INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES DE RENNES

Their core work

INSA Rennes is one of France's elite public engineering schools (Grandes Écoles), combining graduate-level engineering education with applied research across materials science, electronics, computer science, and robotics. Their H2020 portfolio reveals labs working on perovskite-based optoelectronics and photovoltaics, high-performance computing architectures, haptic interaction systems, and structural resilience engineering. They contribute specialized experimental and computational expertise to large European consortia — often as a third-party research unit embedded within broader institutional frameworks like EUROfusion. Their strength lies in bridging fundamental materials research (nanocrystal synthesis, thin film fabrication) with device-level applications (solar cells, LEDs, energy harvesters).

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2014-2018), INSA Rennes focused on solar cell efficiency and stability (GOTSolar), structural engineering (XP-RESILIENCE), and embedded system design (CERBERO), reflecting traditional engineering school strengths. From 2019 onward, their portfolio shifted decisively toward advanced perovskite materials for optoelectronics beyond solar — including LEDs, visible light communication, and polariton logic — while also expanding into haptic interfaces, exascale computing, and IoT energy harvesting. The trend shows a lab ecosystem maturing from component-level photovoltaics research into multi-functional perovskite device platforms and human-computer interaction.

INSA Rennes is deepening its perovskite expertise toward non-solar applications (LiFi, logic circuits) while building capacity in exascale computing — expect future proposals combining smart materials with computational design.

How they like to work

INSA Rennes has never coordinated an H2020 project and participates roughly equally as a funded partner (7 projects) and as a third-party contributor (8 projects), suggesting their labs are often brought in for specialized technical tasks within larger institutional arrangements. With 309 unique consortium partners across 34 countries, they operate in broad, diverse consortia rather than tight recurring clusters. This is a reliable specialist contributor — easy to integrate into large teams, unlikely to compete for coordination, and well-connected across European research networks.

Extensive European network spanning 309 unique partners across 34 countries, driven largely by participation in major consortium projects like EUROfusion. Their reach is broad but not concentrated — they connect across many institutions rather than maintaining deep bilateral ties.

What sets them apart

INSA Rennes combines materials science fabrication capabilities (perovskite nanocrystals, thin films, inkjet printing) with strong computing and systems engineering — a rare combination in one institution. Unlike pure research institutes, their engineering school DNA means they focus on manufacturable, application-ready solutions: roll-to-roll printing, flexible substrates, IoT-scale energy harvesting. For consortium builders, they offer a versatile French partner that can cover both the materials experimentation and the computational modeling without needing two separate institutions.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DROP-IT
  Largest funded project (EUR 387,875) combining lead-free perovskite synthesis with inkjet printing for flexible optoelectronics — their most complete materials-to-device research.
• IMAGINE
  Highest single-project funding (EUR 628,550) in cognitive robotics, showing INSA Rennes can attract significant resources beyond their materials science core.
• PeroCUBE
  Bridges perovskites into lighting, LiFi communication, and high-throughput manufacturing — signals where their perovskite work is heading commercially.