Paris Parc becomes the Cité de l'Innovation at Sorbonne University

Now that the building has been taking shape for several months, it has adopted its definitive name. Welcome to the Cité de l'innovation at Sorbonne University.
   
The name "Cité de l'innovation" was not chosen at random. It goes beyond the idea of a simple building to encompass an ambitious and unifying vision: that of a university focused on innovation and its transfer to society.

The 15,000 square-meter building, located in the heart of Paris on the Pierre et Marie Curie campus, is the cornerstone of the project. It symbolizes Sorbonne University's desire to create a physical meeting place where the university's driving forces— the scientific and student communities and players from the business world— can rub shoulders, exchange ideas and collaborate.

Work is progressing at a steady pace and is already visible to all campus users and residents. Designed by the international architectural firms BIG and OXO, the building will house research and development startups spun off from Sorbonne University's research work in an incubator and nursery. It will also incorporate a business hotel and Sorbonne University's internal structures for supporting innovation and student entrepreneurship.

Sorbonne University’s Cité de l'Innovation will welcome all those involved in innovation. Its common spaces will host events linked to science and innovation, open to the entire Sorbonne University community and beyond.

But the Cité de l'Innovation is more than just its walls, it will also help to showcase the achievements of University and the structures spread across all Sorbonne University campuses: research laboratories, technology platforms and academic programs.

Since autumn 2022, the Cité de l'Innovation construction site has brought together French and European construction companies. Sorbonne University has chosen a construction site that mobilizes talent at every level, where SMEs and major groups, along with their suppliers and subcontractors, take up the challenge of building an ambitious project.

Between 40 and 120 workers, technicians and engineers will be on site, depending on the phase of the works, with an equivalent number of staff for administrative and financial management and for execution and synthesis studies. In addition to the expected delivery of a building of high environmental quality, the worksite is meeting several daily challenges: managing disruption for the neighborhood, ensuring the safety of all concerned, and choosing to adhere to high environmental standards.

A catalyst for innovation, the Cité de l'Innovation stimulates and accelerates the development of innovative projects, enabling Sorbonne Université to play a major role in innovation and its transfer to society, while adhering to a responsible and sustainable approach.

A meeting place for the development of innovative projects, Sorbonne University’s Cité de l'Innovation encourages collaboration between scientists, students and entrepreneurs, creating an environment conducive to exchange.

Open to everyone, the Cité de l'Innovation aims to share and disseminate the culture of innovation within the university community and with its partners.

In this sense, the Cité de l'Innovation at Sorbonne University is part of the university innovation center of the Sorbonne University Alliance.