Member Article

Ecole Polytechnique 80M Euro Campaign launched in UK

The École Polytechnique Charitable Trust is launching a fundraising campaign in the UK which aims to hit 80 million Euros over five years, reaching out to individuals and companies.

The funds will enable the prestigious French engineering school, École Polytechnique (also known as l’X), to accelerate the implementation of its ambitious strategic plan.

Contributions will make l’X a global leader in impactful research and strengthen its ability to tackle important societal issues. Through this campaign, donations will support French and international students and academics, fund state-of-the-art equipment, and finance the creation of innovative start-ups.

In addition to corporations, the fundraising campaign also targets Alumni, Masters and PhD Graduates as well as their families, and Friends of l’X. Donors can choose to benefit from a new naming program, in recognition of their generosity.

4 Challenges, 3 Campaign Axis and more than 20 High Societal Impact Projects

This new fundraising campaign supports more than 20 projects addressing economic, climate, health and safety challenges, following three campaign areas:

• HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
• ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION
• REPUTATION AND OUTREACH

Projects within higher education and research include; applying big data solutions to health and economics, conceiving technologies for smart environments and the sustainable development of tomorrow’s urban life, developing new international research partnerships with internationally renowned academics, and developing new training programs to attract high-potential international students at Bachelor and Graduate Degree levels.

Projects in entrepreneurship and innovation include; creating a space for prototyping innovative objects with high entrepreneurial potential – this space will be open to all students, PhD candidates, entrepreneurs from the school’s accelerator or incubator – and offering X-Grant Silicon Valley Scholarships, mentoring scholarships for students with a start-up project in connection to Silicon Valley.

Projects for reputation and outreach include; developing high-level international cooperation with strategic partners across 5 continents – including MIT, Lausanne and Zürich Polytechnics, and Tsinghua University – through Double Degree agreements, joint research projects or scientific collaborations, creating scholarships of excellence, and supporting diversity programs.

“With an ambitious fundraising goal, this Fundraising Campaign will allow École Polytechnique to support projects and programs that strengthen its reputation in France and throughout the world. The Ecole Polytechnique Charitable Trust will work alongside the École Polytechnique Foundation to make this new fundraising campaign a success,“ says Amine Bel Hadj Soulami, President of the Ecole Polytechnique Charitable Trust and Global Head of Research and Sustainable Investments at BNP Paribas.

“With this new campaign, and with strong support from the French State, l’X will pursue a strategy of growth and brand development in a highly competitive international context, in order to increase its market share among the best international students in science and technology,“ says Jacques Biot, École Polytechnique President.

“École Polytechnique is at a decisive turning point in its history. Our pre-campaign fundraising efforts already represent over 36 million Euros in gifts and pledges. I would like to thank the current and future donors, those who will commit to help the École Polytechnique Foundation will, through their gift, help change the world“, says Xavier Huillard, Campaign Committee Chairman and CEO of Vinci, the largest construction company in the world.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by École Polytechnique .