CESI’s Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility strategy

CESI initiated a sustainable development approach in 2009, and has since been committed to deploying it in order to become a major player in the dissemination of values, technologies and behaviors related to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. 
CESI’s strategy is at the heart of both its teaching and research missions. While CESI trains its students to be responsible professionals, aware of the ethical and social issues in their field, and to make a positive contribution to society, research and innovation support CESI’s objectives. The CESI LINEACT laboratory, together with the Research and Innovation department, are committed to four areas of work.

In this page :

Area 1: Mobilizing scientific expertise to support social changes

Action 1.1: Transdisciplinary research themes

CESI LINEACT has set itself the goal of contributing to the sustainable development of individuals and organizations, in particular through and thanks to the integration of digital technologies. To achieve this, CESI LINEACT integrates two transdisciplinary research teams involved in joint projects. While the “Engineering and digital Tools” team has expertise in digital technologies, the AI “Learning and Innovating” team draws on the paradigms of the Humanities, Social Sciences and Management to study the technological and organizational object, its impact on learning and innovation processes, and its spin-offs on the development of individuals, companies and territories. This trans-disciplinary approach covers issues ranging from the acceptability and adaptability of technologies to the core technologies of intelligent systems, such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Action 1.2 : Digital technology raises awareness of environmental impacts

By supporting the research and training of teacher-researchers and, more generally, the world of research (doctoral students, research engineers) in the challenges of ecological transition for sustainable development and the creation of new professions for a low-carbon or even decarbonized society.

CESI LINEACT conducts research into the control and optimization of production energy processes, building energy management, digital twins and human-system interactions, with a view to making its platforms more widely accessible – while reducing the number of physical twins required. It pools its high-performance computing resources and makes extensive use of digital services.

Action 1.3 : transition of application domains

CESI LINEACT is focusing on the application areas identified in the France 2030 roadmap: sustainable cities and innovative buildings, digital health, digital education, cyber security, decarbonization of industry in the context of industry 5.0, circular economy, energy production and storage. This transition will go hand in hand with training needs linked to the skills and professions of the future.

Area 2 : A rigorous policy of controlling the impact of its activities in order to meet environmental challenges

Action 2. 1 : Controlling needs

CESI LINEACT is committed to developing and integrating concepts into systems, through its digital activities and work on the development of human-system interaction interfaces such as digital twins, AR/VR, robotics and research into the affordance of devices to reduce the need for terminals and hardware, a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Interaction interfaces and their rapid integration into training devices have no geographical limits. High-quality training devices will therefore be available without the need to travel, and therefore without GHG emissions. In addition, these approaches are being applied to CESI’s own platforms in Rouen and Nanterre, with waste and materials being recycled and reused.

Action 2.2 : Targeting environmental challenges

Thermal management of buildings and production facilities, as well as activities developed in the field of Lean and BIM, contribute to better control of environmental costs linked to the logistics and organization of construction projects, as well as to the reduction of construction site waste.

Area 3 : CESI LINEACT develops interactions between science and society through actions aimed at the cultural, economic and social worlds, shares its knowledge with the general public and takes part in social debates, particularly through open science

Research with and for society implies strong interfaces between society and CESI.

Action 3.1: Products for the cultural, economic and social world

CESI LINEACT has produced a practical guide to work-study teaching for vocational courses, and is continuing, in partnership with those who place their trust in CESI, to produce documents for the business world and the general public.

Action 3.2 : A strong project culture linked to the local area

The unit has a strong project culture. It has equipped itself with research support processes and services to facilitate and accompany responses to a reasonable number of calls for projects, the positioning of which is in line with the unit’s trajectory. It regularly applies to national AAP/AMI calls for proposals, enabling it to continually adapt to the challenges facing society. It is a regular winner of national projects that it coordinates. CESI LINEACT is also a regular participant in local authority projects, and is involved in more than 20 competitiveness clusters.

Action 3.3 : A quick transfer into training

Researchers at CESI LINEACT are involved in training activities and the design of teaching content at national level. Technological resources are shared between training, research and innovation activities. CESI LINEACT conducts research into innovative teaching methods and participates in their implementation in training systems.

Action 3. 4 : Sharing knowledge with the general public and taking part in social debates

One of CESI LINEACT’s raisons d’être is to disseminate scientific knowledge for training purposes. It was therefore natural to set up a proactive policy of sharing this knowledge with the general public on a national scale, aimed at a variety of audiences (students, high school pupils, companies, the general public, round tables, etc.).

Area 4 : Applied, integrative research at the frontier between the digital and physical worlds, serving specific territorial needs

Action 4.1 : A bridge between upstream research and implementation in society

CESI LINEACT collaborates scientifically with laboratories recognized for their involvement in upstream research, and also publishes with international laboratories. It participates in or coordinates collaborative research projects with laboratories and players in society, while also carrying out value-adding activities.

Action 4.2 : A strong territorial network

CESI LINEACT is present on 23 CESI sites where teaching requires research activities, and receives significant support from local authorities. It also plays an active role in scientific mediation activities organized in the regions. It coordinates or participates in innovation and transfer projects involving local companies. It is a member of local clusters in its fields of activity. It welcomes local players to its platforms as part of an open-platform approach.

Action 4.3 : Remarkable, high-performance platforms

CESI LINEACT has outstanding, high-performance platforms at several of its sites. It has set up technical teams to maintain and operate these platforms. It uses the leverage of its response to AAP/AMI to finance new platforms or upgrade its equipment. Together with its supervisory body, it oversees the operation of its resources.

Action 4.4 : Digital twins for shared use of CESI LINEACT equipment

CESI LINEACT develops research activities on the theme of digital twins and human-system interaction. It is massively digitizing the physical platforms used in conjunction with teaching to enable virtual access to all its members. The three outstanding platforms now have their own digital twins. CESI LINEACT enables massive use of the digital twins of its equipment by students enrolled in CESI training programs.

Area 5 : A structured approach to scientific integrity values

Action 5.1 : Open Science roadmap

CESI LINEACT has set up an approach based on the voluntary participation of its members in order to take part in the national open science policy, echoing the 2016 digital republic law, the research code and the second phase of the national plan for open science 2021-2027. This preliminary approach has resulted in 36% of publications from the 2017-2022 period being open access on HAL. The subject of open science will be the subject of an incentive policy to reach 100% of its publications in open access on platforms such as HAL or arXiv by 2030.

Action 5.2 : Scientific integrity, deontology and ethics

CESI LINEACT has joined the scientific integrity approach proposed by the Hceres (Ministry of Research) through its official adherence to the Hceres “French Charter of Ethics for Research Professions” (commitment by the Board of Directors that CESI will implement this charter voted by the General Meeting in February 2022). CESI LINEACT has drafted a “white paper” on the CESI Commitment to Responsible Research and Innovation, which puts the precepts of the charter into practice in the daily professional life of CESI employees. CESI is committed to developing training courses with the Human Resources department, which will be offered to those involved in research during the 2nd half of 2024. In addition, CESI LINEACT has equipped itself with high-performance anti-plagiarism software and a guide to research tools, in particular to identify grey-zone publishers and predatory conferences.