page_title: Grenoble
section_title: Science and engineering
hierarchical_section_title: Grenoble / Education and science / Higher education / Science and engineering
context_page_description: Grenoble is the prefecture and largest city of the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. A significant European scientific centre, the city advertises itself as the "Capital of the Alps", due to its size and its proximity to the mountains.
  Grenoble's history goes back over 2,000 years, to a time when it was a small Gallic village. It became the capital of the Dauphiné in the 11th century. Industrial development increased the prominence of Grenoble through several periods of economic expansion over the last three centuries. This started with a booming glove industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, continued with the development of a strong hydropower industry in the late 19th to early 20th centuries and ended with a post-World War II economic boom symbolized by the holding of the X Olympic Winter Games in 1968.
  The city has grown to be one of Europe's most important research, technology and innovation centres, with one in five inhabitants working directly in these fields.
context_section_description: Grenoble is a major scientific centre, especially in the fields of physics, computer science, and applied mathematics: Universite Joseph Fourier (UJF) is one of the leading French scientific universities while the Grenoble Institute of Technology trains more than 5,000 engineers every year in key technology disciplines. Grenoble's high tech expertise is organized mainly around three domains: information technology, biotechnologies and new technologies of energy.
  Many fundamental and applied scientific research laboratories are conjointly managed by Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble Institute of Technology, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Numerous other scientific laboratories are managed independently or in collaboration with the CNRS and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA).
  Other research centres in or near Grenoble include the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, one of the main research facilities of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (Nuclear Energy Commission, CEA), the LNCMI and the European branch of Xerox Research (whose most notable center was PARC). Leti and the recent development of Minatec, a centre for innovation in micro- and nano-technology, only increases Grenoble's position as a European scientific centre. Biotechnologies are also well represented in the Grenoble region with the molecular biology research center BioMérieux, the Clinatec center, the regional center NanoBio and many ramifications of the global competitiveness cluster Lyonbiopôle.
  Meanwhile, Grenoble has large laboratories related to space and to the understanding and observation of the universe as the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, the Institut de planétologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, the Laboratoire de physique subatomique et de cosmologie de Grenoble, the Institut Néel but also to a lesser extent the Institut des sciences de la Terre (part of the Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble).
  In order to foster this technological cluster university institutions and research organizations united to create the GIANT (Grenoble Innovation for Advanced New Technologies) Campus with the aim at becoming one of the world's top campuses in research, higher education, and high tech.
  The city benefits from the highest concentration of strategic jobs in France after Paris, with 14% of the employments, 35,186 jobs, 45% of which specialized in design and research. Grenoble is also the largest research center in France after Paris with 22,800 jobs (11,800 in public research, 7,500 in private research and 3,500 PhD students).
  Grenoble is also renowned for the excellence of its academic research in humanities and political sciences. Its universities, alongside public scientific institutions, host some of the largest research centres in France (in fields such as political science, urban planning or the sociology of organizations).
caption: Site of European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institut Laue-Langevin and European Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Western end of the Polygone Scientifique
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