Proven excellence in research partnerships

The Carnot Network was set up by the French government to encourage direct partnerships between government research organizations and private-sector companies. In 2020, for the fourth time running, CEA-List was awarded the Carnot seal in recognition of the quality and professionalism of its research partnerships with businesses.

A member of the Carnot Network since 2006

CEA-List was first awarded the Carnot seal in 2006, and our membership was renewed for the fourth consecutive term in 2020.

For our partner companies, the Carnot seal is evidence of quality and professionalism. It guarantees that they will benefit from top-level scientific and technological expertise, provides reassurance that we understand their target markets and objectives, and connects them with other Carnot Institutes.

As a Carnot Institute, CEA-List also benefits from dedicated funding to support pump-priming research and projects that aim to identify tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs.

What is the Carnot seal?

The Carnot seal promotes collaboration between government research organizations and companies. Giving companies access to technology research today will make France’s industrial sector—and its economy at large—stronger tomorrow.

The seal is awarded by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation to government research organizations that run high-quality research partnerships with startups, SMEs, and corporations. Candidate organizations go through a rigorous selection process and must demonstrate how they help their R&D partners innovate and achieve their transformation goals.

39 Carnot Institutes across France

10 200 R&D contracts per year, including 4,400 with SMEs and midcaps

1 150 priority patents filed this year

527 M€ million invested in R&D for partner companies

Carnot : la recherche pour les entreprises

Carnot best practices

To earn the Carnot seal, research organizations must demonstrate that they follow the best practices set out by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation in the Carnot Charter by:

Implementing a continuous improvement process to maintain the level of professionalism that partner companies expect.
We use a proven project management system that includes a governance framework, regular follow-up, and periodic progress reports.
Actively seeking new partnerships, in particular with small and medium-sized companies.
The institute has a dedicated partnership management team in charge of generating leads and organizing promotional events.
Developing fruitful, long-term relationships with academic research to maintain our scientific and technological research at the state of the art today and tomorrow.
CEA-List has a number of longstanding partnerships with academic research labs both in France and internationally. It also collaborates with the labs of its parent organization, the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission).
Maintaining strong ties with international partners to access the most advanced research in the world and broaden our scientific expertise.
We regularly collaborate with leading universities like Stanford University and UC Berkeley.
See our page on European and international projects for more information.
Following the best practices in the Carnot Charter regarding intellectual property, knowledge-sharing, and tech transfer.
We have defined a clear intellectual property and tech transfer policy that reflects the needs of our R&D partners.
Read more about how our partnerships work.
Supporting pump-priming research.
We allocate 25% of our budget to research projects focused on emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations.
Working with other Carnot Institutes to develop multidisciplinary solutions.
CEA-List is involved in four programs with other Carnot Network members: Manufacturing (industry of the future), Carnauto (automotive industry), Findmed (medicine and health tech), and Capme’up (innovation projects for small and medium-sized businesses).