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Publiée le 30/10/14 à 16h32

The challenge for the school is two-fold : to encourage the creation of innovative startups, and to make the student engineers aware of entrepreneurship. The key element of the scheme is the business incubator at the Chantrerie, which is host to a dozen projects, with an increasing number of partners and initiatives.
Entrepreneurship has the wind in its sails, and the Ecole des Mines is putting it at the top of their agenda – making it a mainstay of their strategy. "Our ambitions are two-fold, explains Anne Beauval, Director. Firstly we want to increase the number of innovative companies. The Loire region is the third most important industrial area in France, but only the eighth most important area in terms of creation of businesses. We want to make up lost ground. We also want to involve our students with the actors of innovation, to bring them greater awareness of the issue."
In order to do this, the school has a powerful tool : its incubator. Set up in 2011, it is located on the site of the Chantrerie, in what was previously the DRIRE building. The project leaders have 1000 m2 at their disposal, in a modern well equipped building with offices, meeting rooms, access to telephone and internet, and even the campus café and sports facilities. Most importantly, they benefit from personalised assistance, having access to the expertise of the lecturers and research scientists at the school. And the Mines Nantes opens up its address book to them.
Today there are twelve projects running within the incubator, all linked to the Mines' domaines of excellence : digital, environment, energy, subatomic engineering, and robotics. Those running the projects are postgraduates, lecturers and researchers, as well as a doctor, and designers. One of the startups housed at the incubator is Jyméo, a price comparison website comparing tyre prices, already up and running in twenty different countries including China. Another example is Dataforpeople, which offers a s