INTRODUCTION
Université de Lorraine promotes innovation through the dialogue of knowledge, taking advantage of the variety and strength of its scientific fields, and aiming at the promotion of knowledge transfer to irrigate innovation and economic growth as well as the progress of fundamental science. Université de Lorraine offers curricula in all fields of knowledge: sciences, health, technology, engineering sciences, human and social sciences, law, economy, management, arts, literature and language.
Université de Lorraine proposes a large spectrum of international activities:
• Ingoing and outgoing student exchanges (about 1.500 of our students spend at least one semester abroad during their studies, 15% of our students started their studies in one among approximately 100 foreign countries)
• Shared diplomas with other universities: around 60 joint diplomas, including 7 Erasmus Mundus master programs
• Research collaborations: Numerous joint PhDs: 11% of our PhDs are shared with a foreign university; Joint groups or labs with foreign universities. Nearly 30% of our publications are co-signed with scientists from other countries.
• Mobility of students, of PhD students and post-docs, of faculty members and administrative staff, to consolidate our international integration. The University has an active policy for encouraging outgoing mobility, and to facilitate and simplify the welcome of incoming persons.
Our research centers are active in all scientific fields, with areas of excellence emerging in the areas of (i) Natural resources, energy, and materials (ii) Language and knowledge engineering, and (iii) Molecular engineering and technologies for health.
In association with several partners (CNRS, INRA, INRIA, INSERM, CHRU Nancy, AgroParisTech, and Georgia Tech Lorraine), Université de Lorraine has recently obtained the I-SITE label from the French call on excellence initiatives for a program called “Lorraine Université d’Excellence” (LUE). LUE will provide, over a long period (at least 10 to 15 years), an annual flow of several million euros dedicated to the development of our academic site as a European and international reference on Global Engineering. The program will be focused on six major social and economic challenges, for which academic institutions and companies can complement each other in order to develop innovative solutions.
SECOND YEAR
University of Lorraine – France offers the last optional specialization about innovation for rural development. The specialization deals with several spatial and temporal scales in order to make students able to develop forest wood chains strongly integrated into territorial systems, supported by local stakeholders and policymakers. Students could learn about European forest economics in the context of social and environmental changes while taking advantage of the University of Lorraine partnership with AgroParisTech (BFORPPL associated partner) and the integration of activities in research programs with a multidisciplinary community of scientists (chemistry, tree growth, economics, system modeling, sociology) and stakeholders (forest owners, forest managers, national forest inventory, sawmills, pulp and paper and biorefinery, local and national policies) promoting innovation and the sustainable development of biorefinery based on wood extractives. Students will get insight into the innovation process and will acquire relevant knowledge and skills oriented to the bioeconomy labor market including project development and management.