Software and complex systems in the Val d'Oise

to help fight against identity theft. Other challenges are being taken up by SMEs in the Val d'Oise such as Ateliers Laumonier, who develop measurement, command-control and communications systems based on microcontroller architectures.
Industrial groups and SMEs in the industry work together in close partnership with public laboratories in the département.

Four higher education institutions in the Val d'Oise concentrate on business in the software and complex systems business: the University of Cergy-Pontoise and three research laboratories, the ENSEA, EISTI and EPMI.

1 PFC: Trust Platform
2 SIC: Critical Infrastructure Security
3 MOBISIC: Crisis management for Critical Infrastructure Security

The CEEVO promotes a number of strategic sectors of excellence in the Val d'Oise, working in partnership with networks of high-performance companies involved in these areas of business, most of which participate in the competitiveness cluster initiative.

VAL D'OISE INSTRUMENTS AND MEASUREMENT NETWORK (RMVO)
 The main goal of the RMVO, recognised as a Local Productive System by the DIACT
(Delegation for the Development and Competitiveness of the Département), is the development of companies located in the département working in the measurement and instruments sector in any field. The work undertaken by this network is carried out with the aim of:

• strategic watch, assisting all companies involved in the manufacture of scientific and technical measurement and control instruments;
  
  
• collaborative work, in particular in the field of metrology, for representation at professional shows in France and abroad; for example at the « Mesure Expo » exhibition each year in Paris;
  
  
• working with higher education, in particular the University of Cergy-Pontoise, which already has courses training students for professions relating to instrumentation and measurement (professional degree);
  
  
• access to a website to raise the profile of member companies and promote the network.
  
  www.rmvo.com

BRINGING TOGETHER RESEARCHERS AND COMPANIES ONCE A YEAR
 As part of the efforts by the CESE 95 (Val d'Oise Further Education / Company Forum) to bring further education institutions and SMEs and SMIs closer together in the département, the CEEVO is heavily involved each year in the Val d'Oise Research and Innovation Week. A wide variety of events are on offer locally during the course of the week: lectures, visits to factories, companies and research laboratories, business meetings, and so on. Free of charge and open to all, this event is an opportunity to get to know some of the companies and laboratories in the digital industry as well as the progress of projects which are part of the System@tic Paris Région competitiveness cluster.
One recent edition focusing on competitiveness clusters, offered a series of lectures which enabled participants to learn about different technological risk management tools, presented by the EISTI, and their application to logistics and production management for complex smart systems, presented by the team of researchers common to the ETIS, ENSEA, UCP and the CNRS.

SOME OF THE COMPANIES LOCATED IN THE VAL D'OISE
SAGEM with its two r&d centres : Sagem Télécommunications in Cergy-Pontoise (800 researchers and technicians)
ATELIERS LAUMONIER
AUTOLIV ELECTRONICS
CHUBB SECURITE
DASSAULT
EADS - Seca, specialising in plane engine maintenance
JOHNSON CONTROLS
Sagem Groupe SAFRAN,
THALÈS
SECURITAS
SILLIKER
TYCO ELECTRONICS
TYGA TECHNOLOGIES

• UCP: University of Cergy-Pontoise
• ENSEA: Graduate School for Electronics and Applications
• EISTI: International School of Data Processing Sciences
• EPMI: School of Electricity, Production and Industrial Methods
• ESSEC: Graduate School of Economics and Business
• ITIN: Graduate School of Computer science, networks and information systems

• ISPL: Institut Polytechnique Saint-Louis
  
  Public laboratories:
  
  
• ETIS (ENSEA-UCP-CNRS): Signal and Image Processing Laboratory
• ECIME (ENSEA-UCP): Instrumentation and Electronic Modelling Laboratory
• ECS (ENSEA): System Command Laboratory
• ESTI: EARLY and LAPI research laboratories
• ITIN: centre of research and innovation

• AUTOLIV (security systems)
• ERICSSON (3G/4G telephony)
• JOHNSON CONTROLS (embedded systems)
• VALEO (engine control systems)
  Sagem Groupe SAFRAN (defence security)
• DASSAULT AVIATION (systems)
• THALÈS Simulation (security controls)

In order to consolidate its position in the increasingly competitive world economy, France has formed regional competitiveness clusters with a worldwide or national vocation. The aim is to bring together companies, research centres and training bodies to pool skills. They follow the industrial policy already developed in neighbouring Germany and Italy. Each cluster based in the Val d'Oise opens up the département to the world economy.

 Aeronautics, health, information and communication technologies, transport, energy, finance, and more. The list of the 71 projected clusters, drawn up by the CIADT (Interministerial Regional Planning and Development Committee) covers all the major sectors of business throughout France. With the financial backing of the State, the listed clusters also benefit from tax breaks and reduced social contributions. In addition, local authorities may offer exemption from local taxes.

 Six of the existing or aspiring world-class competitiveness clusters directly involve companies located in the Val d'Oise: ASTech Paris Région, Cap Digital Paris Région, Finance Innovation, Medicen Paris Région, Mov'eo and System@tic Paris Région.

 50% of the companies involved in the competitiveness cluster are SMEs and three of the industrial groups in the cluster are located in the Val d'Oise (Sagem, Dassault and Thalès). There are some 2 300 private researchers in the département working in these fields. The public laboratories in the Val d'Oise are also involved: ETIS1, ECIME2, SUPMECA3, SATIE4) This sector is particularly strategic for the Val d'Oise, since it is at the crossroads of several fields of excellence in the département, including the automotive and aeronautics industries.
Several collaborative projects in the System@tic Paris Région cluster are based in the Val d'Oise including:

• Ter@ops with the ETIS laboratory (UCP/CNRS/ENSEA) as partner;
  
  
• URC with the University of Cergy-Pontoise as partner;
  
  
• PFC (Plate-formes de confiance) avec SAGEM Défense Sécurité, dans le cadre du marché applicatif sécurité & défense.

The PFC project is complemented by the SIC and MOBISIC projects for security measures for critical infrastructure and crisis management for general-public events.

OPEN SOURCE: PARTNERS IN THE VAL D'OISE 

 As to freeware, the Open source project is part of the System@tic Paris Région cluster. 80 SMEs have been involved with the project since its inception, along with graduate schools and publishers, including as Unilog, IBM, Cap Gemini, and others. The potential for growth for freeware is over 40% per year. In France, the market is forecast at 3 billion euros in 2010. Open source is enabling the Île-de-France region and its 400 specialist companies to become a real Open Source Valley, «Europe's economic, scientific and
academic hub for freeware». The higher education institutions in the Val d'Oise (ESSEC, EISTI, ITIN) and several SME-SMIs working in the software sector in the Val d'Oise were founding partners for the project.

1 ETIS: Signal and Image Processing Laboratory
2 ECIME: Instrumentation and Electronic Modelling Laboratory at the Ensea
3 SUPMECA: Paris Higher Institute of Mechanics
4 SATIE: Information and Energy Technology Systems and Applications Laboratory

CHALLENGES FOR SAGEM DÉFENSE SÉCURITÉ IN THE SYSTEM@TIC PARIS RÉGION CLUSTER 

PFC: protecting diplomatic secrets and privacy
The PFC project (Trust platform) was born out of the difficulty in providing office IT which can both process information with a high level of security and interact as widely as possible with the outside world.

A typical example is that of an ambassador wishing to use a single computer to log on to Google and send confidential diplomatic telegrams. The aim of PFC is thus to combine reliability in terms of security with use of computer terminals and servers. In order to do this, the operating system (Windows, Linux, etc.) is « encapsulated » by a controlled operating system which will act as a trusted enclosure guaranteeing data protection and access to networks. This project relates to many applications, including private ones such as the confidentiality required for medical files.

SIC (Critical Infrastructure Security) for all
SIC is a project aiming to create Secure « Critical » Infrastructures such as those which ensure the operation of public transport (airports, railway stations, etc.), health infrastructures and networks guaranteeing the sustainability of living essentials such as water, health, electricity and telecommunications. The SIC is based on the development of systems and sensors which enable crises to be managed correctly in all locations where there may be large numbers of people. A group of researchers with Sagem

in Cergy-Pontoise has already tested applications such as
videosurveillance and access control using biometrics.
MOBI SIC, closely related to the SIC project, aims to define the « ideal command post » which would have been required to manage « 9/11 » or which should be operational when a crowded stadium collapses in the middle of a match or when a factory explodes. Who needs to communicate, and how? Who should be involved? MOBI SIC aims to create a mobile, modular system which can be deployed rapidly to make one-off events safe or intervene in local crises. MOBI SIC researchers are working to fine-tune solutions like these in their laboratories in order to identify the best possible crisis management for unforeseen circumstances.


«THE AREA OF SYSTEMS AND FREE SOFTWARE IS PARTICULARLY STRATEGIC FOR THE VAL D'OISE AS IT IS AT THE CROSSROADS OF SEVERAL FIELDS OF EXCELLENCE IN THE DÉPARTEMENT, INCLUDING INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES RELATING TO SECURITY (BIOMETRICS, ETC.), THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AND AERONAUTICS SUB-CONTRACTING. »