The 2009 annual report, covering the activity of the whole Institute, is now available in two formats: in the print version and in the on-line version that can be consulted online. It is an opportunity to look back over an eventful year and to share this document which is both important and at the same time enjoyable to read.

1. Computational sciences
at the heart of society
AnnuAl report 2009

2. fields of application
communication
agriculture
sciences
transport
industry
healthcare
training
and education
02 InrIA AnnuAl report 2009

3. INRIA’s
scientific
energy priorities
ModELING
Combining mathematics and computer science,
modeling serves to mathematically describe
meteorological, physical, geological and physiological
phenomena in order to understand, analyze and predict
them more effectively
cryptographic CoMMuNICatING
security Beyond infrastructure issues (protocols, distribution, rules),
the goal is to make the knowledge and services Internet
a reality (smart Internet).
INtEraCtING
Interaction between the real and the virtual
and interchange between man and machine require
software control of sight, touch, gesture, natural
language and speech. robotics is another promising
field with potential applications in many sectors.
services ProGraMMING
At the very core of computer science, programming
attempts to ensure software security and reliability
and resolve problems concerning confidentiality,
authentification, data protection and traceability, etc.
CoMPutatIoNaL sCIENCEs
By marrying modeling, simulation, multiscale computing
and nanotechnologies, research efforts are aiming
to develop models for use in biology, agronomics,
ecology and the study of ecosystems and materials.
CoMPutatIoNaL ENGINEErING
this field involves studying and predicting the behaviour
of industrial objects (virtual prototypes) and aims
to guarantee the correct functioning of embedded
software (validation of autopilot systems on aircraft etc.).
CoMPutatIoNaL MEdICINE
this field of research seeks to develop models of organs
© amy uratsu/the image Bank/getty images
for improving the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses
such as cancer and cardiovascular or neurological
diseases.
environment
More information on inria.fr
03

4. InrIA’s scientific priorities ........................................................ 02
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04
InrIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05
Interview with the Ceo, Michel Cosnard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06
research centres
eight centres at the heart of the InrIA system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Influence in the scientific community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Indicators in good shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
software development plots a new course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Familiarising schools with digital sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
research in action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
smart research through coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
applied mathematics, computation and simulation
Financial crisis: mathematicians to the rescue? ........................... 28
researchers rub shoulders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
algorithmics, programming, software and architecture
Shabal in the semi-final! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
How long until secure electronic voting becomes a reality? ............. 34
Networks, systems and services, distributed computing
energy-saving computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Working today on the supercomputers of tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Perception, Cognition, Interaction
An all-terrain crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
learning to search for images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Computational sciences for biology, medicine and the environment
Computer scientists go green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Fighting cancer with modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
A policy of openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
a strengthened organizational structure to prepare for the future . . . 52
Partnerships in continuous progress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
a breath of fresh air for transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
project-teams active in 2009
Project-teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
organization chart and councils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

5. inRia
3,150 scientists
e217
174
million (2009) –
21% of which from
its own resources
project-teams
8
active in 2009
research
centres
4,100
collaborators
all over france
97
companies
formed since 1984
INRIA is a public research establishment entirely dedicated
to information and communication sciences. For more than 40 years,
it has supported the economic and social transformations linked
with the dissemination of digital technologies. As such, together with
its academic and industrial partners, it conducts at the highest
international level an increasingly influential activity in fundamental
research and technology development. the knowledge produced
at InrIA has become essential in medicine, biology and many other
sciences. It enriches our everyday lives (communication, safety,
Internet usages) and sheds light on the issues of sustainable development
and energy conservation.
05

6. inteRview with the ceo, Michel cosnaRd
Whether in terms of the environment,
education, health, economics
or research, INrIa is trying to meet the issues
of tomorrow’s society.”
Michel Cosnard, general puBlic
What contribution is inria making to the digital
(Chairman and Ceo technologies now filling our daily lives?
since 2006) answers
Michel Cosnard. InrIA is involved in many ways in
the questions the design of technologies now appearing on the
most frequently market. the development of intelligent devices such
asked by different as the Smartphone, which can be used not only for
calls but also for using online services, is based on
groups of society work in telecommunications, human-computer inter-
regarding the faces, and software, to which institute researchers
challenges facing have contributed. Another example – social net-
works, currently very much in vogue, are generating
information and communication science a great deal of research into software security and
and technology (ICSt). reliability, confidentiality of interchanges, and pri-
vacy protection. our teams are also tackling crucial
issues affecting all traffic on the Internet. We are also
involved in the deliberations surrounding the ethical
Wide-ranging
questions which may be raised by rapid advances
in technology and their widespread adoption. We
have recommended the creation of an ethics com-
science
mittee for our fields, so as to be able to take such
concerns into consideration at a very early stage in
the research process.
open to society young people
at large
how does icst research contribute
to solving society’s big questions?
M. C. InrIA is showing an interest now in those ques-
tions which are real issues for future generations, such
as sustainable development, medicine and personal
care services. We have placed these big questions
in our strategic plan, and our work in this area has
been much strengthened over the last four years. For
example, our researchers are modelling plant growth
with a view to improving food production, and are
06 InrIA AnnuAl report 2009

7. © istockphoto
INrIa intends to consolidate
its role in technology transfer
for society’s benefit.”
© istockphoto
doctors
building diagnosis support tools for medicine. they
medicine increasingly relies on digital
are designing energy saving technologies, invent-
technologies, what role does the institute
ing shared automatic transport methods, and are
intend to take in this area?
creating services for the elderly and disabled. the
omnipresence of ICSt in all areas of economic activity M. C. Computational medicine is a research prior-
makes these very lucrative areas for the future. We will ity for the institute, and our efforts in that area are
need talented and creative researchers, and I hope growing. our researchers are contributing to
that this work, which now finds itself at the core of the highly-accurate modelling and simula-
some exciting social and human issues, will be able to tion of those organs (liver, heart or brain)
generate still more roles, especially for women, who the workings of which it is possible to study.
are still under-represented in our disciplines. our work they are also modeling illnesses, in particular
on disseminating science to young people and on cancers, and are developing imaging tools
boosting computer education in secondary schools and aids for treatment and surgery, such as
is likely to make a contribution to this. cataract operation support tools. InrIA is
HIgHlIgHtS 2009
14 JanuaRy 20 febRuaRy 1-5 June 11 June
INrIa and oNEra, the Visiting Committee INrIa attended the Birth of a joint
the french centre submitted its evaluation Javaone conference supercomputing
for aerospace research, report on the institute in san francisco laboratory between INrIa
signed a partnership to valérie pécresse, french for the first time. and the national centre for
agreement to undertake minister for Research. an opportunity to present supercomputing applications
joint projects in the the report follows a visit technologies developed (ncsa) at the university
areas of data processing to inRia by this committee by its researchers of illinois in the united states.
and systems. of international experts in the services sector. see p. 55.
in december 2008.
07

8. inteRview with the ceo, Michel cosnaRd
also involved in remote medical care systems allowing only going to expand. We are already participating
patients to remain at home, and in the development in the new alliance for health and life sciences; we
of new generations of implanted devices, such as are involved in most multi-organization subject-based
pacemakers, giving rise to patent applications. Such research programmes at the French national Institute
research requires working in close collaboration with for Health and Medical research (InSerM), where
bio-medical staff, which is why we are developing InrIA researchers’ talents are recognised.
joint platforms and teams. teamwork of this kind is
industry can inria’s research help
with economic recovery?
M. C. For two years, we have been developing our
research will be increasingly procedures to increase the impact of our technol-
ogy on the economy. to do so, we have given top
multi-disciplinary, collaborative priority to strategic partnerships with major com-
panies. these partnerships are based on a shared
and Europe-oriented.” vision of current economic challenges, and enable
our staff’s efforts to be directed at fundamental
issues in order to overcome technological hurdles.
We have also ensured we have the tools to work to
best effect with SMes in our sector, such as the small
joint laboratories, I-labs. At the same time we have
improved our ability to reach these SMes. the estab-
lishment of new research centres in lille, Bordeaux
and Saclay has enabled the institute to weave itself
into the regional economic fabric, and get involved
in the local business community in close conjunction
with the competitiveness clusters. the InrIA Industry
meetings which took place this year in lille with the
retail industry sector are a good illustration of this.
Similar initiatives will increase in number in all centres.
lastly, 2010 is expected to see the transformation
© istockphoto
of our InrIA-transfer subsidiary to improve the pen-
etrative strength of our start-ups by helping them to
create products with wider distribution.
HIgHlIgHtS 2009
22 July 14 septeMbeR 6 octobeR 9 noveMbeR
Latin america the French National INrIa and the European Centre for
during the colibri conference, radioactive Waste Microsoft research and advanced training
inRia signed an agreement Management agency research in scientific computation (ceRfacs)
with the federal university (andRa) and inRia signed a renewed and inRia announced the creation
of Rio Grande do sul in partnership agreement on digital the agreement of a joint laboratory to meet
brazil to include its computer simulation in particular. this is a on their joint the challenges of high-performance digital
science institute within fundamental area for simulating laboratory in simulation, often the only approach
Grid’5000. changes in radioactive waste saclay for 4 years. possible for analyzing complex systems.
stored underground. see p. 54. see p. 54.
08 InrIA AnnuAl report 2009

9. gIvIng InnovAtIon a Boost IN EuroPE
inRia is a stakeholder in eit ict labs, one of the three
Knowledge and innovation communities selected
on december 16 by the european institute of innovation
and technology (eit) initiated by the european commission.
“The objective of EIT ICT Labs is to strengthen the European
industry’s position in an economically strategic domain,
namely services and applications linked
with tomorrow’s information society,” says
© istockphoto
Jean-Pierre Banâtre, director of european
partnerships.
“This major initiative, lasting for between
12 and 15 years, draws on the synergy
between research, education and innovation to create
researchers conditions conducive to the emergence of companies
What will computing research capable of taking a place on the global stage.”
look like in the future? eic ict labs is deployed across five geographical sites
(berlin, eindhoven, helsinki, paris and stockholm) and
M. C. the addition of computer science to the pres-
has 23 partnerships with ten manufacturers, six research
tigious higher education and research establish-
organizations and seven universities with a leading
ment, the Collège de France, this year, was a major
position europe-wide, as well as innovation centres (certain
advancement with symbolic resonance. this event
competitiveness clusters in france). the sites in Rennes
marks the recognition both of computer science as
and sophia antipolis are also involved in this initiative.
a discipline in its own right, and that of its increas- “We’re hoping for direct effects in the form of business and
ingly substantial contribution to other sciences. this job creation. More than this, the research activity of EIT ICT
recognition is accompanied by the target of securing Labs will benefit the whole of society by tackling major
computer science its rightful place in education. It topical subjects such as health, the city of the future and
is currently an option in the science syllabus post- the problems of energy, environment and climate change.”
16 years of age. It is our duty to get involved in the
training of mathematics teachers, who will be tasked
with teaching this subject. this work has got off to a
successful start in Sophia Antipolis.
this recognition also backs up the comprehensive,
cross-disciplinary approach we have adopted in trend, with our erC prize winners, our cross-border
our strategic plan to meet the major challenges teams and, most importantly, (and a source of pride
of our time. the cooperative aspect of our work is in this eventful year), with the success of the eIt ICt
therefore liable to be consolidated not only within labs project. A fine project to build wholly oriented
large-scale projects supported by the institute, but towards europe and social concerns.
also under more substantial joint ventures like the
new Alliances. the role of researcher will take on
a more european dimension, with more integra-
tion and coordination. We are definitely part of this
10 noveMbeR 24 noveMbeR 2-4 deceMbeR 10 deceMbeR
INrIa and the Collège INrIa signed an INrIa organized, with INrIa and the french institute
de France created an agreement with six the french Ministry of higher for agricultural and environmental
annual chair in computer african partners establishing education and Research, engineering, ceMaGRef, created
science and computational the creation of a joint virtual the university of paris 1 and a joint project team, fluminance.
sciences. Gérard berry laboratory called the international the Max-planck institute, it is original in that it combines the
is the first holder of this chair. laboratory for Research in the 7th conference on the institute researchers’ skills in image
see p. 21. computer science and applied knowledge internet, berlin 7. analyzis and processing with
Mathematics (liRiMa). see p. 16. those of ceMaGRef’s researchers
see p. 55. in fluid mechanics.
09

10. ReseaRch centRes
Eight centres
at the heart of
the INRIA system
the centres, which are firmly established in the local
landscape, are a gateway (access, path) for
their partners to all of the Institute’s skills. We take sensor for
embedded
a closer look at the year’s key initiatives. systems.
lille GRenoble
CoMMErCIaL INdustrIEs a BooM IN EMBEddEd
the InrIA-Industry meetings, soFtWarE
which took place in lille in June research into embedded software
on the topic of commercial is a strong point of the centre
industries, were given a warm and the partnerships that we’re
reception. the format adopted developing with St Microelectronics
was well matched with the and the CeA (French Atomic
expectations of manufacturers energy Commission) are at the
in the sector, which are taking heart of the regional dynamic
a growing interest in r&D on this topic. this is a rich field for
issues. We retained a highly research, as well as being crucial for
practical approach, manufacturers, as the programming
with demonstrations offered of multicore architectures - a major
by all InrIA centres. this event component of our research into
is a high point of our efforts embedded software - is the key
(concerning manufacturers), to their competitive future. this year
which aim to build a genuine we launched 10 projects on the
community between researchers subject, as well as the integrative
demonstration of and manufacturers at both research centre pIlSI together with
a virtual store at a regional and national level. our partners.
the inria-industry
Max dauchet, director of the inria François sillon, director of the inria
meetings in lille.
lille – nord europe research centre. grenoble – rhône alpes centre.
Rennes
a WINdoW oN thE BraIN
the neurinfo platform, launched with our partners from
InSerM (national Institute for Health and Medical research),
the university of rennes 1 and the university Hospital Centre,
is intended for the study of inflammatory and degenerative
brain diseases. It stands out due to its triple use, in research,
clinical applications and for industry, for example in the testing
of drugs. our researchers add innovative tools to neurinfo
for the acquisition and utilisation of images and the management
of databases. In the long term, we’re planning to insert
the irm, core of the neurinfo platform, financed the platform into european research infrastructures.
by a state-region project contract together with Patrick Bouthemy, director of the inria
a significant contribution from inria. rennes – Bretagne atlantique research centre.
10 InrIA AnnuAl report 2009

11. laying the first
the walls feature
stone of the
the ideas of the
icst campus.
paris sub-office.
© eurecom
sophia antipolis
ICst: BENEFICIaL CaMPus
the result of extensive work, the launch of the
ICSt campus unites local academic players around
themes that are key for InrIA (network, health,
environment and usage). Its formative role is
beneficial for everyone, providing increased visibility,
shared involvement in major projects such
paRis-RocquencouRt
as the oIn (national interest operation) ecovallée
and the development of a coherent training
INrIa EstaBLIshEs ItsELF
offering. the campus will also house one of the sites
IN thE hEart oF ParIs
of the eIt ICt labs project, bringing together partners
With this paris sub-office, present in our department.
the centre will be more Gérard Giraudon, director of the inria sophia
able to develop scientific antipolis – méditerranée centre.
relationships with its
paris-based partners.
nancy
the offices on Avenue
GEttING youths
d’Italie are home
to the joint teams with INtErEstEd IN sCIENCE
the pierre et Marie Curie our researchers have made
and paris-Diderot major efforts to interest young
universities, the École people in science. In partnership
normale Supérieure with the Academy of nancy-Metz,
de paris and the CnrS they have given 28 conferences in
(French national Centre secondary schools and contributed
for Scientific research). to the success of the Mathematics
this sub-office is also olympiads. In a major first, nearly A Day with a Scientist initiative.
a strategic component 80 researchers welcomed one
for hosting the paris site or two students to their team for laying the first
of the eIt ICt labs project an entire day to introduce them stone of the
and the It Innovation to their job. the Science Festival saclay plateau
and research Centre for was also a big event. We were construction
project.
Free Software (Cirill@paris), present there in the lorraine
with which the Institute stations and trains with the Sillon
is involved. lorrain project, which was
© plein sud/m. lecompt
antoine Petit, director of the inria selected by the ministry.
paris – rocquencourt centre. Karl tombre, director of the inria
nancy – grand est centre.
boRdeaux
MaJor VIsIBILIty IN aEroNautICs aNd sPaCE saclay
the le Bourget Show was one of the high points of the year. As part sharING thE aMBItIoNs oF thE saCLay PLatEau
of the show, we participated in inviting the Aerospace valley competitiveness this new building, which will bring together
cluster, in which we are closely involved and with which we have the lrI and InrIA teams, gives concrete
around ten projects addressing modelling, simulation, visualisation and form to the partnership between the digital
high-performance computing, which are also specialities of the centre. sciences players of the Saclay plateau.
At this event we played a pivotal role It also reflects the commitment of the Institute
© région aquitaine/a. gilber
between the local and national and its academic partners to building
levels by bringing in demonstrations the research excellence park Digiteo, of which
from other InrIA centres. they are the co-founders, and their joint
Along the same lines, we’re preparing involvement in the campus of the Saclay plateau.
InrIA industry meetings that these new districts will be given a european
will take place in 2010 in Bordeaux dimension by hosting a portion of the paris-region
and then toulouse. site of the eIt ICt labs project.
demonstration by the iparla team Claude Kirchner, director of the inria Michel Bidoit, director of the saclay – Île-de-France
at the inria-industry meetings. Bordeaux – sud-ouest research centre. research centre (in 2009).
11

12. Influence in the
scientific community
© Jason Hawkes/Corbis

14. Influence in the
scientific community

15. Present
everywhere,
for everyone
Like the networks that link
sometimes very distant entities,
INRIA forges links with numerous
academic and industrial partners
in France and abroad. It regularly
ventures out to meet young people
and its fellow citizens. Its scientific
NETWORK results and its technologies enrich
Athéna/Odyssée
The brain
the business and social world.
and its billions
of connections
reconstructed
by imaging.

16. INfluENcE IN ThE scIENTIfIc cOmmuNITy
Indicators in good shape
INRIA assigns its performance assessment to an internal monitoring
unit, which is three years old this year. Its goal is to evaluate the
progress of the Institute’s activities by monitoring certain indicators
covering its scientific production, its management and its transfer
activities. the verdict? A clean bill of health!
“The Institute is on “The monitoring unit, created in 2007, is now an evaluate activity.” these indicators, covering fac-
essential tool. Research is now thought out in terms tors such as the number of publications, research-
the whole achieving
of objectives, whether as part of ers, patents, submissions to the HAL-INRIA open
the objectives the modernisation of govern- archives and european contracts, are all positive.
set under the ment management (organic the institute can be proud of the number of pro-
four-year contract law relating to finance laws - posals that have been accepted by european
signed with the LOLF) or the four-year contract,” programs (around 25%) – testament to the quality of
government, which explains Madeleine Zalkind, in the projects submitted. Activity is also increasing on
comes to an end charge of the INRIA activity monitoring unit. “Work the data transfer side. For example: the amount of
this year.” on the database, which is a real investigatory software submitted to the Agency for the protection
task, serves to calculate the indicators needed to of programs (87 copyrights in 2009) has risen by 14%
ERC: A vINtAge yeAR IN 2009 SpEEdIng up ThE dISSEMInATIOn oF scIeNtIFIc ResuLts
This year, INRIA researchers have hAl and has strongly urged its
once again had their projects praised researchers to submit their articles to
by the European Research council. the platform. furthermore, the 7th edition
marie-france sagot was named as of the conference on the knowledge
the winner of the “senior researchers” Internet was held in December
category and received a €2.5 million this year at the sorbonne, together
grant for her innovative project with the support of the ministry for
in the mathematical, algorithmic Rapidly disseminating the result of higher Education and Research, the
and biological study of symbiosis. their research is a priority for scientists. university of Paris 1 and the max-Planck
The close relationship between To this end, in 2004, INRIA signed the Institute. “This is recognition of INRIA’s
different species could potentially Berlin Declaration, which committed involvement in open access in France
lead us to revisit the notions of health, the major signatory organizations to and worldwide,” notes Jean-Jacques
our relationship with the environment working towards the direct, open and Millet, representative of scientific
and even the concept of space and free communication of all scientific and technical information at the
the individual. knowledge (an initiative supported Institute and head of the conference’s
francis Bach (see page 43) and by the ANR and the European science organization committee. “The French
Pierre-yves Oudeyer were winners foundation). The Institute has since session provided an opportunity to
in the “junior researchers” category teamed up with the cNRs (french reflect on the future of HAL and speak
and received a five-year grant of National centre for scientific Research) about its transformation into a national
€1.5 million. to promote the open archives platform shared-governance platform.”
16 INRIA ANNuAL RepoRt 2009

17. compared to 2008. As for the principal indicator of
scientific production from the Inria team-projects
(quantity of “internationally recognized scientific
15,000
submissions and 32% of scientific
22
publications” calculated on the same basis for the publications entered into hAl.
past ten years), it is constantly increasing and rose
from 4,034 in 2008 to 4,351 in 2009.
“An analysis of the indicators shows that only the
distribution of the Institute’s financing has changed project-teams created
compared with the forecasts of the four-year con- in 2009.
tract,” says Madeleine Zalkind. “Whereas, initially,
an equal contribution was expected from the
government, Europe and industrial contracts,
the share from the government, via the new A REwARdEd cAReeR
National Research Agency (ANR), and Europe
increased, while the share from industrial contracts gérard huet received the prestigious award from the
European Association for Theoretical computer science
decreased.” INRIA has taken note of this develop-
(EATcs Award) in Rhodes on July 9 in recognition of
ment and is now focusing its attention, particularly
an illustrious career in fundamental computing research.
within competitiveness clusters, on sMes with a
This researcher, a member of the Académie des sciences
major potential for innovation.
and the Academia Europaea, is notably responsible for
a variety of work in the field of formal verification. This work
includes the design of the verification assistant coq, currently
used to ensure the reliability of programs intended for
applications including air transport and financial transactions.
COnTRACTuAl
INcoMes 2009 (IN %)
A best-seLLeR In RObOTICS
6 six INRIA researchers contributed to the Springer Handbook
of Robotics, the 2008 best-seller of the scientific publisher
11
springer in the engineering category. This book, which looks
back at 50 years of research and the social and ethical
40 implications of this field, received two awards from the
Europe Association of American scientific Publishers: the Award
ANR and other in Engineering & Technology and the Award for Excellence
43 state funds in Physical sciences & mathematics.
Businesses
miscellaneous
17

18. INfluENcE IN ThE scIENTIfIc cOmmuNITy
Software development
plots a new course
INRIA is currently turning its attention to the production of completed software programs
to improve their impact in scientific and industrial circles. the implementation of a new
organizational structure for software development is already bearing fruit and opening up
new prospects. stéphane ubeda, director of technology development, tells us more.
In-Situ Over the last few years the Institute
The Wild platform has been aiming to enhance software
is a shared
working environment development. what stage are things
comprising a at today?
32-screen interactive Stéphane ubeda. three years ago, we began a
wall. Using simple
revision of our policy in order to improve the matu-
gestures, it is possible
to move an image, ration stage for software developed by research
zoom in on a detail and to encourage its use by a larger number
or show documents of researchers and industry players. our labour
to all participants.
power has grown thanks to the recruitment of
engineers, the creation of experimentation and
development services (seD) in each research
centre and management at a national level.
At the same time, we have organized software
development actions (ADt). these are initiatives
that bring together seD engineers and researchers
as part of a technology development program.
It’s a large-scale structured approach. this system
is now firmly in place and is beginning to bear
fruit. As a result, we have around 60 ADts and are
beginning the third call for project tenders.
gEnOuEST bIoINFoRMAtIcs pLAtFoRM
what are the effects of this new
The Genouest platform is a resource platform is attached to the symbiose
organizational structure?
centre for biology laboratories. bioinformatics team, which
S. u. thanks to this policy, we have reasserted
It is now IsO 9001 certified, IBisA* has a direct link with biologists.
the value of the role played by engineers. seDs
labelled and a part of the Renabi As a result, Genouest was
national network of bioinformatics chosen by INRA to develop the are now seen as dynamic places for the training
platforms. It develops tools for bioinformatics section of the pest of young engineers. Around 100 of them have
managing large bulk data such genomics program. One already worked in these structures since 2007. the
as the Biomaj software, a flagship of its tasks is hosting a specialised R&D culture acquired during their stay at INRIA
product developed together with database on aphids, AphidBase, will be an asset in their professional lives and a
INRA. It also actively participates which is used as a source benefit for the industry that will employ them later
in the implementation of information of baseline information around on. ADts also offer a visibility that encourages
systems required due to the larger the world. projects with common interests to come together.
volume of data on living species. For example, cardiosense3D (a major initiative
Another advantage is that the *National life sciences platforms. on the digital modeling of the heart) now uses
18 INRIA ANNuAL RepoRt 2009

19. Vgate: a full-scale 3D immersion platform at INRIA Grenoble Rhône-Alpes.
the sofa platform (created by an ADt dedicated form on the intelligent home “The ideal
to medical simulation algorithms). this fosters the is currently in the making. this
is to have
wider use of software programs. will unite actions relating to
a limited
home help, the intelligent
what prospects lie ahead? office and energy conserva-
number of large
S. u. today our priority is to combine certain tion. It’s a way of breaking
platforms
actions in order to reduce the number of opera- work down into its constituent covering growth
tions, while at the same time enlarging the base elements but also provides topics that
of teams participating in each one. the aim is to an opportunity to encour- are capable
increase the effect of the resources and personnel age the emergence of new research topics. of uniting various
made available in order to obtain more complete For example, current research combining robot- projects.”
software programs and increase the impact of ics and the home is undoubtedly an approach STéphane Ubeda, director
results. We will also be uniting development efforts that should be addressed more widely given its of technology development
around major challenges facing society. A plat- promising prospects.
MulTI-AnTEnnA coMMuNIcAtIoN
oN tHe HoRIZoN
New radiocommunication standards are banking on multi-antenna
transmission, which enhances the performance of mobile phones
and laptops. The Radio platform – financed by INsA (National Institute
of Applied sciences), the Rhône-Alpes region and INRIA – enables the
creation and simulation of devices operating on all sorts of standards
(Wi-fi, umTs, lTE) in order to fine-tune their performance and power
consumption models and adapt the protocols. using this, it is possible
to shorten the design cycle for new-generation devices, which is
an advantage for the platform’s industrial partners such as Orange
labs. “The platform is also the strong point of a European project
on the planning of the future fourth-generation networks that began
this year,” says Jean-Marie gorce, leader of the swing team.
“Our expertise in modeling is also being put to use as part of a joint
laboratory with Alcatel-Lucent.”
19

20. INfluENcE IN ThE scIENTIfIc cOmmuNITy
Familiarising schools
with digital sciences
Aware of the loss of interest among youths in research and mathematics,
INRIA is stepping up its efforts in liaison with teachers and academics in order
to help primary and secondary school students learn more about Icst.
this is paving the way for computing to enter into the school curriculum.
“INRIA has a role to play in disseminating digital the sophia Antipolis centre. INRIA is also involved
sciences among the general public, as well as in the Digital universities plan in partnership with
more specifically among stu- the unisciel and unit university groupings. It runs
dents and their teachers, who the Fuscia project, the aim of which is to improve
themselves have little training in the accessibility of educational resources in Icst.
this discipline,” notes Yannick the virtual reception office, which opened this
le Thiec, head of the general year, has enabled 200 students from secondary
public communication project. schools and preparatory classes to directly con-
INRIA has for years been campaigning for digital tact researchers in order to prepare their personal
Since 2008, INRIA has been sciences to be introduced into school syllabuses. supervised work (tpe) and personal supervised
a partner of the Ministry consequently, it is delighted at news that these initiative work (tIpe).
for National Education in
disciplines will be entering secondary schools from
the Mathematics Olympiads.
2012 as an optional subject in the final year of gAInIng MORE vISIbIlITY
science. the research centres have made a major this support in the teaching of Icst complements
contribution to this development by providing the business awareness activity that the Institute
training aimed at mathematics teachers, includ- has been carrying out for a number of years,
ing the algorithmics course offered this year by notably through collaborations with academies.
InRIA fIlMS oN uNIveRscIeNce.tv
Eight videos explaining digital sciences to the
general public have been chosen to be shown
on universcience.tv. This weekly updated Internet
television site was launched at the end of 2009
by the Palais de la Découverte and the cité des
sciences. INRIA is a partner of this new media
resource dedicated to sciences and technologies
and accessible to all users.
The Open-Vibe film made in 2009 shows how
to directly control a computer using thought.
It will be available on universcience.tv
20 INRIA ANNuAL RepoRt 2009

21. Lillosciences in Lille. This event,
organized by the INRIA Lille – Nord
Europe centre and the University of
Lille 1, was one of the seven national
winners of the Science Festival
2009 call for project tenders. At all
INRIA centres, researchers actively
participate in this public event.
A MAjoR step FoRWARD FoR
COMpuTER SCIEnCE TEAChIng
the collège de France and INRIA have
created a five-year “computing
and Digital sciences” chair. gérard berry,
a world-renowned researcher and a
member of the Academy of sciences and
the Academy of technologies, will be the
first holder. We asked this leading computer
In 2009, the INRIA Lille – Nord europe centre signed sciences educator two questions.
an agreement with the Academy of Lille, bringing whY IS ThE CREATIOn Of ThIS ChAIR A SpECIAl EvEnT?
the number of agreements nationwide to six. each
The creation of this chair establishes the discipline as an
of the eight centres regularly makes arrangements
independent science and marks its recognition by the
for students to join the teams or researchers to
other sciences. This is only right, as with 29% of global R&D,
speak at the establishments.
this discipline currently offers the biggest growth prospects.
In the long term, INRIA is also contributing towards
The chair also allows a highly varied audience to be reached
the creation of a digital scientific culture fund. thanks to radio and Internet broadcasts. for example, my first
since 2004, it has been running a popularisation course was downloaded tens of thousands of times.
site called Interstices that now has 246 contributors
and is this year offering special entry for second-
whY dO YOu plACE A MAJOR EMphASIS On
ary school students. It is involved in the publica-
ThE nEEd fOR COMpuTER SCIEnCE TO bE TAughT
tion of popularisation documents, such as the
In SECOndARY SChOOlS?
DocSciences issue on digital sciences and life
To prepare for the future and develop individuals who are
sciences. At each of the centres, events such
active participants in the information society, it is essential
as the science Festival have finally provided an
to teach this discipline very early on in life. computer science’s
opportunity for a major initiative to be carried out
entry into the collège de france has provided an opportunity
aimed at the general public.
to make the teaching of the science that underpins digital
technologies rather than their usage a priority in primary and
secondary schools.
“Being visible
on the Web is
essential for the
attractiveness of
75%
of mathematics
teachers at the
100,000
visitors have attended INRIA events.
both a university
10,000
Academy of Nice
and a research organization have taken the
algorithmics training
and, more generally, for offered by the INRIA
disseminating a country’s sophia Antipolis centre. students have visited
scientific and industrial INRIA this year or
attended courses given
thinking.” by researchers at
Patrick ramBert, head of the Fuscia project educational establishments.
21

22. © Aldo Sperber/Picturetank
in action
Research

24. Research
in action

25. Securing
the future with
green sciences
Mathematics and computer science are
today decisive in understanding environmental
issues (agronomics, climatology, energy).
These disciplines help us to devise and
develop essential tools for responding
to the major challenges of our time: energy
ENVIRONMENT savings, health, finance, industrial design
Digiplante and the emergence of a safer, more
Modeling
the impact of intelligent and more usage-focused Internet
climate change generation.
on plant growth.

26. REsEaRch IN acTION
Nano-D
Modeling nanoscopic
objects using Samson
software.
Gamma
Visualization of different Clime
speeds around a Falcon plane. Air quality forecast.
Smart research sible that the Institute’s responsiveness could
eventually be restricted. It seemed useful and
important to implement an organizational
through
structure that would facilitate the coordi-
nation of teams and skills and would be
more suited to their geographical dispersion.
coordination
The aim was also to adapt to developments in
the institutional framework of research, which
often require collective responses to requests
for project tenders by european structures or
the National Research Agency. This improved
after INRIa was created in 1967, little had changed in the coordination is also one of the objectives of
way research was organized. The new organizational the new Alliance of Digital Sciences and Tech-
structure introduced in 2009 is expected to enable the Institute nologies (Allistène), bringing together the Con-
ference of the Heads of French engineering
to respond better in a collective, coordinated and rapid Schools (CDeFI.), the French Atomic energy
manner to the increasingly complex and multidisciplined Commission (CeA), the French National Insti-
problems facing researchers. tute for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Con-
ference of university presidents (Cpu), INRIA
and the Institut Telecom.
What was the idea the number of project-teams rose from 87 at
behind reorganizing the end of 2000 to 169 at the end of 2009, plus How will research be run from now on?
research? around 20 teams in the evaluation process. C. P. Five main fields have been defined
Claude Puech (Direc- Relations between research teams were around four main activities (modeling, pro-
tor of Research Depart- previously established very spontaneously, gramming, communicating and interacting)
ment). The main aim was whenever personal relations sprang up or and one application field (life and environ-
to achieve improved efficiency, particularly meetings between researchers took place, ment sciences). In each field, a deputy
because of the considerable growth in the for example at conferences. The increase scientific director is supported by a com-
Institute’s workforce. In the space of 10 years, in the number of teams meant it was pos- mittee of five to seven people with in-depth
26 INRIA ANNuAl RepoRT 2009

27. 3,150
researchers work within
eight centres of the INRIa
distributed in all france.
SuStAiNAble eNviRoNmeNt: IMpROVINg ThE cOORdINaTION
Of REsEaRch EffORTs aNd MakINg ThEM MORE VIsIblE
“INRIA has skills in the majority areas for the consistency of work. The first concerns
of cross-discipline themes green IT and the development of more resource-
in sustainable development,” friendly software, communication protocols,
explains isabelle Herlin, who operating systems and compilers. The second core
participated in a working group work area is sustainable towns and ambient
on the subject. No less than intelligence, including the development of sensor
65 project-teams contribute to this topic, in various networks (for observing and monitoring), software
sectors: energy (green computing and ITER (for measuring actions or managing networks)
project), transport (road traffic modeling and and tools that facilitate teleworking. The final core
control etc.), sustainable towns, health, ecology area, which is cross-departmental, brings together
and the environment (plant, ocean and air quality work in information and communication science
modeling, etc.). To achieve better coordination and technology (IcsT) that “serves” sustainable
of scientific work and an improvement of its impact, development: energy, transport, environment
the Research department identified three core and ecology.
knowledge of the field and its different to a strategic project that the Institute wants
facets. Together, they explore the main chal- to focus on in keeping with its strategic plan
lenges, coordinate the scientific community and the milestones identified in this plan.
in their field and initiate new collaborations Research at INRIA: 8 research centres
between researchers from INRIA’s various (Rocquencourt, Rennes, Sophia Antipolis,
centres or between the Institute’s teams and Grenoble, Nancy, Bordeaux, lille and
outside parties. Cross-departmental subjects Saclay), 2,800 researchers, 174 INRIA project-
such as high-performance computing also teams, 25 teams, 20 Collaborative Research
benefit from this improved visibility. Actions, 3 exploratory Actions, 6 large-Scale
This new management structure has proved Initiative Actions, and 19 Technology Devel-
very useful in working towards the creation opment Actions.
of new industrial and academic strategic 1. CDEFI: Conference of Directors of French
partnerships. For example, it has enabled us to Engineering Schools.
2. CPU: French Conference of University Presidents.
respond to recent demands in the field of sus-
tainable development by quickly identifying
the skills concerned. It is also more attentive to
the emerging subjects raised by researchers
with the aim of initiating new scientific fields.
ePS: A MICRoBIoloGY pReDICTIoN Tool
Are the current tools suitable? The ability to predict the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food enables
C. P Yes. exploratory actions foster the emer-
. consumer safety to be more effectively guaranteed. The collaborative research
gence of new subjects that constitute a action Eps (statistical projected Eco-microbiology), coordinated by Pierre Del
departure from the traditional approaches. moral from the alea team, develops sophisticated statistical tools for improving
Collaborative research actions encourage the predictions made on the basis of microbiology models. These tools produce
synergies between teams and support a reliable estimate of the model’s parameters, while also factoring in the multiple
research efforts that require the involvement sources of errors associated with the experimental handling necessary to test
of researchers from several disciplines, or the model. after millions of virtual counts and hundreds of hours of computing,
even several organizations. large-scale ini- the specific filtering methods can satisfactorily estimate the probability, for
tiative actions aim to give a particular scope example, of locating a can of food that carries a health risk before its use-by date.
27

28. REsEaRch IN acTION
FIelD: ApplIeD MATHeMATICS,
CoMpuTATIoN AND SIMulATIoN
You find a lot of INRIA mathematicians “automation”). Thanks to these cross-
and computer code developers discipline skills in computing, optimization,
in this field: 35 teams in total, or statistics and control, they are also led
around 500 people. These researchers work to collaborate with many other colleagues
in close collaboration with their counterparts within INRIA.
from other scientific disciplines (physics, In the future, the challenge for these teams
biology, materials science, sciences of the will be the growing complexity of the
universe), with whom they develop specific problems to address, with an increasing
applications. To do so, they write equations, volume of data to handle, models from
beRNARD eSPiAu,
analyze them and find numerical schemes highly diverse origins needing to be
DepuTY SCIeNTIFIC
DIReCToR, “FIelD: for conversion into computer programs. combined and ever-more advanced
ApplIeD MATHeMATICS, Based on this modeling, they simulate computing resources conducting billions
CoMpuTATIoN systems and, for some applications, go of billions of operations per second,
”
AND SIMulATIoN”
as far as controlling them (in other words, which will need to be adapted to.
Financial crisis: head of the Mathfi project-team. “Partner
banks are adapting our algorithms to their
mathematicians
specific needs and take their own decisions
about risk hedging.”
to the rescue? HeDGiNG RiSkS
Interdependence of the markets, lack
of regulation and badly hedged risks (in
financial mathematics is a real challenge for mathematicians. particular for the well-known subprime
The development of increasingly complex products and the mortgages) were the initial cause of the
crisis. The global economy is founded on
emergence of new markets for derivatives linked with energy, these risk exchange techniques, which
commodities, climate and even pollution require specific require increasingly sophisticated software
modeling, advanced mathematical analysis and efficient programs.
So what can mathematicians do in this
computational methods. context? “I think that it is necessary to
enhance the research activity, and con-
tinue to develop the mathematical tools
The financial crisis in 2008 took the entire world to better handle model uncertainty, sud-
by surprise and made life rather difficult for den fluctuations and risk control, with con-
mAtHFi PRojeCt-teAm mathematicians. “The objective of the soft- stant computational concerns,” responds
7 peRMANeNT MeMBeRS ware Premia that we’re developing is to set Agnès Sulem.
12 pHD STuDeNTS up a technology watch These researchers’ daily activities con-
3 poST pHD for numerical problems sist of analyzing and controlling random
toSCA PRojeCt-teAm related to the evaluation processes. They develop sophisticated
10 peRMANeNT MeMBeRS and hedging of financial algorithms to address pricing of finan-
8 pHD STuDeNTS derivative products,” cial derivatives and to evaluate their risk
1 poST pHD explains Agnès Sulem, hedging.
28 INRIA ANNuAl RepoRT 2009