ESTER Technopole is pursuing this dynamics and

Europe du Nord
Europe Centrale
Londres
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Bruxelles
Poitiers
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Limoges
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From Paris, by the A20 motorway
Exit 30, “ESTER Technopole”
Nantes
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Milan
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Bordeaux
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From Toulouse, by the A20 motorway
Exit 31, “ESTER Technopole”
Toulouse
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LIMOGES SUD
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ESTER Limoges Technopole
Delegation for the Development of the Limoges and Limousin Technopole
BP 6901 - 87069 Limoges cedex
Tél. 05 55 42 60 00 - Fax : 05 55 42 60 05
ester@ester-technopole.org
www.ester-technopole.org
ESTER Technopole is a member of RETIS (the French network of Science Parks,
CEEI, and Incubators) and of IASP (International Association of Science Parks).
The Technopole is financed by the Limoges Metropole Community Council,
the Regional Council, the General Council, and the Limoges Chamber
of Commerce and Industry.
Written by : Rtech – Designed by : iti Communication – Photo credits : Jacques Charon,Yves Bayard © ADAGP Paris 2007, J.P. Gratien-ESTER Technopole, ENSIL, Miller Graphics.
The Network System
E
L
O
P
N
O
How to get to
ESTER Technopole
S Y S T E M
the network system
Everything a network can provide in terms of
knowledge, research, technology transfer,
and venture.
message
N E T W O R K
a
from the President
T H E
L
« aunching a Science Park is a fascinating project, but it is also
an audacious challenge.
It is a fascinating project because it outlines an economic and social
development which the Limousin territory needs for a confident future.
And it is also an audacious challenge because a project of such a scope
is an ongoing task. Everyday it is adapted, changed, and clarified:
in the competitive race, innovation cannot afford any break !
In less than fifteen years, ESTER Technopole has asserted itself
Conceived by the architects Yves Bayard and
Jacques Charon, ESTER’s original goal was to
establish and create exchanges : its symbolic
spherical architecture actually expresses this
initial vocation.
A network system has been developed inside
this multidimensional, multi-task Science Park.
This network promotes collaborations and
shared resources by initiating and developing
contacts between people :
basic research,
knowledge,
expertise.
These exchanges help develop the concepts
and ideas on which the creation and
expansion of technologies, products, services,
and innovative firms are based.This competitive
spirit is the drive on which each organization
(firms, research laboratories, associations...)
relies to increase its activity. New markets can
thus be found, offering an entire territory
prospects outside its geographical limits.
Since the creation of ESTER, scientific and
economic key-players on the Park have
strengthened their ties and paved the way for
new relationships.
locally and reached the high ranks of the best national
key-players through its commitment to values such as
exchange and synergy. In 2005 the European Pole for
Ceramics and Elopsys (European Pole for advanced technologies in micro-waves, network security, and photonics) were
each granted a ‘Pole of Competitiveness’ label, thus
proving the quality of ESTER’s five fields of competence as
well as rewarding the talents of all the entrepreneurs,
engineers, scientists, and students associated to them.
ESTER
Technopole is pursuing this dynamics and
multiplying its presence and actions in order to reach
the international stage, in Japan, Canada, United
States… It is already the case for technical ceramics.
The European Ceramics Center brings all the local
training and research skills together, and thus assures
Limoges of its leading positing in this field. Moreover,
the relationships with Nagoya and Seto in Japan
encourage the international recognition of our
expertise.
B
ut the dynamics also comes from within. The main
strength of ESTER Technopole is in the firms and
people at its core. Therefore, developing the park,
guiding entrepreneurs and projects, and prospecting
are all essential elements in building ESTER’s network
system.
This
network system is meant to expand on a park
which is as productive as it is protected and respected.
It is also in that spirit that the growth of ESTER Technopole
will be fulfilled. »
Alain Rodet - President of the Delegation
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N E T W O R K
contents
T H E
S Y S T E M
ESTER Technopole’s
Today ESTER Technopole’s sphere is at the dawn of a new era.
It is pursuing its quest for new technologies, new products, and new
processes worked out by men and women willing to contribute to,
and renew, the ongoing development of the Limousin territory.
Starting off
The foundations of ESTER’s unusual and
surprising architecture were laid in 1993, amid
a natural landscape located north of Limoges,
along the Limoges-Paris A20 motorway.
The launch of the Limoges and Limousin
Science Park, with its main building resembling
a spaceship, was then ready. Numerous firms
and research laboratories felt encouraged to
set up under its dome or in a satellite area
around the 200-hectare park.
Conquering
new spaces
After over ten years of exchanging and
innovating, many renowned and promising
sectors of activity have been captured :
technical ceramics, water treatment, human
health, wireless networks, new communication
technologies...
ESTER’s daily efforts are a sign of a constant
desire to serve businesses and economic
key-players.
The park is spreading to welcome the
construction of new buildings, for the
benefit of firms wishing to set up
business and start off new projects.
The main role of the science park is to enable
people to meet and exchange thanks to
efficient management and the opening of
new spaces.
By joining the Science Park, entrepreneurs,
project initiators, and scientists choose to
benefit from the ESTER label as well, which
guarantees an ethical value in gathering all
factors of success in today’s world, such as
research, quality, respect for the environment,
and the central role of human beings in
economic activities.
ESTER,
the network system
The five-branch Star
p2 à 7
p 8 à 17
• Ceramics, Materials,
& Surface Treatments
• Electronics & Telecommunications
• Water & Environment
• Health & Biotechnologies
• Engineering
Getting trained for the
world of tomorrow
Sharing your
projects
p 18
Setting up your
business on ESTER
p 20
At the Science
Park’s door
p 22 et 23
p 19
The areas available in ESTER’s main
building are constantly adapted and
adjusted according to the technical
specificities of its activities.
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T H E
N E T W O R K
S Y S T E M
energy
for development
The ESTER project is obviously in keeping with a desire to expand.
It thus matches the necessary expansion of firms, laboratories, and
engineering schools present on the park, as well as the expansion of the
Science Park itself in continually attracting new activities on its territory.
This is why ESTER has emphasized and promoted academic education,
technology transfer, research, and economic activity from the very beginning.
This is how ESTER’s network of skills has gained
its national and international reputation.
Numerous innovative projects and business
start-ups have been implemented thanks to
the Science Park.
With its symbolic star-shaped architecture in
the background, ESTER extends its branches to
strengthen
professional
ties
between
education, research, and business over
several fields of competence.
Here are the reasons for this success :
This well-managed development matches the
economic and social realities of the region.
ESTER makes the most of the specificities of the
Limousin to expand and find solutions to the
present industrial, environmental, and medical
needs.
Along with a futuristic look at today’s world,
ESTER gives project initiators access to fullyequipped, easy-to-use ergonomic facilities.
These are an advantage to professionals in
need of all the necessary means to develop
their innovative projects.
The ESTER Delegation staff are there to
attract, welcome, advise, and listen to those
wishing to set up on the park.
a constellation
of skills
Ceramics, Materials
& Surface Treatments
Pole of competitiveness :
European Pole for Ceramics
ESTER’s spirit is thus being built up around
five fields of competence :
EngIneering
Health &
Biotechnologies
Numerous welcoming and consulting
organizations, such as technology and
business incubator, Limousin Expansion, and
Limousin Participation support those who wish
to set up and contribute to the development
of the Limousin region and its influence at the
European level.
Water &
Environment
Electronics &
Telecommunications
Pole of competitiveness :
Elopsys
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E S T E R
T E C H N O P O L E
THE FIVE-BRANCH STAR
Ceramics, Materials,
& Surface Treatments
The pole of ceramics, materials, and surface treatments represents the first
branch of the ESTER star and is based on the region’s porcelain manufacturing
history.
Along with its international reputation for traditional and tableware
ceramics, Limoges has found renewed expertise in technical ceramics
and has become the leading independent research center in France.
Thanks to numerous and surprising physical, thermal, and mechanical
properties, technical ceramics are a major alternative to traditional
materials and are present in all types of industry.
This pole includes :
technical and industrial
ceramics.
traditional ceramics.
laser-matter interaction.
wear-resistant coating...
Training tomorrow’s key players
CITRA
Two engineering schools (ENSIL and ENSCI) supply
local and national firms with qualified staff, and
feed the local industry with young entrepreneurs.
The Limoges National Graduate School of
Engineering (ENSIL) offers a course in “Materials”:
multidisciplinary training in technical ceramics
(metals, ceramics, plastics, and composites) and in
conventional and advanced surface treatments.
Over 100 general and multi-skilled engineers are
educated there every year.
The National Graduate School for Industrial
Ceramics (ENSCI) trains engineers specialized in
mineral materials (ceramics, glass and hydraulic
binders – concrete, composites...). Its research
activity is built around two laboratories: GEMH
(Survey Group for Heterogeneous Materials) and
SPCTS (Ceramic Processes and Surface Treatments
Sciences), born out of the partnership between the
University, ENSCI and the French National Research
Council (CNRS).
Transferring technologies
Entrepreneurship
The training activities are complemented by two
technology transfer centers (CTTC and CITRA)
which offer new directions for expansion. They
come up with technological services which enable
manufacturers in aeronautics, mechanics, energy,
and environment to implement new processes or
manufacture new products.Their advanced technical
capacity includes surveys, tests, analyses, and
training courses which guide business innovations
and support local laboratories.
ESTER is deeply attached to the “ceramic heritage”
initiated by the discovery of kaolin in Limousin.
Engineers, technicians, scientists, and creators
are all joining forces to display ceramics techniques
in numerous and unsuspected fields.
Today these techniques are used in biomedicine
(reconstructive and orthopedic surgery), in
aeronautics and aerospace, in optoelectronics
(design of passive electronic components,
optical fibers and components, and antennas),
and in mechanics (anti-wear, anti-corrosion
physical vapor deposition).
The Technology Transfer Center for Ceramics
(CTTC) designs technical ceramics products
through prototypes and pilot production. It is the
worldwide leader in fast, computer-aided prototyping
for ceramics.
The Engineering Center for Advanced Surface
Treatment and Lining (CITRA) focuses on friction
and mechanical wear in order to improve surface
properties of materials.
Long-established porcelain manufacturers like
Haviland, Bernardaud, and Royal Limoges have
renewed their craft by improving design and
production processes. Other manufacturers like
CERIC WISTRA have improved their tools. And
each year technology transfers give birth to new
innovative firms (Sorevi, Cerlase, B.A.T. Graphics,
Ceradrop...).
The European Ceramics Pole (over 250 scientists,
professors, and engineers), created in 2005, and
the European Ceramics Center have created a
network dynamics based on materials and
ceramics R&D with an international reach.
innovating
CITRA
Ceramics are used in designing artificial bones, porous materials
for controlled-release drugs, and surgery material resistant
to sterilization.
Ceramics is also used for new forms of
energy such as fuel cells, which reduce
carbon dioxide emissions.
SPCTS
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E S T E R
T E C H N O P O L E
THE FIVE-BRANCH STAR
Electronics
& Telecommunications
This pole is a combination of a dynamic industry and increasing research.
It also brings together industrial expertise and scientific knowledge in
electronics and optics.
In the Limousin, the electronics sector is in full expansion thanks to
innovation. As for the telecommunications sector, it benefits from the region’s
geographical features : this vast, sparsely-populated area relies on
telecommunications and the important research carried out locally.
This is why this pole includes
various fields :
Optics and optoelectronics.
Microwaves.
Electromagnetic
compatibility.
Networks.
Training tomorrow’s players
The “Electronics and Telecommunications” course
at ENSIL includes both fields in a multidisciplinary
curriculum (signal treatment, computing and
networks, instrumentation, microelectronics...),
which guarantees a multi-skilled application to
numerous sectors of activity. Student engineers can
thus adapt to the business world more easily,
thanks to partnerships between the school and
industrial professionals.
The sector’s vitality owes much to fruitful collaborations between the industry and XLIM Laboratory,
whose 350 teaching researchers, scientists and
doctorate students, divided within five departments, outline local research in terms of computer
science, mathematics, optics, electromagnetism,
and electronics, over the whole region. XLIM also
serves as a scientific base for the Elopsys pole of
competitiveness.
As a joint research unit of the University of Limoges
and the French National Research Council (CNRS),
XLIM extends its applications to telecommunications as well as defense, transports, health, home
automation, and aerospace.
Entrepreneurship
Transferring technologies
With 7000 people, this sector is a major feature of
the Limousin industry and has not reached its
limits yet.When the Elopsys pole of competitiveness
for microwaves, photonics, and network security
was formalized in 2005, it stimulated the region
with an additional dynamics.
CISTEME (Engineering Center for Telecommunications,
Electromagnetism, and Electronics Systems)
complements these research operations and
intensifies existing connections between firms and
the OSA department (Waves and Associated
Systems) at XLIM. In terms of antennas, radars,
electromagnetism,
and
telecommunication
networks, CISTEME offers services which implement
research results into business and technical
prospects.
In Limoges and in the Limousin, electrical, material,
and component manufacturers (Legrand,
Schneider Electrics, Photonis, Sicame, Thalès
Communication, A Novo...) are all working to
strengthen local skills through technological
partnerships.
Thanks to the operations of this technological
resource center, some ESTER firms are currently
testing Internet phone technology under real-life
conditions.
International leaders and promising new talents
enable the Limousin to export its skills and gain
reputation beyond local borders, in fields such as
home automation, wireless networks, network
security, video detection, optics, microelectronics...
ESTER Technopole displays numerous ways of
development in this sector : Legrand designs and
manufactures home automation products at its
SITEL plant ; Axione was chosen to implement the
DORSAL public high-speed network over the
entire territory ; GERAC, which is a subsidiary of
the Thalès group specialized in EMC (electromagnetic compatibility), carries out tests to measure
and control electromagnetic radiation.
innovating
XLIM
The OSA department (Waves and Associated Systems) uses the
properties of LMDS (Local Multipoint Distribution Services).
This wireless radio network offers over distances less than 10 km
capacities identical to that of optical fiber. This technology is a
source of services, such as remote monitoring and
educational broadcasting, already set up on ESTER.
In terms of antennas, the OSA-Radiall partnership has
led Radiall to conduct part of its R&D work on ESTER.
Specialized in wireless networks, Radiall Systems designs
“smart antennas” with a high added value.
XLIM :
OSA Department
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