March 2026 ESRFnews

INSIGHT

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and for which the ESRF is one of

the host laboratories . There are also

co - supervised PhD and Master ’ s

positions , from the ESRF ’ s own

programmes as well as others such as

GATES , which is co - funded by the

French government through the UGA

for 24 PhD ESRF projects .

The ESRF is also a founding

member of the GIANT campus .   A

Grenoble - based innovation ecosystem ,

GIANT began in 2008 to bring

together universities , national research

organisations , large international

scientific facilities and industry on

the Presqu ’ île to integrate education ,

fundamental research , technology

transfer and industrial development .

What is the current innovation land -

scape like in Grenoble ?

Today , with a city population in

the region of 150 , 000 , Grenoble is

estimated to have around 40 , 000

jobs in the digital sector , and is

ranked number one in France for

its concentration of jobs in R D

Since the early 2000s more than 750

start ups have been created almost

500 in just the last decade alone

Ekaterina Zaharieva the European

Commissioner for Startups Research

and Innovation said the city is an

example of how innovation is not

only about technology but also about

creating inclusive communities and

improving everyday life for everyone

Jon Cartwright

Which high - tech companies were

attracted to Grenoble ?

Today , the urban region is home

to scores of businesses carrying

out cutting - edge research and

development . SMEs include Xenocs ,

which develops X - ray scattering

tools for materials research , Quobly ,

working on silicon - based quantum

processors , and Renaissance Fusion ,

which pursues novel approaches

to magnetic - confinement

fusion . Much larger companies

include Soitec , a global supplier

of engineered semiconductor

substrates , STMicroelectronics , a

major chip manufacturer , Schneider

Electric , which specialises in

energy management and industrial

automation , and Air Liquide , a leader

in industrial gases and hydrogen

technologies . Many of these , as well

as innovative start - ups , have used or

collaborated with the ESRF – either

individually or through the IRT

Nanoelec programme funded by the

French National Research Agency and

coordinated by the CEA

How else does the ESRF integrate

with local innovation

On top of the IRT Nanoelec

programme and other scientific or

industrial collaborations one of the

key ways is through the partnership

with the Université Grenoble Alpes

This includes the UGA coordinated

HERCULES school which helps

to train PhD students and postdocs

The ESRF and other

facilities and

laboratories on the

Presqu ’ île have

historically been

the centre of

Grenoble ’ s

innovative spirit .

What ’ s a “ capital of innovation ” ?

By 2025 , it is estimated that nearly 85 %

of Europeans will be living in towns

and cities . With demand for services

and the consumption of resources

likely to rise , urban environments will

need to adapt and – says the European

Innovation Council – “ run people -

driven initiatives to find solutions to

societal challenges , such as climate

change , digitalisation , sustainable

growth , or social cohesion . ” Now in

their 11th year , the European Capital

of Innovation Awards recognise places

that have shown evidence of such

initiatives . Past winners or “ iCapitals ”

have been Barcelona , Amsterdam ,

Paris , Athens , Nantes , Leuven ,

Dortmund , Aix - Marseille Provence

Metropole , Lisbon and Turin . This

year , Grenoble picked up the trophy .

Where does Grenoble ’ s innovative

spirit come from ?

Arguably it goes back at least to the

late 19th century , when engineer

Aristide Bergès diverted alpine water

to power his paper mills , and later

to generate inexpensive electricity

for others near Grenoble . But it was

after the Second World War that

Grenoble ’ s fortunes really changed ,

when the physicist Louis Néel – who

would later win the Nobel Prize in

Physics for his studies of novel forms

of magnetism – helped instigate the

transformation of a former artillery

range between the Isère and Drac

rivers into what became known as

the Polygone Scientifique ( now the

Presqu ’ Île ) , with the establishment

of the first branch outside Paris

of the Commissariat à l énergie

atomique CEA which would go

on to specialise in microelectronics

and nanotechnology This was later

reinforced by the arrival of joint

laboratories of the Centre national

de la recherche scientifique CNRS

and by three other groundbreaking

international research facilities the

Institut Laue Langevin the European

Molecular Biology Laboratory and

from the late 1980s the European

Synchrotron Radiation Facility A

collaborative ecosystem was born

Grenoble has been named the 2026 European Capital of Innovation .

‘ The future of urban innovation ’

E S R F