billions of billions of operations per second, which will need to be adapted to.”

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These algorithms are then implemented and updated every year on the software platform premia, a quantitative finance platform launched by INRIA 10 years ago in cooperation with a consortium bring-ing together Société Générale, Calyon, Natixis and two Austrian banks (RZB and Bank Austria). premia is also available in open-access mode with a two-year delay. “Every year, we discuss the developments to make the following year with the consor-tium’s members,” adds Agnès Sulem. In 2009, Mathfi researchers focused on American options, interest rate and credit derivative products, risk control with spe-cial emphasis on stochastic volatility and jumps models. Mathematicians are working hard to develop innovative tools for risk management. However, it remains to be seen whether banks will take less risk with financial products.

What is the relationship between the financial markets, neurosciences, meteorology, protein geometry and developments in a population of bacteria? “They all involve random phenomena that can be modeled using the same stochastic models,” answers Denis talay, leader of the Tosca project-team, which specializes

in the subject. Only the objectives differ. for some of these applications, thresholds are important: minimum values for limiting financial losses, electrical potential levels to reach for neuron activity. for others, the aim is to reduce the dimensions of the modeling of very complex systems so that they can then be simulated. Examples of applications include the simulation of protein withdrawals, the evaluation of wind power resources in accordance with landscapes and the random development of a biological population according to its resources and reproduction. In the financial field, the Tosca team is working with swiss colleagues (finnrisk network) on conducting a stochastic calculation-based study of the empirical approaches used on trading floors and based on graph analyses and macro-economic considerations.

A RANDom woRlD

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Mathematical models allow users to choose the hedging of risks associated, for example, with the fluctuation of oil prices.

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250computers in constant operation, that’s the mathematical power needed to manage the risks taken by a large bank.

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Contact, rubbing, sliding and impacts are the common fate of many mechanical systems. A walking robot produces an impact when it puts its foot down. The fact that it remains upright is to do with friction with the ground. Similarly, a circuit breaker utilizes several parts that come into friction with each other. The move-ment of a head of hair is also a story of rubbing, sliding and contact. From robots to circuit breakers and hairs, all of these mechanical systems have one thing in common: their behavior can be mod-

The multidisciplined team BIPoP is capable of simulating and optimizing anything that slides, rubs or bangs together. This field of application is far more diverse than you might think, involving everything from walking robots that work on electrical systems to circuit breakers and even hair. The researchers are now integrating their solutions into large-scale industrial platforms.

Researchers rub shoulders

eled and simulated with “non- regular models”, the specialty of the Bipop project-team.

multiPle APPliCAtioNS“We analyze, control and simulate these kinds of systems in a reliable and robust

m a n n e r, ” e x p l a i n s bernard brogliato, leader of Bipop, “in some app l icat ions going as far as produc-ing a digital simulation

software program. Developments in some areas fuel work in others.” what’s more, the fields of application extend far beyond mere mechanical systems. The sudden variations in current or volt-age in electrical systems are entirely comparable, in terms of modeling, with mechanical shocks. “Our techniques are therefore perfectly suited to the virtual prototyping of electrical systems,” adds Bernard Brogliato. “We submitted a pat-ent on this subject in 2009.”So which electrical systems are these? examples include power converters, systems that govern the durability of our mobile phone batteries, regulating

its strong point is that bipop brings together researchers in numerical analysis, contact mechanics,

optimization and control.”beRNARD bRoGliAto is the leader of the bipop project-team at INRIa Rhône-alpes. In 2009, four engineers collaborated with bipop, which demonstrates the strong industrial implications of the research topics involving fields from automotives and space to electromechanical systems and robotics. The problems are treated from a theoretical and practical viewpoint, with software creations such as siconos, dedicated to irregular dynamic systems, and humans, to simulate the movement of bipeds (humans, robots).

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FIelD: ApplIeD MATHeMATICS, CoMpuTATIoN AND SIMulATIoN

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their power and saving their energy. By optimizing these types of components, engineers can make a battery last four times longer. They are also capable of designing power converters for elec-troluminescent diodes (low-energy leD bulbs), which require a very high voltage 10 or even 50 times higher than mains voltage.

iNDuStRy iN itS SiGHtSTo promote the use of these simulations in industry, the researchers are integrating their open-source software solution Sico-nos (a product of the eponymous euro-pean project coordinated by INRIA) into a software platform developed since 2009 as part of the National Research Agency project called Saladyn. “Integrating our own technologies to help devise complex mechanical systems allows us to come into contact with the industrial world.

200 events (impacts, sliding, etc.) take place during the 50 milliseconds in which a circuit breaker interrupts an electric current.

as part of the ExoMars project of the European space agency, an autonomous vehicle (a “rover”) is set to explore several miles of the surface of Mars in 2013 to characterize its biological and geological environment. bipop’s researchers are working for one of the project’s subcontractors, Trasys space, which is developing a 3d simulator of the rover. They are integrating their siconos software solution to simulate the vehicle’s movements according to the granular soil on which it will have to travel. The vehicle will send information to the simulator about the Martian soil with which it is in contact. The information will be transmitted to the ground. based on this, the movements will be simulated on Earth in a comparable granular soil before being sent back to the rover so that it can carry them out. The aim is to prevent the accident that befell Nasa’s Martian robot spirit, which became stuck in april 2009 after five years of exploration.

No MoRe GettiNG StuCk

Modeling the movement of a head of hair involves rubbing and sliding motions.

Schneider Electric and EDF are participating in this project,” explains vincent Acary, leader of Saladyn. “This also brings us new research

subjects involving new industrial prob-lems.” The long-term goal is to integrate Siconos into Salomé, an open-source platform for integrated design adapted to various fields of engineering and developed over the last 10 years with partners including Dassault Systèmes, peugeot and Renault. This really will be a step into a wider world.

Impacts and friction on the ground are taken into account when modeling the walking pattern

of the Nao robot.

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The operation of a circuit breaker brings a variety of sliding, rubbing and contact areas into play.

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In cryptography, the security of algorithms is constantly being questioned, even by those that devise them, and they are therefore in the best position to identify the flaws of their competitors. The game is more akin to table tennis than rugby, the difference being that the robustness of the solutions and the power of the attacks form the rules. As for the end goal, there is nothing recreational about it: ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of data, for example for Internet browsing, online payments, telephone communications, electronic voting and, more recently, per-sonal health data.

shabal, the cryptographic algorithm on which the SEcRET project-team is participating, is still in the running in the international competition that will create the next hash algorithm standard, which involves functions that are used in the signature and authentication of large files. The event will draw to a close in 2012.

Shabal in the semi-final!

FIelD: AlGoRITHMICS, pRoGRAMMING, SoFTwARe AND ARCHITeCTuRe

File HASHiNGThe Secret team is working on basic primi-tives, in other words the functions that, combined, form the major cryptographic protocols. Just 10 or so of these primitives have been standardized, with the main types concerning data encryption and sig-nature algorithms. with the latter, it is often judicious, or even essential, to first use a hashing function, in other words a function that allows very large files (software, long texts) to be reduced to a fingerprint, a small, fixed-size piece (for example 256 bits). This allows, firstly, the authentication of files by analyzing this fingerprint and comparing it with the original and, secondly, the rapid production of a digital signature for this fingerprint rather than for the entire file.

At tHe WoRlD CuPIt was in 2004 that standard hash functions, defined during the 1990s, were taken to pieces, in other words their flaws were detected, one after the other. even if the attacks come from the academic world, they reflect unacceptable failings. As is cus-tomary, an international competition was launched to find a solution, a robust suc-

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This field is at the core of programming and computer systems. Technology developments,

such as the development of multicore processors and pervasive computing, raise new scientific challenges for experts in algorithms, languages and software architectures. Their common goal is to achieve control over the reliability and security of programs and data exchanges. Researchers are studying and certifying the reliability of embedded systems in avionics, automotives and now portable devices

HélèNe kiRCHNeR,DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC DIReCToR, “FIelD: AlGoRITHMICS, pRoGRAMMING, SoFTwARe AND ARCHITeCTuRe”

such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants, which have limited computing resources. They are also interested in the reliability of web services and in the security of data exchanges using cryptography techniques that also need to be certified, while at the same time addressing privacy issues. The teams are producing specification, programming, testing and proof environments, program analysis and verification tools, certified compilers, as well as cryptography and cryptanalysis methods.”

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cessor, which will be called SHA-3 (Secure Hash Algorithm). The competition was kicked off at the end of 2008 by America’s NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). INRIA’s team worked on 2 of the 64 initial proposals (FSB and Shabal). 14 are still in the running, including Shabal. In August 2010, five finalists will remain, with the winner being chosen in 2012.The Shabal algorithm is proposed by a team of 14 researchers from seven academic and industrial research teams, as part of a project financed by the National Research Agency. “Its strengths are its speed (it’s ranked sec-ond, fast on PCs but also on smartcards) and its mode of operation, which was one of the weak points of the previous function,”

explains Anne Canteaut, the leader of Secret. Specifically, the mode of operation of a hash function defines how it splits the file into blocks

of a fixed size and processes them in suc-cession to calculate the fingerprint. “The crux of the problem is to appropriately iterate one single function on each of the split file blocks,” she continues. “ Shabal’s mode of operation is based on a new construction whose security can be proven.” May the best man win!

Researchers from the secret team have managed to address 5 of the 64 proposals that were initially in the competition to define the future cryptographic hash standard, selecting those that they felt were the most vulnerable. apart from doing updating work on the weaknesses that compromise security, these efforts often utilize new techniques that subsequently constitute the design bases for even more robust algorithms. The repercussions sometimes go even further. “One of the functions we addressed, Lane, is based on a standard encryption algorithm called AES, which is widely used and was adopted in 2000 following an international procedure similar to that currently under way for hashing and previously considered to be robust,” explains Anne Canteaut. however, when used in the context of hash functions, aEs revealed its weaknesses. Other competing functions used aEs and as a result were open to scrutiny. Importantly, this work could, in the future, create new leads for identifying the security flaws of aEs in its primary function, namely data encryption. and so the process continues, opening up more research prospects.

AttACk!

The hash function defines how computing a short fingerprint of a file; this fingerprint can then be used for producing a cryptographic signature.

14 hashing functions still in the running, chosen from a starting group of 64, including shabal.

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the number of voters has in some cases been higher than the number of individuals regis-tered. Meanwhile, online electronic voting over the Internet, which French expatriates have been able to use since 2003, is even more complicated to secure as the data needs to be encrypted to prevent it being intercepted and altered.

WHAt iS A GooD PRotoCol?To ensure that electronic voting is reliable and controllable, a certain number of properties need to be in place, such as

In 2007, the Netherlands abandoned elec-tronic voting, at a time when 95% of their polling stations had this equipment. The rea-son given was that the “voting machines” did not meet the criteria for “fair, free and secret scrutiny”. Having been called into question in Ireland and Belgium and being partly responsible for the chaos in the uS presidential elections of 2004, electronic voting, which experienced some popularity in the 1990s, is no longer completely trusted. And with good reason. These machines have been shown to cause errors. For example,

How long until secure electronic voting becomes a reality?despite being allowed in france, “voting machines” or “voting computers” are far from winning widespread approval. In the last few years their reliability has been called into question. so how can we find out whether or not they are entirely safe? INRIa researchers are expected to provide a reliable answer to this question within two years. They are developing software to automatically verify whether the protocols used during electronic voting are infallible.

SeCSi PRojeCt-teAm


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The safety of protocols, whether in electronic voting or Internet payments, is increasingly tough to ensure. controlling the effectiveness of these protocols using tried and tested software methods is ever more complex. “In fact,

whatever the application, the formalization of protocols and the properties that they are supposed to ensure is fairly similar,” explains véronique Cortier, researcher from the cassis project-team. This means the same type of modeling, data structures

and automatic verification tools. The team has already designed software to verify online payment protocols.

This software has been integrated into the avispa platform, which was developed by INRIa as part of a European project whose work is continuing under the avansstar project. In their current form, these tools are currently unsuitable for electronic voting. Other challenges for these teams include certifying the security interfaces that allow an external module (such as a Usb stick containing confidential data) to communicate risk-free with an unprotected computer, or to make it possible for an automatic payment to respect anonymity using autonomous communicating modules (at motorway toll gates, for example).

SAFety IS DIFFICulT To eNSuRe!

FIelD: AlGoRITHMICS, pRoGRAMMING, SoFTwARe AND ARCHITeCTuRe

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1.3 million voters, in france, vote using electronic voting machines.

our software will eventually allow users to

find flaws in electronic voting systems. then, a completely reliable protocol will need to be produced. in principle, this is not our objective.”StéPHANie DelAuNe is a scientist at the french National centre for scientific Research (cNRs), a member of secsi. her project-team addresses the verification of security protocols, in applications from banking transactions to ticket machines and electronic voting. What these operations have in common, regardless of the context, is that they need to remain reliable, even in a hostile environment. specifically, the researchers are verifying the security of cryptographic protocols, studying the detection of intrusions into electronic systems and analyzing computer programs in order to detect security flaws or vulnerabilities.

anonymity, voting privacy, the possibility for voters to ensure that their vote has in fact been counted, that it has not been used by someone else, etc. However, paperless voting, and the lack of a bal-lot paper, transparent ballot box or voting certificate makes the process opaque. The voting machine is a kind of unknown entity that does not inspire confidence in voters. The situation is even worse with online vot-ing. “Since the beginning of 2008, we have been participating in a National Research Agency project called Avoté, the aim of which is to propose tools to verify elec-

tronic voting protocols, particularly in online vot-ing,” explains Stéphanie Delaune, a researcher at Secsi. This work, which is being conducted in

close collaboration with the Cassis project-team and the Verimag laboratory (CNRS/INpG/uJF), is expected to result in solutions that will, firstly, find flaws in electronic voting systems and, secondly, state the guaran-teed properties.

HoW CAN tHiS be veRiFieD?whether the situation is online voting or voting machines, the first stage, which is far trickier than it seems at first, consists of converting the security properties into rigorous math-ematical formulas. “Modeling anonymity or the respect of voting secrecy is a challenge for a mathematician,” she confirms. At the same time, electronic voting protocols need to be modeled. lastly, algorithms need to be proposed in order to formally verify that these protocols correctly match the required prop-erties. “By the end of the project in 2012, we will theoretically have developed algorithms that we will implement in a software program for the automatic verification of protocols,” says Stéphanie Delaune.These algorithms will be validated on known protocols, taken from available literature (manufacturers of voting machines are obvi-ously not prepared to divulge theirs), and on an online voting protocol developed by the university of louvain and used to elect its rector in 2009 (more than 5,000 voters). eventually, these algorithms could be inte-grated into the Avispa platform (see insert) and enable manufacturers to control their protocols. under these conditions, electronic voting could one day be used on a large scale in complete confidence.

The Avispa platform allows, for example, the safety of online payment protocols to be controlled.

Electronic voting in Issy-les-Moulineaux in 2007.

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Although the race for power in computers is still the general rule, their energy effi-ciency is now also a factor. Since 2007, Virginia Tech, uSA, has been establish-ing an international classification, called Green 500, of the energy performance of the world’s 500 most powerful machines. This study found that the 10 most power-ful supercomputers ranked between 6th and 484th in the Green 500 ranking. This shows that energy performance is not dic-

The power consumption of large-scale distributed systems (computing, data and communication centres) has become a major concern since the beginning of the millennium. Their software environments can help to make significant savings, which is what the RESo project-team studies.

Energy-saving computers

FIelD: NeTwoRkS, SYSTeMS AND SeRVICeS, DISTRIBuTeD CoMpuTING

tated by the number of processors only.So what avenues are there to explore to achieve progress? Infrastructures – par-ticularly their cooling systems – hardware components, and, lastly, the software that allows users to act on a broad scale on all

resources (computing, storage, network). It is in this field that laurent lefèvre is working as part of the Reso team. His goal is to reduce the

energy consumption of large-scale distrib-uted systems in a manner transparent to users, preserving quality of service.

SWitCHiNG oFF AS muCH AS PoSSibleA first approach consists in utilizing these resources in an optimized fashion – by switching them off when they are not being used. To do this, a thorough understand-ing of needs and uses is needed. “This is what we studied in 2008 and 2009 as part of a collaborative research action called Green-Net,” says laurent lefèvre, who coordinated the action. The researchers in his team and the Mescal project-team,

ReSo PRojeCt-teAm


The project-teams in this field of research help to define what will be the future of the Internet as

a communication infrastructure, as well as a computing infrastructure in the broad sense. Researchers are interested in the development of innovative communication protocols as much as in the modeling of existing networks, in order to better evaluate their performance and size them according to the needs. They are devising effective algorithms adapted to the variable characteristics of the network. Their new challenges include “the Internet of Things”

tHieRRy PRiol, DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC DIReCToR, “FIelD: NeTwoRkS, SYSTeMS AND SeRVICeS, DISTRIBuTeD CoMpuTING”

(the integration into the Internet of miniature devices such as RFID chips) and “the Internet of Services” (the integration of the Internet’s characteristics into the building of software intended for the deployment of future online services and new distributed applications). With the Internet becoming a computer in and of itself, many research efforts are currently looking at operating systems and middleware for grids or digital hubs (clouds). Lastly, parallel architecture computing (heterogeneous, multicore, etc.), which has become a key element, is being worked on by several teams.”

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along with the Institute for Computing Research in Toulouse and Virginia Tech, used sensors to analyze the power con-sumption of the 150 machines at the lyon site of Grid’5000, the French experimental computing grid. “Our wattmeters provide measurements machine by machine, on a per-second scale, which allows us to accurately assess the energy cost of each machine. This is a first and will enable users to better understand the impact of their applications in terms of energy, and to preserve resources accordingly,” says laurent lefèvre.what remains to be done, in order to switch off the site’s 150 computers, is to optimally aggregate all resources reservations. “Based on an analysis of the machines’ usage during the previous days and right up to the last few minutes, we try to focus on significant periods of inactivity (at least five minutes),” the researcher explains. How? By suggesting that users postpone their calculation tasks (by up to a maxi-mum of 24 hours). According to his esti-mates, their usage-prediction software could achieve 30% energy savings in one year at the level of the entire Grid’5000

project. The researchers are now devoting their efforts to deploying this software on operational infrastructures in France.

ADAPtiNG PoWeRThe second approach that the team is beginning to study consists in adapting the resources’ operating conditions of to user needs. The aim is to reduce, as early as possible, the Cpus’ frequency Cpus and the networks’ speed. This means improving operating systems, adapting communication protocols, and working on equipments to ensure that they support bandwidth reduction or network outage. These domains of potential progress will also be the subject of scientific work at the european level. The Cost (european coop-

X 2between 2000 and 2005, the power consumption of Us data centres doubled.

The ShowWatts software framework designed by the Reso team allows controlling the electrical consumption of the computing and communication resources of some sites of the Grid’5000 experimental platform.

eration in the field of scientific and tech-nical research) action IC804, which was launched in 2009 for a four-year period, brings together 15 european countries to discuss these subjects. In this action, laurent lefèvre is the leader of the working group dealing with “adaptive actions”.

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In the space of a few months, a simple discussion at an international confer-ence led to a scientific collaboration that promises to be fruitful. It resulted in June by the creation of the INRIA-university of Illinois (one of the top five universities for Computer Science in the Shanghai ranking) joint laboratory on petascale Computing. The joint laboratory is dedi-cated to high-performance computing in the context of the Blue waters project that will be installed at the NCSA in 2011. eight INRIA project-teams are already

In the field of supercomputing, computing researchers often work on architectures available on the market and several years behind their design. This gives some idea of the importance of the new joint laboratory with the University of Illinois (Usa), where INRIa is participating in the design of software for future supercomputers.

Working today on the supercomputers of tomorrow

involved. “They’re inter-ested in our fundamen-tal expertise,” sums up Franck Cappello, ini-tiator and co-director of the laboratory. “For

INRIA researchers, this presence in the USA opens up an extremely valuable access to the technology explora-tions and developments of the next 10 years.”

A PetAFloP ComPutiNG beAStBlue waters, which is funded by the NSF (National Science Foundation) and designed by IBM, will become the world’s most powerful academic computer. Its architecture will contain more than 200,000 cores in more than 25,000 pro-cessors to sustain 1015 floating-point oper-ations per second on complex parallel applications (or a “sustained” petaflop, in computer scientist jargon). This com-puting power will allow users predicting the behavior of complex biological sys-tems, understanding how the cosmos evolved after the Big Bang, designing new materials at the atomic level, etc. Blue waters will take advantage of a

iNRiA has been one of the pioneers at each major stage of high-performance computing: parallelism, cluster

computing, grid computing and multicore. its work is internationally renowned.”FRANCk CAPPello is initiator and member of the grand-large project-team, based in saclay (Île-de-france). The researchers in this team study the scientific challenges and technological issues of clusters, grids and supercomputers. They design and test system software and investigate the best programming approaches. In 2000, they developed a software program in fault tolerance for high-performance computing that became one of the references in this domain.

GRAND-lARGe PRojeCt-teAm

8 peRMANeNT MeMBeRS1 eNGINeeR12 pHD STuDeNTS6 poST pHD

PARiS PRojeCt-teAm

7 peRMANeNT MeMBeRS4 eNGINeeRS11 pHD STuDeNTS


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large fraction of its computing capa-bilities thanks to the speed of memory accesses and network transfers.“We’re collaborating with our US col-leagues on three topics,” says Franck Cappello: “parallel programming, to program efficiently these complex multi processor and multicore machines; digital libraries, to limit access to the memory and compute as quickly as pos-sible; and fault tolerance to reduce the impact of faults and the fault tolerance overhead on applications performance and energy consumption.” These devel-opments, conducted in an open-source software format, will benefit the entire community and will be reused on other machines.

exASCAle iN SiGHtIn the longer term, this work is crucial for the design of the following genera-tion of supercomputers, which will be exaflopic (capable of conducting a billion billion operations per second). “This has led us to participate in the IESP (International Exascale Software Project), where I’m one of leaders of the fault tol-erance topic,” he says. “This climate of confidence and skill has also brought us into contact with the US Department of Energy (DoE) that has already launched several call for proposals on research for Exascale software.”In europe, software research is expected to benefit from these exchanges. As part of the pRACe initiative (partnership for Advanced Computing in europe), plans are in place to create three to five super-computers capable of more than a peta-flops. Some of these machines will have an architecture similar to the one of Blue waters and may therefore benefit from current software developments.

BluePrint (IBM) is used to develop software intended for the upcoming supercomputer Blue Waters.

INRIa has extensive experience in grids – distributed, heterogeneous and independently administered computing resources that are pooled in order to conduct large scientific calculations. One drawback is that they need to be reserved and the calculations authorized. In 2007, “cloud computing” was born, which allows a supplier to lease its infrastructure when partially available so that a user can run an application on it.

The availability of resources is near-instantaneous and the management model is simple (supplier/customer type). “To mutually enrich both architectures, we’re adapting our open-source operating system XtreemOS, which was developed for grids, to clouds,” explains Christine morin, leader of the paris project-team. XtreemOs simplifies

the use, management and programming of grids so that they are perceived by users as a normal pc. applied to clouds, this enables companies to globally manage their resources wherever they are, lease them to other parties and even cooperate and share data. User applications and environments can be automatically deployed, as desired (according to needs), on the company’s available resources or on clouds.

CoMpuTING iN tHe ClouDS!

10 to 100 million cores of an Exascale computer will be able, for example, to predict weather developments over ten-year periods and make preparations for climate change.

The forthcoming computer centre of the National centre for Supercomputing Applications. This will play host to Blue Waters in 2011.

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So how do you get a crane to a disaster site when the roads are cut off? How do you set it up on ground littered with pieces of wall, beams and other debris? “We wanted to invent a system adapted to these problems in natural disasters or road accidents, a sys-tem capable of controlling all movements

(unlike a normal crane), which meant six degrees of freedom,” explains jean-Pierre merlet, leader of the Coprin project-team. This has

The rescue crane designed by the coPRIN project-team is part of a new genre. light, easy to handle, rapid to deploy, highly adaptable and inexpensive, it is also powerful. This is an invaluable tool for rescuers during earthquakes, natural disasters and road accidents.

An all-terrain crane

FIelD: peRCepTIoN, CoGNITIoN, INTeRACTIoN

now been achieved. The device is called the Marionet Crane. The researchers tested this very large “parallel cable robot” by lifting a truck trailer weighing 750 kg, free-ing dummies buried underneath a pile of wooden palettes and lifting stretchers up to a height of 8 meters. The initial real-scale deployment proved of major interest to fire-men from the Group for Reconnaissance and Intervention in perilous environments (GRIMp) in the Alpes-Maritimes.

A CAble Robotunlike traditional manipulator robots, which are based on joints, segments or jacks, this device uses cables. “It’s ideal for this kind of application,” explains Jean-pierre Merlet. “Cables are flexible. To produce the right movement, you wind and unwind them around six motorized winches installed on tripods, which are fixed to any support around the lifting area.” The object being moved is attached to the six cables. The entire structure is light: 10 kg per winch, 25 kg per tripod and 20 kg for the gen-

CoPRiN PRojeCt-teAm


The 700 people in this research field, divided into 43 research teams, are studying communication

with the physical world in all its forms: textual, visual and auditory. These researchers are looking at perception through the medium of sensors, data and knowledge modeling, and concrete interaction with the physical world. The research efforts are being conducted in close collaboration with manufacturers and often result in software transfers and start-up formations. They are applied to such diverse sectors as multimedia

moNique tHoNNAt,DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC DIReCToR, “FIelD: peRCepTIoN, CoGNITIoN, INTeRACTIoN”

(searches for images in databases, for semantic content on the Web), security (video surveillance), transport (intelligent vehicles) and health (diagnostics aid). There are three major challenges for the future: combining automatic learning and semantic interpretation, taking heterogeneous signals into account (including text, images, sounds, touch, etc.) and, finally, addressing problems of a very large spatial and temporal dimension (for example, heterogeneous sensor networks operating around the clock).”

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erator. Around 10 rescuers can carry the entire device to the site and deploy it in 10 minutes.But the simplicity ends here. operating this kind of device is an extremely com-plex robotics problem. “It took 20 years to resolve this type of mathematical problem for rigid robots,” says the researcher. “Using cables doubles the size of the problem, as they lengthen under traction, can only pull and not push, and bend between the attachment points!” Specifically, the length of the six cables needs to be adapted according to the object being moved and the position to achieve, through rotation or translation. This means that the system’s mechanical balance needs to be addressed, regardless of the number of cables stretched. The crane is now operational with a working space of more than 2,000 m3, with the winches around 20 meters from each other, giving an action height of around 10 meters. The researchers are continually improving the instrumentation in order to control as many movements as possible by putting the most cables possible under tension.

Demonstration of lifting a stretcher to a height of 8 meters using the Marionet crane.

meDiCAl moNitoRiNGThey’ve also gone one step further. To choose which debris to move, they have equipped their robot with a mobile webcam. This also enables the victim’s health condition to be monitored when being moved on a stretcher. Small instruments measure the temperature and heart rate of the victim and provide information to medical teams in situ or at the hospital, so that preparations can be made for an emergency operation. Another idea to explore is using this same setup to locate victims using an airship attached to cables and equipped with thermal cameras.

for the last three years, coprin researchers have also been looking at assistance for elderly persons or those with disabilities and reduced mobility. “We’re applying the principles developed for our cable rescue robot to provide assistance for standing and walking indoors,” explains jean-Pierre merlet. The researchers built a 15 m² apartment, with

a cooking area, dining room and bedroom. The aim was to insert the device, invisibly, in the ceiling of one room so that it could lift a 220 lb person in 80% of this space. “This requires sophisticated mathematical analysis to find the ideal position for the winches, as they will often only be followed to the nearest 15 cm because of unexpected interior layout

constraints,” he says. The person can be fully assisted or stand up using a support that he or she operates. The researchers are also creating advanced walking frames with two motorized wheels and multiple sensors. This will enable them to detect a loss of balance, brake to prevent a fall or help the person to stand up.

peRSoNAl ASSISTANCe RobotS

The mobile webcam lets users remotely assess

the condition of the charly dummy, which is

buried under palettes.

An essential stage: determining the relative position of the six winches based on measurements provided by the laser rangefinder.

750 kg The weight of a trailer lifted by the Marionet crane.

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photo agencies, consumers looking for a product, police searching for suspects and pirate video monitoring are just some of the reasons why automatic image and video recognition needs are experiencing a boom. The lear team has been address-ing these issues for around ten years.Recognizing objects in an image requires the ability to precisely describe the object to be identified so that it can be subse-quently searched for in a database. “We

Researchers from the LEAR project-team are able to search through the millions of visual items contained in an image database to find an image of an object. They are currently continuing their efforts on ever-larger databases with video content.

Learning to search for images

have developed robust image descrip-tion techniques that are not sensitive, for example, to image rotation, changes of scale or noise in the image,” explains Cordelia Schmid, head of lear. Since 2007, a start-up created by the team’s researchers, Milpix, has been marketing the technol-ogy, which lets users automatically search for images based on their content – for example, finding all images of the eiffel Tower based on a single shot.

SemANtiC SeARCHover the last few years, the researchers have been developing techniques aimed at finding images that match an object category: for example, all images con-taining a car (and not just images con-taining, for instance, a Renault Scenic). This is done by learning to automatically identify what determines an object cate-gory. This implies that searching in natural languages can be performed, allowing the query to be formulated as text – for example, “search for images containing a car”.

Due to the growing number of images and videos, we’re constantly improving our learning techniques

to find more effective data representations and structuring.”CoRDeliA SCHmiD is the head of the lear project-team, in which INRIa Rhône-alpes (grenoble) and the Jean kuntzmann laboratory of applied Mathematics and computing in grenoble are both involved. Its main areas of activity involve image recognition in large databases, the recognition of certain object categories, video indexing and searching for actions in videos, all in the most generic images.

leAR PRojeCt-teAm


FIelD: peRCepTIoN, CoGNITIoN, INTeRACTIoN

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statistical learning allows very large quantities of structured data to be managed based on a body of examples, in fields from bioinformatics to speech processing and artificial vision. The generic methods developed over the last ten years or so are behind major advances in the field of automatic image content recognition.

This generic approach is nevertheless now reaching its limits. “To make a real qualitative breakthrough and go further, it’s essential to get to grips with real data,” explains Francis bach, researcher from the Willow team and junior winner of the ERc 2009 for his sierra project. “This means choosing relevant

descriptors for an application and limiting yourself to what’s essential to achieve speed and efficiency. This is the structured parsimonious method.” The researcher will apply this approach to image processing – through learning gleaned from millions of cases – as well as to audio data, for example to achieve separation.

CHANGING THe leARNiNG PRoCeSS

Another challenge consists of identify-ing objects or object categories despite vague annotation of the content of images uploaded by the average user or available on various websites. “We’re developing specific learning techniques for this,” explains the head of the lear team. “This approach also cuts back on the data annotation work, meaning that larger databases can be handled.”

iDeNtiFyiNG viDeoSMore recently, thanks to their proficiency in image recognition techniques, the Grenoble-based researchers have turned their attention to videos, which are gradu-ally taking the focus away from photos. This time, the aim is to analyze a sequence of images to recognize actions (“person answering the telephone”), interactions between people and individual/object interactions (“person putting down a suspect package”). These applications bring up new challenges and require more computing power. At present, there are few teams working on this subject in France and world-wide. As with images, the process involves a phase of robust descriptions of actions and objects, then implementing increasingly sophisticated learning techniques aimed at achieving a more advanced semantic description.

Sets of possible solutions for predictors. The more angular this set is, the more it leads to parsimony. (see insert on the Willow team below).

It takes around one second to find images similar to a given image in a database containing several million entries.

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An understanding – right down to the level of plant genes – of the mechanisms that govern their growth, fructification and development is paving the way for a wealth of applications, from the development of drought-resistant plants to the improvement of a given crop yield and the maintenance of biodiversity.

FiNDiNG out moRe About oRGAN GRoWtH…“We’re working, firstly, on the scale of plants and, secondly, on the scale of the

Researchers from the VIRTuAL PLANTS project-team are modeling plant growth at a cellular scale. The aim is to achieve a better understanding of the fundamentals of this process in order to eventually be able to better control the production of plants (leaves, fruit, wood, etc.) and their reaction to variations in their environment.

Computer scientists go green

FIelD: CoMpuTANIoNAl SCIeNCeS FoR BIoloGY, MeDICINe AND THe eNVIRoNMeNT

tissues responsible for their growth: meristems,” explains Christophe Godin, leader of the Virtual plants team. At the end of their stalks in meristem areas, plants grow small cellular territories containing undifferentiated cells that constantly divide. These create the plant’s various organs: leaves, stalks, sepals, petals, stamens and pistils. The organization of these organs – often in spiral form – is remarkable and has been studied since the 18th century. “By observing at a macro-scopic scale the regularity of the archi-tecture of various plants (small herbs and cereals, fruit and forest trees) and analyzing the way in which water, light, temperature and pests alter this growth, we’re devising mathematical models that are as simple and generic as possible,” he says.To comprehend these phenomena at a microscopic level, this time on a funda-mental scale, researchers are coordinating their efforts on a few “model” plants. The most studied is Arabidopsis, a weed cho-sen by biologists around 20 years ago as

viRtuAl PlANtS PRojeCt-teAm


The methodological tools developed at INRIA in life and environmental sciences – for

medical imaging, Earth observation and plant growth – have reached a stage of maturity that is now resulting in the creation of a field of research all its own. All of the teams are focused on fields of application that structure their scientific approach. The common goal is to build explanatory or predictive models. In life sciences, researchers are studying living organisms, from the genome to individuals. In bioinformatics, they are looking at the

GRéGoiRe mAlANDAiN,DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC DIReCToR, “FIelD: CoMpuTANIoNAl SCIeNCeS FoR BIoloGY, MeDICINe AND THe eNVIRoNMeNT”

genome, cells and bacteria. They are also working on more complex systems such as the vascular network in order to predict an aneurysmal rupture, understand the hormonal system and, in an entirely different field, develop bioreactors used to purify water or produce new biofuels. Lastly, they are conducting research into medical applications such as oncology and neuroscience. In environmental sciences, researchers are collaborating with meteorology specialists to model phenomena, and geophysicists to analyze and calculate geological data.”

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the focus of international research efforts. They are studying the way in which genes, as part of a complex dialogue at a cel-lular level, gradually guide the growth of organs. The problem is complex: many genes interact and undergo molecular and cellular changes. They control growth, cellular differentiation and division, the exchange of signals between tissue regions and relationships with the environment.

…AND moRe About tHeiR GeNeSThe only solution for demonstrating the mechanism is modeling, which is being worked on by several teams around the world, bringing together computer scientists, mathematicians and specialized biologists, as is the case with Virtual plants. “We’re modeling the meristem of Arabi-dopsis at the cellular and genetic scale, in three dimensions, to achieve an increas-ingly detailed understanding of how this growth engine works and to find out how genes interact to control the development of a given organ,” says Christophe Godin. Together with researchers from the École Normale Supérieure de lyon, the INRIA team is building a digital model of virtual meristems. This can be used to reproduce the cell populations observed, as well as to simulate the activation and deactivation of genes and the physical and biochemi-cal interactions between cells.

iNveNtiNG tHe PHySiCS oF tHe bioloGiCAlArmed with this model and confocal microscopes, the researchers have man-aged to paint a detailed picture of the mechanism governing the transport of the plant growth hormone. It has been known since the beginning of the last decade that the accumulation of this hormone, auxin, triggers the development of new

organs. Auxin is transported from cell to cell, in the meristem, via specific proteins that create transport circuits capable of constantly reconfiguring themselves in order to create new organs. using simula-tions, the researchers have managed to successfully replicate the complex distri-bution of these proteins in cells and their reconfiguration dynamic.“Together, we’re inventing the physics of the biological,” sums up Christophe Godin. So how will this work be subse-

1,000 The thousand cells of the Arabidopsis meristem fit into a few cubic micrometers.

quently put to use? “Our work is purely to do with understanding. Two strategies could then be devised,” responds the researcher: “defining new and more fun-damental target characters for the classic varietal selection methods or acting on the phenotype of a given plant by directly mutating the genes involved.” These are ethical and political choices that society will have to make.

Virtual Plants. Networks that transport the auxin growth hormone in a meristem (in red), seen in confocal microscopy (at the top), digitized and simulated (L and R below). ENS Lyon partnership.

Virtual Plants. 3D reconstruction of a floral meristem of Arabidopsis.ENS Lyon, cirad and Asclepios partnerships.

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jean Clairambault, a mathematician and physician by training, takes a pragmatic view. According to him, it is unlikely that cancer drugs

will one day be able to target only tumorous cells. The upshot is that currently available drugs need to be used to their full potential to achieve maximum destruction of can-cerous cells, while at the same time limiting their toxic effects on healthy organs and

The BANG project-team models the proliferation of cells (tumorous or healthy) treated with medicines. as part of projects conducted together with physicians, these researchers are demonstrating that taking individual characteristics into account can help optimize drug tolerance and efficacy of cancer treatments.

Fighting cancer with modeling

preventing tumorous cells from developing drug resistances. This is a difficult balance to achieve.

eFFiCACy AGAiNSt toxiCityCancer drugs block the cycle of cell divi-sion by triggering the production of non-viable DNA. This researcher is studying the way in which healthy and tumorous cells are affected by these drugs. “In both tumorous tissue and healthy tissue, we are modeling the impact of drugs on their cell targets (such as proteins, which control the cell division cycle). However, we also need to take into account variability among the population in how receptive cells are to drugs (depending on genetic profile, gender, age, lifestyle),” explains Jean Clairambault.In connection with several european proj-ects over the last 10 years, he has been collaborating with the team led by Francis lévi from INSeRM (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research – paul Brousse Hospital), who specialize in cancer chronotherapy. Chronotherapy consists in adapting the administration of treatments to each patient according to their circadian system – the network of molecular clocks that regulate, over a 24-hour period, each

We’re working in close collaboration with clinicians. We’re now hoping to land partnerships with the

pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology companies.”jeAN ClAiRAmbAult is director of research in the bang team, whose researchers develop models in life sciences dedicated to cancer, prions, alzheimer’s disease and bacteria. These models can also be used to simulate geophysical flows such as those of shallow waters in rivers. This research is all based on partial derivative equations. Other tools (agent-based stochastic models) are being developed to achieve alternative modeling of tissue growth, both normal and cancerous.

bANG PRojeCt-teAm


NumeD PRojeCt-teAm


FIelD: CoMpuTANIoNAl SCIeNCeS FoR BIoloGY, MeDICINe AND THe eNVIRoNMeNT

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The NuMED project-team also models the growth of cancerous tumors based on data from both preclinical (in animals) and clinical studies. The aim is to optimize the therapeutic effectiveness of cancer treatments. “We’re

developing models based on the statistical methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs,” explains emmanuel Grenier, leader of Numed. In collaboration with the oncology clinical trials platform of the lyon-sud hospital, the team has launched a study of more than 100 mice to characterize, using models, the complex

progression of the disease – particularly angiogenesis, the phase in which the tumor creates its own vascularization network. The model will eventually allow users to predict the effects of antiangiogenic therapies combined with standard chemotherapy. another application studied in Numed is strokes, which are caused by the obstruction of cerebral arteries. “We’re building models to better understand and, ultimately, simulate the complex phenomena that interact and result in the death of certain neurons,” concludes the researcher.

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person’s cell behaviour, metabolism and proliferation. Together with six other teams from France, Italy and Britain as part of the Tempo project, which ended in 2009, they have demonstrated that taking this biologi-cal clock into account can lower the toxicity of cancer drugs.

NeW tHeRAPeutiC leADSAs part of this initiative, two drugs were studied in cell cultures and in mice whose sleep-wake rhythm was controlled: Irinote-can, a drug commonly prescribed to treat colorectal cancer, and Seliciclib, a cancer drug in development. “We’re analyzing their action and changes in their toxicity over 24 hours based on our cellular pharmacol-ogy models, by adapting doses and the infusion profile according to the genetic makeup and gender of the animals,” says the researcher. The results show that, strik-ingly, the harmfulness of these drugs can vary by as much as three times or more depending on when they are administered. The next challenge is to understand how the circadian clock influences the proliferation of healthy and cancerous cells.efforts now need to be made to extend and further optimise this promising outpatient

treatment mode, which has already been put to use in around 50 oncology depart-ments around the world. The patient is fitted with a programmable pump that automati-cally delivers the chronotherapy drugs unas-sisted for up to three weeks.

Cancersince 2004, the leading cause of death all origins combined in developed countries.

p = plasma [5-Fu] F = intracellular [FduMp]Q = plasma [lV]l = intracellular [MTHF]N = nuclear factor, triggered by 5-FuA = activity of ABC transporter,

induced by nuclear factorS = free [TS] [not FduMp-bound]B = reversible binary [FduMp-TS] complexT = stable ternary [FduMp-TS-MTHF] complex

Stages 1-9 each are represented by an equation.

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (Pk-PD) modeling of the action of a combination 5-Fluorouracil (5Fu) + Folinic acid (leucovorin, lv) on the enzyme thymidylate synthase (tS).

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A policy of openness

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A policy of openness

Better preparation means better innovation

INTERACTION

In-Situ Users just need to approach this mirror to establish a video contact with friends or family.

Eager to contribute to French and European economic growth, INRIA is organizing itself to better face the challenges of tomorrow. It is redefining its organizational structure and its tools to gain more efficiency. This drive has one ambition in mind: to foster the innovation that underpins economic growth. This is given concrete form in patents, start-ups and industrial collaborations.

A pOlICy Of OpENNEss

52 INRIA ANNuAl REpoRT 2009

So how do you manage an institute that has doubled in size in 10 years? “It’s not possible for things to be done any old how,” says Hervé Mathieu, Chief Executive for Resources and Ser-vice Administration. “At all levels we want an organization that remains flexible, based around research teams, but that enhances its effective-ness and provides a guarantee of dependability for our partners, supervisory ministries and the European Commission.”

A decompArtmentAlISed InformAtIon SyStem

The development of the information system for managing and coordinating the Institute is a key project in the modernisation process. “We’re continuing to develop tools specific to each business line, while at the same time continuing to guarantee the consistency of the informa-

INRIA has clarified its structuring, implemented new tools and launched major projects in order to ensure the Institute’s proper functioning. This reflects an effort to guarantee quality at the start of a period of growth firmly aligned with modernisation, coordination and openness on a global scale.

A strengthened organizational structure to prepare for the future

tion system. This allows us to aggregate data from diverse sources so as to respond to specific issues,” sums up Éric Gautrin, Director of Informa-tion Systems, Infrastructures

and Computer Services. For example, monitoring a research contract or a partnership involves tak-ing personnel expenses and operating expenses into account. users need to be able to query different “business line” databases, being sure that they are sharing the same references. “This year we implemented a workforce management tool (GEF) in order to compile a list of all indi-viduals involved in INRIA’s activity, even if they are not paid by the Institute,” says Éric Gautrin. “We also developed the Bastri database, which allows project-teams to be monitored. In 2010, we also have a few major development projects

certIfIcAtIon project opTIMAl CooRDINATIoN FoR THE INSTITuTE looMS lARGEAround 30 projects are being conducted simultaneously in order to successfully complete the Institute’s major certification project. This involves analysing processes and implementing the quality procedures that will allow us to reduce the risks of error. The goal is also to harmonise practices within the Institute, particularly between research centres, in order to allow the intersection of data and factor cost accounting into

our current management system. The objective is to achieve certification of the 2010 accounts. “Certification of the Institute is a regulatory requirement. It is above all a factor in the progress of the services and departments and provides a powerful tool for coordinating the organization,” says luc d’Archimbaud, Director of Administrative, financial and Asset Affairs. Cost accounting will enable improved monitoring of legal

commitments and an evaluation of the economy of contracts and projects, which the information systems’ current compartmentalisation does not allow. In addition, management on a per-project basis will enormously facilitate the justification of the expenses of European and ANR contracts. It also provides a basis for improving the tools that support INRIA’s financial management.

“We’re developing tools specific to each domain, while also ensuring that the information system remains coherent.”ÉrIc GAutrIn, Director of Information Systems, Infrastructures and Computer Services

53

planned linked with the certification of accounts and developments in the human resources infor-mation system.”

A key objectIve: mAkInG the InStItute AttrActIve

Another current challenge for the Institute is to attract quality individuals in a sector where competition is fierce and the job market global. “A good recruitment policy is based on the upstream assessment of requirements, a good offer in order to obtain the best candidates and

good support during the inte-gration period and beyond,” says muriel Sinanidès, Direc-tor of Human Resources. “We have progressed in all of these aspects.” As far as research

support functions are concerned, a newly intro-duced “job skills plan” (pEC) allows requirements to be analysed in detail and a clear vision of recruitment to be achieved. Recruiting scien-tists is a fundamental task. “You have to handle a pool of candidates,” says Muriel Sinanidès, “while maintaining relationships with graduate schools and engineer schools, being present at job fairs and supporting a network of recruiters in which researchers are the main participants.” This monitoring process will every year result in selected scientists being invited to a conference aimed at introducing them to the Institute. The first event took place this year and has already led to applications. As far as the offer is con-cerned, although salaries are lower than in the private sector, INRIA has its benefits. “The fact that it is organized into creative and responsive

WhAt ASSeSSment cAn be mAde of the lASt feW yeArS of ActIvIty?

At the end of our four-year contract, we built the structures and instruments that allow us to move assuredly into a future that to a very large extent still hasn’t been built. The departments were redesigned in order to adapt to the Institute’s growth. The creation of a head office administration delegation has strengthened the coordination of departments by delegating and pooling their management. The modernisation of our information system and our management provides an essential monitoring and decision-making framework so that we can rapidly and effectively respond to new objectives.

WhAt Are the development proSpectS?

We’re going through a pivotal period. The research landscape is evolving and taking shape around universities. Within this framework, our role, alongside other partners, is to actively support the growth of universities. Our efforts will of course form part of a national project and will adopt a broadly open stance on Europe and the world. The initiative has already begun as part of the creation of a European project-team together with the Netherlands – and soon others with Italy and Germany – and through our involvement in a Europe-wide alliance, EIT ICT labs. One essential aspect is that we will continue to draw on a strengthened synergy between research, education, development and technology transfer. EIT ICT labs reflects this positioning, as it is built around these same themes.

quEsTIONs TO hervÉ mAthIeu, CHIEF ExECuTIvE oFFICER FoR RESouRCES

AND SERvICE ADMINISTRATIoN

63% of the phD students taken on in 2009 and 60% of the post phD on INRIA’s payroll are not french nationals.

small teams is very attractive to researchers, as is the Institute’s stability and, for foreigners, the social and cultural environment of France,” stresses Muriel Sinanidès. lastly, the Institute’s management school opened this year, offering training, the sharing of practices, coaching and collective production. “All of these new tools make up a coherent whole to ensure that our recruitment matches our needs and that the best arrangement is made between the Institute and the selected candidate.”

“ouR EFFoRTS wIll oF CouRSE FoRM pART oF A NATIoNAl pRojECT And WIll Adopt A broAdly open StAnce on europe And the World.”

“A good recruitment policy is the result of assessing requirements early on, a good offer and good support.”murIel SInAnIdèS, Director of Human Resources



Microsoft

An exceptional laboratorySteve Ballmer, the head of Microsoft, and Michel Cosnard, Chairman of INRIA, signed an agreement on october 6 in paris to renew the joint laboratory between the Institute and the computer giant’s research department for a four-year period. For the last three years, this laboratory has been directed by jean-jacques levy, leader of the Moscova team at INRIA. Together with around 15 researchers, he has already demonstrated his extremely demanding approach in the fields addressed: formal methods, the automatic verification of programs and the safety of protocols for data exchange over the Internet. Five original software programs are available on the laboratory’s website.

Speaking at the open world Forum 2009, Michel Cosnard announced the opening of an IT Innovation and Research Centre for Free Software (CIRIll), a uniting project led by Roberto Di Cosmo, professor at paris 7 on assignment at INRIA. This project reaffirms the Institute’s commitment to free software and its aim to increase transfers in this field. It also signals an intention to bring together free software players

cerfacs

A french understanding of high-performance computing

INRIA and the European Centre for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation

(CERFACS) signed an agreement on November 9 to create a joint laboratory. This will bring

together both organizations’ complimentary skills in order to ensure the effective operation of new generations of computers. These extremely powerful machines (1015 operations per second from 2011) will provide a response to needs in high-performance simulation, whether in medicine, biology or climatology.

ciriLL

consolidating the free software policy

(research, training, industrial transfer) in one place in order to give the community a genuine benchmark centre in the field.

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InrIA favours long-term

partnerships, subjects of high scientific value and major socioeconomic issues.”malik Ghallab, Chief executive officer for science and technology

55

june 11 saw the creation of the joint laboratory between INRIA and the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the university of Illinois in the uS. This laboratory is working on the design of software for the Blue waters supercomputer, which will be the most powerful in its class by 2011. The Institute’s involvement in this project, which is financed by the National Science Foundation (NSF), reflects the recognition of its skills in the field of

supercomputing. Thanks to this work on American supercomputers, our researchers are gaining a lead by familiarising themselves with the architecture and dimension of machines that will be arriving in Europe in several years’ time. Integrated into the American and French ecosystems, the joint laboratory allows INRIA to form part of Exascale computer projects and favour their transfer to Europe.

LiriMa

on the path to a euro-African allianceINRIA signed an agreement on November 24 with six African partners to create a joint laboratory, called the International laboratory for Research in Computing and Applied Mathematics (lIRIMA). This virtual laboratory reflects the maturity of current African research in these fields. with this creation, INRIA’s intention was to give international visibility to this centre of excellence

and to lay the first stone of a Euro-African alliance. lIRIMA, which is open to other partners, will be headed by the world-renowned Cameroonian computer scientist, Maurice Tchuenté.

UrBana chaMPaign

A strategic laboratory for supercomputers

The agreement signed with the Conference of university Chairmen (Cpu) on December 17 in the presence of Valérie pécresse provides recognition of the 30 or so partnerships formed with french universities in the space of two years. “This agreement covers all possible forms of partnerships with universities. It will

now serve as a benchmark for the renewal of specific agreements,” says jean-pierre verjus, Deputy Managing Director of INRIA. Examples include the Institute’s involvement in the creation of technology transfer acceleration companies

(sATT) and the opening of its research utilisation facilities to universities. The same day saw the creation of the Digital Alliance, called Allistène and bringing together INRIA, the french National Centre for scientific Research (CNRs), the french Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the Conference of the Heads of Engineering schools (C.D.E.f.I), the Conference of university Chairman (Cpu) and the Institut Telecom. “We have high hopes for Allistène,” says Jean-pierre Verjus. “In particular, we are planning to pool our research utilisation tools and work together with the ANR to define research programs t hat match major national aims. The alliance is also set to coordinate an ICST ethics committee.”

AN AGREEMENT IS SIGNED, An AllIAnce IS born

“our ambition is to build and consolidate scientific partnerships with the

world’s best teams. joint laboratories are an example of this. our actions also aim to increase the Institute’s visibility and attractiveness in order to attract the best researchers from countries around the globe. the colibri conference, organized as part of the year of france in brazil, illustrates this influence strategy.”domInIque SotteAu, Director of International Relations

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InrIA is active in transfer. What specific forms does this take?bruno Sportisse. There are multiple forms of transfer: partnership research, skill transfer and technology transfer. A number of partnership projects are being conducted with the R&D departments of major industrial groups. Today, our objective is to favour bilateral relationships with a limited number of strategic partners.

In its efforts to foster new innovation support facilities, INRIA has over the last two years updated its transfer policy and its organizational structure. The same objective has been kept in mind: to optimise the economic impact of the Institute’s research. There is also one ambition: to be a national player in the transfer field in information and communication science and technologies (ICST), in partnership with regional structures. Interview with Bruno Sportisse, Director of Transfer and Innovation.

A breath of fresh air for transfer

we transfer our skills by offering our scientific expertise to companies or by fostering the mobil-ity of our phD students, young engineers and researchers. lastly, technology transfer can take several forms: business formation, direct transfer to an SME for example, or the distribution of free software to an industrial community. we recently implemented several tools to help us better identify opportunities and support the transfer projects.

What does the notion of “strategic partnership” cover?

b. S. It’s a lasting large-scale relationship with a manufacturer, involving the joint definition and then coordination of programs linked with industrial issues. These issues allow the Institute’s teams to become involved in significant scientific subjects to which we wouldn’t otherwise have access. with this mindset we have renegoti-ated several of our framework agreements with major groups. This can result in the creation of virtual joint laboratories, such as with Alcatel-lucent on the Internet of the future and Microsoft Research in e-sciences. In the case of joint scien-tific actions, INRIA teams work with the industrial partner to prepare research projects on subjects proposed by the manufacturer. A dozen projects have been initiated like this with EDF R&D in the field of high-performance simulation for energy applications. others are under way with ST Micro-electronics in embedded multicore systems; with Thomson in the multimedia field; with orange in communication networks; and with Bull on the

40new transfer projects were examined in 2009.

The joint laboratory with Alcatel-lucent dedicated to the communication networks of the future is a perfect illustration of the Institute’s stance on partnership-based research. Resulting from a shared strategic vision, the partnership was built with long-term goals in mind and has created a strong dynamic that this year led to the success of the EIT ICT labs project, backed by 23 partners (including Alcatel-lucent and INRIA). In another example, INRIA is one of the founding members of the Green Touch consortium launched by Alcatel-lucent, the aim being to divide

the power consumption of communication networks by 1,000 within five years. lastly, Alu-Bell labs-INRIA joint workshops were held this year with Bell labs in the us on the topic of network science. These kinds of partnerships help to involve a portion of INRIA’s research in major industrial projects.

A quESTIoN oF truSt

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hoW do you ASSISt the conStructIon of A project?

The first phase involves identifying the opportunities. This is the role of our five sector managers, who scour their market sector looking for innovative sMEs that could make good partners and, at INRIA, the teams capable of meeting their request. To achieve this they participate in the variety of business networks in existence - competitiveness clusters, the thematic networks of chambers of commerce and professional networks specific to different sectors. The sector managers relay the information to a web of innovative sMEs that is built up over the course of meetings. The partnership managers at INRIA’s eight centres provide a regional perspective and their knowledge of the local innovation landscape: business networks, incubator networks, etc. When a transfer project is identified, it is formalised together with the sector managers and the partnership agents before being submitted to the Committee for the Monitoring of Technology Transfer Actions. This committee questions those involved in the projects, advises them and, if need be, redirects them as part of a “dynamic monitoring” approach. During this second phase of project engineering, a decision is made whether or not to invest INRIA’s own funds, request public financing or apply for the support of IT Translation (formerly INRIA-Transfert) for business formation.

quEsTION TO dAvId monteAu, IN CHARGE oF THE INNovATIoN FoR THE TRANSFER

AND INNovATIoN DEpARTMENT, AlSo IN CHARGE oF THE MoNIToRING oF CoMpETITIvE CluSTERS

architecture of future supercomputers. A similar initiative, conducted with the French National Agency for the Management of Radioactive waste (ANDRA) and oNERA (the French Aero-space lab), has paved the way for other types of applications in sustainable development and aeronautics.

how have you reorganized the transfer of technologies?b. S. our objective is to encourage the emer-gence of the largest possible number of transfer opportunities and to assist them over the long term. To support this drive, at the beginning of 2009 we created the Committee for the Moni-toring of Technology Transfer Actions. Its role is to define the most suitable transfer method and assist its implementation. It is comprised of around 10 external experts, all spe-cialists in key markets for INRIA, who meet five times a year to give their opinion on the transfer projects. At these meetings the projects can be redirected, requiring a concerted effort to explain the situation to those involved with them. In 2009, nearly 40 new projects were examined. Half of these involved business formations. Supporting transfers to SMEs is another of our priorities. In 2009 we launched I-labs, which are joint laboratories between research teams and SMEs. one of these laboratories was created in lille by the company Idées-3com and

1,000times less energy consumed by communication networks in five years’ time. This is the objective of the Green Touch consortium, launched by Alcatel-lucent in collaboration with INRIA.

“THE SECToR MANAGERS look To InnovAtIve Smes to fInd the rIGht pArtnerS.”

“We have updated our priorities and organizational structure in terms of transfer

according to a rationale governed by demand.” Bruno SportiSSe, Director of Technology and Innovation Department•••



the Alcove team. Based on this model, three further I-labs are soon expected to be up and running.

does InrIA have a specific policy concerning Smes?

b. S. over the last few years we have been looking to contribute to the competitiveness of our companies by fostering relationships with innovative SMEs in our fields of expertise. one of the difficult tasks is to identify these SMEs. Five sector managers are now tasked with this drawing up this map at a national level, each being assigned a market sector, with a strategic vision in mind. They draw particular support from competitiveness clusters, which are exceptional environments for ambitiousness and encounters. They oversee thematic meetings focusing on the needs of the markets, radically refreshing the formula of INRIA-Industry meetings. At these events, our researchers and the SMEs spun off from the Institute present their technologies to cluster members using demonstrations. A first

meeting was conducted on the basis of this new model this year in lille. Five further meetings are expected to follow in 2010. Between these events, the INRIA partner SMEs Club, created in the autumn, allows the sector managers to form long-term relationships with SMEs in their field. This is another opportunity to stimulate the emergence of new transfer projects.

Shared structures dedicated to technology transfer are being put in place on large campuses. What role does InrIA plan to play in this major reorganization?

b. S. The French research and innovation system is undergoing far-reaching changes due to the consolidation or emergence of regional struc-tures, such as competitiveness clusters and trans-fer sharing structures. our experience has taught us that transfer is first and foremost a network matter for the stimulation of opportunities, and secondly an expertise matter for the monitoring of projects. INRIA showcases this experience and positions itself as a national player in software transfer, serving the entire research and innova-tion system. The tools that we offer constitute a comprehensive and coherent offering that complement those of the regional structures. This offering includes the management of net-works on the basis of identified sectors, transfer expertise in the software field and support for created companies.

A pRoGRAM for SmesMost of the time, despite the mutual interest that they perceive, the managers of innovative sMEs and researchers, who often have heavy workloads, simply do not have the time to make their projects a concrete reality. The INRIA partner sMEs Club, created in september 2009, aims to make these collaborations possible. It is run by five national sector managers who act as mediators between sMEs

and INRIA researchers by forming lasting and personal relationships with the heads of innovative sMEs in their sector. They provide them with relevant information about innovations in ICsT, organize meetings with researchers and help them to recruit phD students or engineers who have spent time at INRIA, passing on knowledge and expertise. They also create transfer opportunities.

“One of our priority objectives is to strengthen transfers to innovative SMEs, whatever the transfer method.”

four sMes had the opportunity to accompany inria to the 22nd edition of the international conference on supercomputing.

•••

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Why have changes been made to the policy on assisting fledgling companies?

laurent kott. We observed that the companies spun off from research are not managing to grow. The transfer is remaining on a small scale, in the form of design firms and research companies under contract. Our diagnosis is that, from the start, they don’t have either sufficient resources or skills to put in place a real industrial project.

quEsTIONs TO lAurent kott, MANAGING DIRECToR oF INRIA-TRANSFERT

GolAem, A 3D START-up

rethInkInG the formAtIon of StArt-up SpuN oFF FRoM RESEARCH

how will It translation remove this obstacle?

l. k. Whereas INRIA-Transfert assisted business founders and provided indirect financial support, the new structure will be involved in the formation of the business – as a co-founder – by providing human and financial resources. Our intention is to help businesses define a product – to increase the technology’s impact – and promote it by providing marketing skills.

can you tell us more about the characteristics of this future structure?

l. k. IT-Translation will initially be a company supported by CDC Entreprises and INRIA but will subsequently welcome other partners. This is because it aims to be a transfer tool for the whole of digital sciences research.

“We need to move AWAy from the ServIce provISIon rAtIonAle to Adopt A product rAtIonAle. THIS CoNDITIoN wIll Allow THE IMpACT oF ouR TECHNoloGIES To BE INCREASED.”

Golaem, created in 2009 from the BuNRAKu team, sells software that simulates human behavior in 3D spaces, intended for town planners and trainers in the industrial environment. The technology was adapted as part of a contract between the start-up and INRIA, facilitated by the new measures of the research tax credit. Golaem was also the first INRIA company assisted by IT Translation.

INRIA-Transfert will become IT Translation, a necessary change brought about by a new approach to assisting start-ups.

Project-teams active in 2009

60 INRIA ANNuAl RepoRt 2009

ApplIed MAtheMAtIcs, coMputAtIoN ANd sIMulAtIoN

Computanional Models and SimulationCALVI (3, 27, 32) scientific computation and visualization.

Nancy – Grand est. pt both located in strasbourg. Éric sonnendrücker.

CONCHA (3, 39) complex flow simulation codes based on high-order and adaptive methods.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. pt located in pau. Roland Becker.

DEFI (3, 13) shape reconstruction and identification. saclay – Île-de-France. houssem haddar.

GAMMA Automatic mesh generation and adaptation methods.

paris – Rocquencourt. paul-louis George.

IPSO (3, 7, 40) Invariants preserving solvers. Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. philippe chartier.

MC2 (3, 20, 21) Modeling, control and computations. Bordeaux – sud-ouest. thierry colin.

MICMAC (6) Methods and engineering of multiscale computing from atom to continuum.

paris – Rocquencourt. pt both located in Marne-la-Vallée. claude le Bris.

NACHOS (3, 35) Numerical modeling and high performance computing for evolution problems in complex domains and heterogeneous media.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. stéphane lanteri.

OPALE (3, 35) optimization and control, numerical algorithms and integration of complex multidiscipline systems governed by pde.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée and Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Jean-Antoine désidéri.

POEMS (3, 12) Wave propagation: mathematical analysis and simulation.

paris – Rocquencourt. patrick Joly.

SIMPAF (3, 25) simulations and Modeling for pArticles and Fluids.

lille – Nord europe. thierry Goudon.

SMASH (3, 44) simulation, modeling and analysis of heterogeneous systems.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt both located in Marseille. Richard saurel.

TROPICS program transformations for scientific computing.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. laurent hascoët.

Stochastic Methods and ModelsASPI (3, 40) Applications of interacting particle systems to statistics.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. François le Gland.

CQFD (3, 20, 21) Quality control and dynamic reliability. Bordeaux – sud-ouest. François dufour.

MATHFI (3, 6, 29) Financial mathematics. paris – Rocquencourt. pt both located

in Marne-la-Vallée. Agnès sulem.

SISTHEM (3, 40) statistical Inference for structural health Monitoring.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Michèle Basseville.

TOSCA (3, 16, 32, 33) to simulate and cAlibrate stochastic models.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée and Nancy – Grand est. denis talay.

Optimization, Learning and Statistical MethodsDOLPHIN (3, 25) parallel cooperative multi-criteria optimization.

lille – Nord europe. el-Ghazali talbi.

MISTIS (3, 15, 23) Modeling and Inference of complex and structured stochastic systems.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Florence Forbes.

REALOPT (3, 11, 20, 21) Reformulations based Algorithms for combinatorial optimization.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. François Vanderbeck.

SELECT (3, 36) Model selection in statistical learning. saclay – Île-de-France. pascal Massart.

SEQUEL (3, 4, 25, 26) sequential learning. lille – Nord europe. philippe preux.

TAO (3, 36) Machine learning and optimization. saclay – Île-de-France. Marc schoenauer.

Modeling, Optimization and Control of Dynamic SystemsALIEN (3, 4, 13) Algebra for digital Identification and estimation.

saclay – Île-de-France et lille – Nord europe. Michel Fliess.

APICS Analysis and problems of Inverse type in control and signal processing.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. laurent Baratchart.

BIPOP (3, 15, 23) Modeling, simulation, control and optimization of Non-smooth dynamical systems.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Bernard Brogliato.

COMMANDS (3, 12, 13) control, optimization, Models, Methods and Applications for Nonlinear dynamical systems.

saclay – Île-de-France. Frédéric Bonnans.

CORIDA (3, 16, 32, 33, 43) Robust control of Infinite dimensional systems and Applications.

Nancy – Grand est. pt both located in Metz. Marius tucsnak.

MAXPLUS (3, 13) Max-plus algebras and mathematics of decision.

saclay – Île-de-France. stéphane Gaubert.

METALAU Methods, algorithms and software in automatic control.

paris – Rocquencourt. Maurice Goursat.

NECS (3, 15, 23) Networked controlled systems. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. carlos canudas de Wit.

AlGoRIthMIcs, pRoGRAMMING, soFtWARe ANd ARchItectuRe

Programs, Verification and ProofsABSTRACTION (3, 9) Abstract Interpretation and static Analysis.

paris – Rocquencourt. patrick cousot.

ATEAMS (45) Analysis and transformation based on reliable tool compotions.

lille – Nord europe. pt both located in Amsterdam. paul Klint.

CARTE (3, 16, 32, 33) theoretical-Adverse computations, and safety.

Nancy – Grand est. Jean-Yves Marion.

CASSIS (3, 16, 32, 33, 42) combination of approaches to the security of infinite states systems.

Nancy – Grand est. pt both located in Besançon. Michaël Rusinowitch.

CELTIQUE (3, 7, 40) software certification with semantic analysis.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. thomas Jensen.

COMETE (3, 13) concurrency, Mobility and transactions.

saclay – Île-de-France. catuscia palamidessi.

CONTRAINTES constraint programming. paris – Rocquencourt. François Fages.

GALLIUM programming languages, types, compilation and proofs.

paris – Rocquencourt. Xavier leroy.

MARELLE Mathematical, Reasoning and software. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Yves Bertot.

pRoJect-teAMs

61

MOSCOVA Mobility, security, concurrence, verification and analysis.

paris – Rocquencourt. Jean-Jacques lévy.

PAREO* (3, 16, 32, 33) Formal islands: foundations and applications.

Nancy – Grand est. pierre-Étienne Moreau.

PARSIFAL (3, 13) proof search and reasoning with logic specifications.

saclay – Île-de-France. dale Miller.

PI.R2* (3, 38) design, study and implementation of languages for proofs and programs.

paris – Rocquencourt. pierre-louis curien.

PROVAL (3, 13, 36) proofs of programs. saclay – Île-de-France. christine paulin.

SECSI (3, 7) security of information systems. saclay – Île-de-France. pt both located

in cachan. Jean Goubault-larrecq.

TYPICAL (3, 13) types, logic and computing. saclay – Île-de-France. Benjamin Werner.

Algorithms, Certification, and CryptographyALGORITHMS Algorithms.

paris – Rocquencourt. philippe Flajolet.

ARENAIRE (3, 8) computer arithmetic. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. pt both located in lyon.

Gilles Villard.

CACAO (3, 16, 32, 33) curves, Algebra, computer Arithmetic, and so on.

Nancy – Grand est. Guillaume hanrot / pierrick Gaudry.

CASCADE (3, 9) construction and Analysis of systems for confidentiality and Authenticity of data and entities.

paris – Rocquencourt. david pointcheval.

GALAAD (3, 35) Geometry, algebra, algorithms. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Bernard Mourrain.

GEOMETRICA Geometric computing. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée

and saclay – Île-de-France. Jean-daniel Boissonnat.

SALSA (3, 37) solvers for Algebraic systems and Applications.

paris – Rocquencourt. Fabrice Rouillier.

SECRET security, cryptology and transmissions. paris – Rocquencourt. Anne canteaut.

TANC (3, 13) Algorithmic number theory for cryptology. saclay – Île-de-France.

François Morain / daniel Augot.

VEGAS (3, 16, 32, 33) effective Geometric Algorithms for surfaces and Visibility.

Nancy – Grand est. sylvain lazard.

Embedded and Real Time SystemsAOSTE (3, 35) Models and methods of analysis and optimization for systems with real-time and embedding constraints.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée and paris – Rocquencourt. Robert de simone.

DART (3, 25) contributions of the data parallelism to Real time.

lille – Nord europe. Jean-luc dekeyser.

ESPRESSO (3, 40) synchronous programming for the trusted component-based engineering of embedded systems and mission-critical systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Jean-pierre talpin.

POP ART (3, 15, 23, 24) programming languages, operating systems, parallelism, and Aspects for Real-time.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Alain Girault.

S4 (3, 40) system synthesis and supervision, scenarios. Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Benoît caillaud.

TRIO (3, 16, 32, 33) Real time and interoperability. Nancy – Grand est. Françoise simonot-lion.

VASY (3, 15, 23) system validation, Research and applications.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. hubert Garavel.

VERTECS (3, 40) Verification models and techniques applied to testing and control of reactive systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. thierry Jéron.

Architecture and CompilingALCHEMY (3, 36) Architectures, languages and compilers to harness the end of Moore years.

saclay – Île-de-France. olivier temam.

CAIRN (3, 7, 40) energy efficient computing architectures with embedded reconfigurable resources.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. olivier sentieys.

COMPSYS (3, 8) compilation and embedded computing systems.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. pt located in lyon. Alain darte.

NetWoRKs, sYsteMs ANd seRVIces, dIstRIButed coMputING

Networks and TelecommunicationsDIONYSOS (3, 40) dependability, interoperability and performance analysis of networks.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Gerardo Rubino.

DISTRIBCOM (3, 7, 18, 40) distributed and Iterative Algorithms for the Management and telecommunications systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Albert Benveniste.

GANG (3, 38) Networks, Graphs and Algorithms. paris – Rocquencourt. laurent Viennot.

HIPERCOM (3, 13) high performance communication. paris – Rocquencourt and saclay – Île-de-France.

philippe Jacquet.

MADYNES (3, 16, 32, 33) Management of dynamic networks and services.

Nancy – Grand est. olivier Festor.

MAESTRO (3, 31) Models for the performance analysis and the control of networks.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt both located in Montpellier. philippe Nain.

MASCOTTE (3, 35) Algorithms, simulation, combinatorics and optimization for telecommunications.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Jean-claude Bermond.

PLANETE protocols and applications for the Internet.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée and Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Walid dabbous.

RAP Networks, Algorithms and probabilities. paris – Rocquencourt. philippe Robert.

RESO (3, 8, 28) protocols and softwares for very high-performance network.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. pt located in lyon. pascale Vicat-Blanc-primet.

TREC (3, 9) theory of networks and communications. paris – Rocquencourt. François Baccelli.

Distributed Systems and ServicesACES (3, 40) Ambient computing and embedded systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Michel Banâtre.

ADAM (3, 25) Adaptive distributed applications and middleware.

lille – Nord europe. laurence duchien.

the numbers in parentheses correspond to the partners listed on page 64.



ADEPT (3, 40) Algorithms for dynamic dependable systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Michel hurfin.

ARLES software architectures and distributed systems.

paris – Rocquencourt. Valérie Issarny.

ASAP (3, 18, 40) As scalable As possible: foundations of large scale dynamic distributed systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique et saclay – Île-de-France. Anne-Marie Kermarrec.

ASCOLA (3, 5) Aspect and composition languages. Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. pt located

in Nantes. Mario sudholt.

ECOO (3, 16, 32, 33) environment for cooperation. Nancy – Grand est. claude Godart.

OASIS (3, 35) Active objects, semantics, Internet and security.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. denis caromel.

PHOENIX (3, 11, 20) programming language technology For communication services.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. charles consel.

POPS (3, 25) system and Networking for portable objects proved to be safe.

lille – Nord europe. david simplot-Ryl.

REGAL (3, 37) large-scale distributed systems and Applications.

paris – Rocquencourt. pierre sens.

RMOD (3, 25) Analyses and languages constructs for object-oriented application evolution.

lille – Nord europe. stéphane ducasse.

SARDES (3, 15, 23, 24) system architecture for reflective distributed computing environments.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Jean-Bernard stefani.

TRISKELL (3, 40) Reliable and efficient component based software engineering.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Jean-Marc Jézéquel.

Distributed and High Performance ComputingALGORILLE (3, 16, 32, 33) Algorithms for the Grid.

Nancy – Grand est. Jens Gustedt.

CEPAGE (3, 11, 20, 21) Algorithmics for computationally intensive applications over wide scale distributed platforms.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. olivier Beaumont.

GRAAL (3, 8, 28) Algorithms and scheduling for distributed heterogeneous platforms. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. pt located in lyon. Frédéric Vivien.

GRAND-LARGE (3, 36) Global parallel and distributed computing.

saclay – Île-de-France. Franck cappello.

MESCAL (3, 15, 23) Middleware efficiently scalable. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Bruno Gaujal.

MOAIS (3, 15, 23, 24) prograMming and scheduling design for Applications in Interactive simulation.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Jean-louis Roch.

PARIS (3, 7, 18, 40) programming distributed parallel systems for large scale numerical simulation.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. thierry priol / christine Morin.

RUNTIME (3, 11, 20) efficient runtime systems for parallel architectures.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. Raymond Namyst.

peRceptIoN, coGNItIoN, INteRActIoN

Vision, Perception and Multimedia Understanding

ARIANA (3, 35) Inverse problems in earth monitoring. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Josiane Zerubia.

IMEDIA Image and multimedia indexing, browsing and retrieval.

paris – Rocquencourt. Nozha Boujemaa.

LEAR (3, 15, 23) learning and recognition in vision. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. cordelia schmid.

MAGRIT (3, 16, 32, 33) Visual Augmentation of complex environments.

Nancy – Grand est. Marie-odile Berger.

PERCEPTION (3, 15, 23) Interpretation and modeling of images and videos.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Radu horaud.

PRIMA (3, 15, 23, 24) perception, recognition and integration for observation of activity.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. James crowley.

PULSAR perception understanding learning systems for Activity Recognition.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Monique thonnat.

TEMICS (3, 40) digital image processing, modeling and communication.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. christine Guillemot.

TEXMEX (3, 18, 40) Multimedia content-based indexing.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. patrick Gros.

WILLOW (3, 6, 9) Models of visual object recognition and scene understanding.

paris – Rocquencourt. Jean ponce.

Interaction and VisualizationALCOVE (3, 25) collaborative interactive virtual environment.

lille – Nord europe. christophe chaillou.

ALICE (3, 16, 32, 33) Geometry and lighting. Nancy – Grand est. Bruno lévy.

ARTIS (3, 15, 23) Acquisition, representation and transformations for image synthesis.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Nicolas holzschuch.

AVIZ Analysis and Visualization. saclay – Île-de-France. Jean-daniel Fekete.

BUNRAKU (3, 7, 18, 40) perception, decision and action of real and virtual humans in virtual environments and impact on real environments.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. stéphane donikian / Georges dumont.

EVASION (3, 15, 23) Virtual environments for animation and image synthesis of natural objects.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Marie-paule cani.

IN-SITU (3, 36) situated interaction. saclay – Île-de-France. Wendy Mackay.

IPARLA (3, 11, 20) Visualization and manipulation of complex data on wireless mobile devices.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. pascal Guitton.

REVES Rendering and virtual environments with sound.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. George drettakis.

Knowledge and Data Representation and ManagementATLAS (3, 34) complex data management in distributed systems.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique and sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt both located in Nantes and Montpellier. patrick Valduriez.

AXIS usage-centered design, analysis and improvement of information systems.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée and paris – Rocquencourt. Brigitte trousse.

DAHU (3, 7) Verification in databases. saclay – Île-de-France. pt both located

in cachan. luc ségoufin.

DREAM (3, 18, 40) diagnosing, Recommending Actions and Modeling.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Marie-odile cordier.

EDELWEISS exchanges, documents, extraction, languages, Web, ergonomics, Interactions, semantics, servers.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. olivier corby.

EXMO (3, 15, 23, 24) computer mediated exchange of structured knowledge.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Jérôme euzenat.

GEMO (3, 36) Integration of data and knowledge distributed over the web.

saclay – Île-de-France. serge Abiteboul / Ioana Manolescu.

GRAVITE (3, 11, 20, 21) Graph Visualization and Interactive exploration.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. Guy Mélançon.

63

MAIA (3, 16, 32, 33) Autonomous intelligent machine. Nancy – Grand est. François charpillet.

MOSTRARE (3, 25, 26) Modeling tree structures, Machine learning, and Information extraction.

lille – Nord europe. Rémi Gilleron.

ORPAILLEUR (3, 16, 32, 33) Knowledge representation, reasonning.

Nancy – Grand est. Amedeo Napoli.

SMIS (3, 41) secured and Mobile Information systems.

paris – Rocquencourt. philippe pucheral.

WAM (3, 15, 23, 24) Web, adaptation and multimedia. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Vincent Quint.

RoboticsAROBAS Advanced robotics and autonomous systems.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. patrick Rives.

COPRIN (6) constraints solving, optimization and robust interval analysis.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Jean-pierre Merlet.

E-MOTION (3, 15, 23, 24) Geometry and probability for motion and action.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. christian laugier.

IMARA Informatics, mathematics and automation for La Route Automatisée.

paris – Rocquencourt. Michel parent.

LAGADIC (3, 40) Visual servoing in robotics, computer vision, and augmented reality.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. François chaumette.

Audio, Speech, and Language ProcessingALPAGE (38) large-scale deep linguistic processing.

paris – Rocquencourt. laurence danlos.

CALLIGRAMME (3, 16, 32, 33) linear logic, proof networks and categorial grammars.

Nancy – Grand est. philippe de Groote.

METISS (3, 40) speech and sound data modeling and processing.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Frédéric Bimbot.

PAROLE (3, 16, 32, 33) Analysis, perception and recognition of speech.

Nancy – Grand est. Yves laprie.

SIGNES (3, 11, 20, 22) linguistic signs, grammar and meaning: computational logic for natural language.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. christian Retoré.

TALARIS (3, 16, 32, 33) Natural language processing: representation, inference and semantics.

Nancy – Grand est. patrick Blackburn.

coMputAtIoNAl scIeNces FoR BIoloGY, MedIcINe ANd the eNVIRoNMeNt

Observation and Modeling for Environmental SciencesCLIME (6) coupling environmental data and simulation models for software integration.

paris – Rocquencourt. pt both colocated in Marne-la-Vallée. Isabelle herlin.

ESTIME parameter estimation and modeling in heterogeneous media.

paris – Rocquencourt. Jérôme Jaffré.

FLUMINANCE (1) Fluid flow analysis, description and control from image sequences.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Étienne Mémin.

MAGIQUE-3D (3, 39) Advanced 3d numerical modeling in geophysics.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. pt located in pau. hélène Barucq.

MOISE (3, 15, 23) Modeling, observations, identification for environmental sciences.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. Éric Blayo.

SAGE (3, 40) simulations and algorithms on Grids for environment.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Jocelyne erhel.

Observation, Modeling and Control for Life SciencesANUBIS (3, 20, 21) tools of automatic control for scientific computing, models and methods in biomathematics.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. Jacques henry.

BANG (9) Nonlinear analysis for biology and geophysical flows.

paris – Rocquencourt. Benoît perthame.

COMORE (3, 37) Modeling and control of renewable resources.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Jean-luc Gouzé.

DIGIPLANTE (2, 14) Modeling plants growth and plants architecture.

saclay – Île-de-France. philippe de Reffye.

MACS Modeling, analysis and control in computational structural dynamics.

paris – Rocquencourt. dominique chapelle.

MASAIE* (3, 43) control theory, modeling and simulations appled to immunology and epidemiology.

Nancy – Grand est. pt located in Metz. Gautier sallet.

MERE (10, 17) Water resource modeling. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt located

in Montpellier. claude lobry / Alain Rapaport.

NUMED (3, 8, 28) Numerical medicine. Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. pt located in lyon.

emmanuel Grenier.

REO (3, 37) Numerical simulation of biological flows. paris – Rocquencourt. Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau.

SISYPHE signals and systems in physiology & engineering.

paris – Rocquencourt. Michel sorine.

VIRTUAL PLANTS (2, 17) Modeling plant morphogenesis at different scales, from genes to phenotype.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt located in Montpellier. christophe Godin.

Computational Biology and BioinformaticsABS Algorithms, biology, structure.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Frédéric cazals.

IBIS (3, 23) Modeling, simulation, measurement, and control of bacterial regulatory networks.

Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes. hidde de Jong.

MAGNOME (3, 20) Models and algorithms for the genome.

Bordeaux – sud-ouest. david sherman.

SEQUOIA (3, 25, 26) Algorithms for large-scale sequence analysis for molecular biology.

lille – Nord europe. hélène touzet.

SYMBIOSE (3, 40) Biological systems and models, bioinformatics and sequences.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. Jacques Nicolas.

Computational Medicine and NeurosciencesASCLEPIOS Analysis and simulation of biomedical images.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. Nicholas Ayache.

CORTEX (3, 16, 32, 33) Neuromimetic intelligence. Nancy – Grand est. Frédéric Alexandre.

DEMAR (3, 30, 31) Artificial movement and gait restoration.

sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. pt located in Montpellier. david Guiraud.

NEUROMATHCOMP (3, 9, 35) Mathematical and computation neuroscience.

paris – Rocquencourt and sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée. olivier Faugeras.

ODYSSEE (3, 9) computer and biological vision. sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée

and paris – Rocquencourt. Rachid deriche.

PARIETAL Modeling brain structure, function and variability based on high-field MRI data.

saclay – Île-de-France. Bertrand thirion.

VISAGES (3, 19, 40) Vision, action and information management system in health.

Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique. christian Barillot.

* partner’s agreement pending.



1. cemagref

2. cirad

3. cNRs

4. École centrale of lille

5. École des mines of Nantes

6. École nationale des ponts et chaussées

7. École normale supérieure of cachan

8. École normale supérieure of lyon

9. École normale supérieure of paris

10. École nationale supérieure agronomique of Montpellier

11. enseirb

12. ensta

13. École polytechnique

14. École centrale of paris

15. Institut national polytechnique of Grenoble

16. Institut national polytechnique of lorraine

17. Inra

18. Institut national des sciences appliquées of Rennes

19. Inserm

20. university Bordeaux 1

21. university Victor-segalen (Bordeaux 2)

22. university Michel-de-Montaigne (Bordeaux 3)

23. university Joseph-Fourier (Grenoble 1)

24. university pierre-Mendès-France (Grenoble 2)

INRIA’s pARtNeRshIps

25. university of sciences and technologies of lille (lille 1)

26. university charles-de-Gaulle (lille 3)

27. university louis-pasteur (strasbourg 1)

28. university claude-Bernard (lyon 1)

29. university of Marne-la-Vallée

30. university Montpellier 1

31. university of sciences and techniques of languedoc (Montpellier 2)

32. university henri-poincaré (Nancy 1)

33. university Nancy 2

34. university of Nantes

35. university of Nice – sophia Antipolis

36. university paris-sud (paris 11)

37. university pierre- et-Marie-curie (paris 6)

38. university denis-diderot (paris 7)

39. university of pau and of pays de l’Adour

40. university Rennes 1

41. university of Versailles saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

42. university of Franche-comté

43. university of Metz

44. university of provence

45. centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (the Netherlands)

65

organization chart and councils

GeNeRAl MANAGeMeNt

MAX DAUCHETINRIA lille – Nord europe Research centre

FRANçOIS SILLIONINRIA Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes Research centre

CLAUDE KIRCHNERINRIA Bordeaux – sud-ouest Research centre

LAURENT STENCELcommunication department

GéRARD GIRAUDONINRIA sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée Research centre

MONIQUE THONNATdeputy scientific director

PATRICK BOUTHEMYINRIA Rennes – Bretagne Atlantique Research centre

MALIK GHALLABchief executive officer for science and technology

GRéGOIRE MALANDAINdeputy scientific director

ANTOINE PETITINRIA paris – Rocquencourt Research centre

JEAN-PIERRE VERJUSdeputy Managing director

HéLèNE KIRCHNERdeputy scientific director

KARL TOMBREINRIA Nancy – Grand est Research centre

MICHEL COSNARDchaiman and ceo

BERNARD ESPIAUdeputy scientific director

CLAUDE PUECHResearch department

DOMINIQUE SOTTEAUInternational Relations department

JEAN-PIERRE BANâTREeuropean partnership department

BRUNO SPORTISSEtechnology transfer and Innovation department

STéPHANE UBEDAtechnological development department

CHRISTIAN SERRADJIhead Accountant

GéRARD BERRYchairman of the evaluation committee

MARTIN WIRSINGchairman of the scientific Board

RENAUD DE VERNEJOULhQ Administration delegation

éRIC GAUTRINInformation system, Infrastructure and computer service department

LUC D’ARCHIMBAUDAdministration, Finance and Resource department

MURIEL SINANIDèShuman Resources department

MICHEL BIDOITINRIA saclay – Île-de-France Research centre

HERVé MATHIEUchief executive officer for Resources and service Administration

THIERRY PRIOLdeputy scientific director


organization chart and councils

PRESIDENTMichel Cosnard, chairman and ceo of INRIA

MEMBER BY RIGHTAlain Fuchs, Managing director of cNRs

BoARd oF dIRectoRs

REPRESENTING THE GOVERNMENT élisabeth Barsacq, deputy director of the politics of Mobility and Attractiveness, MAee

Marc Belloeil, in charge of department “specialized organisms”, dGRI – MesR

Alain Dohet, Manager of the technical expertise centre for systems of system, dGA

Cécile Dubarry, chief of Information technology and communication, dGcIs-Ministry of the economy, Industry and employment

Benoît Formery, deputy director of the electronics and software, Ministry of the economy, Industry and employment

Stanislas Godefroy, Budget directorate, Ministry of the economy, Industry and employment

éric Grégoire, scientific consultant by training, dGesIp – MesR

ELECTED MEMBERS Representative of scientific and etA personnelChristine Eisenbeis

Fabrice Fenouil

Bernard Lang

Gérard Paget

CONSULTATIVE MEMBERSChristian Serradji, INRIA head Accountant

Patrick Roger, Financial controller

Jean-Pierre Verjus, deputy General director

Martin Wirsing, chairman of the scientific Board

APPOINTED MEMBERS Hubert Bouchet, General secretary of the union of executives and engineers, Fo – Vice-president of the French National commission for computing & Freedom (cNIl)

Claire Dupas, head of “non thematic programs”, ANR

Joëlle Gauthier, Vice-president of Alcatel lucent France

Louis Marrocco, director of communication Media, Grenoble town council

Christiane Schwartz

Jean Therme, director of technology Research at the ceA Grenoble

Dominique Vernay, technical director, thales

Writing, coordination, illustrations, follow-up: communication department. editors: technoscope (i. Bellin, F. Breton). translation: technicis. cover credit: julie guiches/Picturetank. photos credits: c.dupont p. 6, 21, 57, 65 – s. ephraim p. 29 – Kaksonen p. 10, 11, 17, 19, 26, 33, 35, 37, 65 – r. lamoureux p. 28 – c. lebedinsky p. 9, 16, 19, 21, 26, 28, 44, 53, 55, 59, 65 – j.-m. ramès p. 16, 21 – c. tourniaire p. 19, 41, 53, 55, 57 – j. Wallace p. 10, 16, 26,27, 30, 32, 40, 46, 51, 65 – P.-B. Wieber p. 31 – INRIA-lRI: c. appert p. 18. Graphic designs and production: IssN: 1263-2961.

67

CHAIRMANGérard Berry, Research director, INRIA

DEPUTY CHAIRMANGuillaume Hanrot, professor, eNs, lyon

APPOINTED MEMBERS NON INRIAElsa Angelini, telecom paris

Jean-Yves Berthou, edF

Anne Doucet, lIp6

Laurent Julliard, Minalogic

Laurent Massoulié, thomson

Manuel Samuelides, onera

Isabelle Terrasse, eAds

APPOINTED MEMBERS INRIAThomas Jensen

Philippe Nain

Christine Paulin

Sylvain Petitjean

Jean Roman

David Symplot-Ryl

Alain Viari

PRESIDENTMartin Wirsing, professor, Institute of computer science, ludwig-Maximilians-university, Munich

APPOINTED MEMBERS Jean-François Abramatic, IBM

Yolande Berbers, professor, Katholic university of leuven (Kul)

Jacques Blanc-Talon, Responsible for the domain “engineering of the Information”, MRIs dGA

Anja Feldmann, professor, tu Muenchen, Institüt für Informatik

Gaston Gonnet, professor, eth, Zurich

Patrick Johnson, director of Research and development, dassault systèmes

Jean-François Lavignon, strategy director, technology software, Bull

scIeNtIFIc BoARd eVAluAtIoN coMMIttee

ELECTED MEMBERSResearchersPierre-Alexandre Bliman

Philippe Chartier

Véronique Cortier

Julien Diaz

Mathieu Giraud

Nicolas Holzschuch

Juliette Leblond

Wendy Mackay

Stephan Merz

Pierre Saramito

Nicolas Sendrier

Monique Teillaud

etAPatricia Bournai

Christophe Demarey

Florian Dufour

Maxence Guesdon

Scientific activity reports (in English) from the research teams can be found at the URL:

Chahab Nastar, scientific director sAp Businessobjects

Olivier Pironneau, professor, university pierre et Marie curie

David Sadek, delegate director for Research, France telecom

ELECTED MEMBERS Representative of scientific and etA personnelPaul-Louis George

Christine Leininger

André Seznec

Benjamin Werner

http://www.inria.fr/rapportsactivite/index.fr.html

The Annual Report (French or English version)can be found at the following URL addresses:www.inria/rapportannuel/ran.fr.htmlwww.inria/rapportannuel/ran.en.html