University Innovation Cluster (PUI)

The University of Montpellier awarded the Pôle Universitaire d'Innovation label

In July 2023, following a first phase of experimentation starting in 2021, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, announced that the University of Montpellier would be accredited as a Pôle Universitaire d'Innovation (PUI), receiving a total allocation of 9M€ over the two phases.

The Pôle Universitaire d'Innovation recognizes the University of Montpellier as an organization capable of making its knowledge and technology transfer offer more transparent, and streamlining public-private relations and partnerships.

The strategies of the higher education and research establishments in Montpellier and its surrounding area are designed to support the emergence of a University Innovation Cluster, led by the University of Montpellier. The "Nourish-Care-Protect" triptych of theI-SITE remains the backbone of the PUI's strategic vision.

Pôle Universitaire d'Innovation (PUI) objectives

Montpellier's PUI has considerable potential to help reduce the region's economic contrast by stimulating the creation of start-ups, fostering innovation in SMEs and improving its attractiveness to outside companies.

With a third of the Occitanie region's public Professors and researchers (5,000 out of 15,000), as well as 28% of its students (70,000 out of 250,000), Montpellier boasts a number of committed and effective innovation structures, including the SATT AxLR, a metropolitan incubator (BIC de Montpellier), an efficient regional economic development agency (Agence AD'OCC) and a number of socio-economic groups (clusters, competitiveness clusters, etc.).

Our PUI actions aim to encourage partnership research, develop technology transfer and stimulate business start-ups.

Pole Universitaire Innovation (PUI) systems

Here are a few examples of the tools put in place by the PUI to encourage public-private collaborations, technology transfer and business start-ups:

• Booster Innovation Montpellier (BIM): dedicated support for innovators in the early stages of their project's maturation, with training in the various ways of adding value and potential funding.
• Innovation prize: awarded to staff from all I-SITE Excellence Program partners for their commitment to the development of innovations stemming from one of the five research clusters.
• Afterwork de l'innovation: annual event bringing together researchers, companies, partners and local authorities to discuss innovation, commercialization, partnerships and entrepreneurship, during which the Innovation Awards are presented to the winners. 
• Companies and Campus: a call for projects designed to support the creation of new public-private research partnerships by financing part of the expenditure dedicated to innovation and encouraging the mobility of partner personnel in the company or laboratory.
• In Lab Engineering: a call for projects designed to support the establishment of new partnerships and facilitate access by SMEs to the skills of PUI structures, by making funding available to winning Research structures or platforms wishing to develop innovation cells open to businesses.
• Je monte un labcom" workshop: workshops to raise awareness of the creation of "joint laboratories" between companies and research organization laboratories, aimed at PUI agents and researchers.
• Development ofInitium, the University of Montpellier's incubator for innovative project leaders seeking support in setting up a company.
• Creation and development of PEPITE Deeptech to raise awareness and support deeptech project leaders in promoting their innovation.
• Capacity Building: innovation training program for all I-SITE partners.
• Deploy digital tools, notably with OCAPI, to manage agreements, calls for projects and intellectual property. The tool will later integrate a software detection platform and an invention declaration module.

PUI partners