Paris-Saclay is a
research-intensive and
business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...
currently under construction in the south of Paris, France. It encompasses research facilities, two French major universities with higher education institutions (''
grandes écoles Grandes may refer to:
*Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician
* Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia
* Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
'') and also research centers of private companies. In 2013, the
Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...
put Paris-Saclay in the top 8 world research clusters. In 2014, it comprised almost 15% of French scientific research capacity.
The earliest settlements are from the 1950s, and this area was subsequently extended several times during the 1970s and 2000s. Several projects are underway to continue the development of the campus, including the relocation of some facilities.
The area is now home to many of the Europe's largest
high-tech corporations, and to the two French universities
Paris-Saclay University (
CentraleSupélec,
ENS Paris-Saclay,
Paris-Saclay Faculty of Science, etc.) and the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
(''
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
'',
Telecom Paris, etc.). The
Paris-Saclay University was ranked 15th in the world in the 2023
ARWU ranking. It was also placed 1st in the world for
Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and 9th in the world for
Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
(1st in Europe).
The goal was to strengthen the cluster to build an international scientific and technological hub that can compete with other high-technology business districts, such as
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
or
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 U.S. census was 118, ...
. This project started in 2006 and is likely to end in 2022. The main part is the construction of the ''campus du
plateau de Saclay The Plateau de Saclay (), also called Silicon Valley Européenne (in English, European Silicon Valley), is located north of Essonne and south-east of Yvelines, 20 km south of Paris. It is bounded by the valley of the Yvette (river), Yvette (''V ...
.''
History
First post-war settlement
Several French national institutions settled on the plateau after the end of World War II. The
CNRS is the first to settle there, headed by
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife, Irène Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were t ...
, who bought the estate Button at
Gif-sur-Yvette in 1946. The following year, the newly created
CEA (the High Commissioner is also Joliot-Curie) to purchase land. The same year,
ONERA
The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...
settles on the plateau in
Palaiseau. The Saclay center was inaugurated in 1952.
At the same time, higher education institutions settled nearby. The
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
is also up in the region in 1955 with the purchase of 50 hectares in the communes of
Orsay
Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris.
A fortifie ...
and
Bures. This Orsay campus brings laboratories of the Paris Faculty of Sciences (later the
University of Paris-Sud
Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...
) and moved to 1956. Other institutions followed with the installation of
HEC in 1964 with its move to the town of
Jouy-en-Josas, then with the arrival of the ''
École supérieure d'optique'' in 1965 on the Orsay campus.
Research centers related to private companies also settled at that time in 1968 with the arrival of the Central Research Laboratory of
Thomson-CSF.
Second wave of settlement in the 1970s

In the 1970s, the
École polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
and
Supélec settled on the plateau,
the first in 1976 in the Palaiseau area, the other in 1975 in the Moulon area. The project had a scheduled time to install other schools soon after. The Moulon farm which currently houses the genetics and plant breeding was restored in 1978.
Institutions on the plateau at this time begin to join together in an ''association d'établissements scientifiques'' (association of scientific institutions, AES) to reflect future developments of the area.
Third wave of the 2000s
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, research centers of private companies settled on the campus. In 2000,
Danone
Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...
chooses to establish a center for
Research and Development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
in the area of
Palaiseau, joined in 2006 by
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...
laboratories, and in 2009 by
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...
which invests €15 million to install one of its expertise global centers. Other projects removal were also studied, including a research center of
EDF, studied in 2010.
Two thematic advanced research are also on the campus, with the creation of ''Digiteo'' and ''Triangle de la physique'' in 2006.
SOLEIL, which creation was decided in 2000 after three years of opposition of
Claude Allègre, was inaugurated the same year, built with a budget of 313 million euros. The project of
neuroimaging
Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...
center
NeuroSpin is launched in 2006 also on the plateau.
The first building constructed specifically for the campus is the ''Pôle commun de recherche en informatique'' (Joint Research Cluster Computing), which was inaugurated in November 2011.
Development projects
The proposed new construction and renovation of campus was launched by President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
who wants to create a "French
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
". The entire project is estimated to three billion euros funding.

The different steps to set up the campus are part of several government operations.
* The ''opération d'intérêt national de Massy Palaiseau Saclay Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines'' is established in 2006. Larger than the campus, it provides for the creation of a science and technology
cluster on the Saclay plateau. It is supported by "
Grand Paris" project which also provides that the campus is accessible by the
future line 18 of the Paris Metro.
* In 2010, the "plan campus" permits an investment of 850 million euros.
* With the debt, a billion is invested. Saclay campus is one of the winners of the « ''initiatives d'excellence'' » project so was awarded another grant of 950 million of euros. 30 October 2012,
Jean-Marc Ayrault confirmed for the future operation of the project Campus Paris-Saclay staffing a billion for real estate transactions designed to bring together institutions, 850 million from ''plan campus'' and additional billion for investments for the future.
In February 2001, the
Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University
University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (, ; UVSQ), also known as Paris-Saclay University (), is a French public university created in 1991, located in the Departments of France, department of Yvelines and, since 2002, in Hauts-de-Sein ...
became a founding member of the scientific cooperation foundation foreshadowing the future campus on the Saclay plateau.
In November 2011, the
Mines ParisTech finally withdrew the project.
Three administratives structures have been created for this project:
* The ''Établissement Public Paris-Saclay'', which is now the EPA Paris-Saclay, chaired by
Pierre Veltz.
* The ''Fondation de coopération scientifique Plateau de Saclay'' is the structure that carries the project. It must unite the various institutions at the university and scientific level. It is successively chaired by
Alain Bravo, Paul Vialle (28 April 2009 to his resignation on 30 March 2011) and Dominique Vernay.
* The ''consortium des établissements du Plateau de Saclay'', which brings together 23 institutions.
Development status
Under construction
The last institutions to move on campus are mainly schools from the
Paris-Saclay University, such as:
*
AgroParisTech in 2021. Particularly, AgroParisTech and
INRAE have a project for the construction of a common building in
Palaiseau. It will include all activities INRA Île-de-France unlocated in Jouy-en-Josas or Versailles
* the
Paris-Saclay Faculty of Pharmacy in 2022
* and the Departments of Chemistry and Biology of the
Paris-Saclay Faculty of Science in 2022.
In service on campus
Institutions that have already moved on campus, such as:
* part the
Paris-Saclay University
**the
École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay (moved in 2020)
**
Centre for nanosciences and nanotechnologies (moved in 2016)
**
Institut d'optique Graduate School (moved in 2007)
**
CentraleSupélec (moved in 2015)
* part of the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
**
ENSTA Paris (moved in 2012)
**
ENSAE Paris (moved in 2017)
**
Télécom Paris (moved in 2019)
**
Télécom SudParis (moved in 2019)
Along with other institutions already located in the cluster, these education institutions are to be merged in
Paris-Saclay University, such as:
* part of
Paris-Saclay University,
** the
Paris-Saclay Faculty of Science, that placed its university 1st in the world for
Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and 9th in the world for
Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
(1st in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
) in the 2020
ARWU ranking.
(on campus since 1956)
** Polytech Paris-Saclay (on campus since 2004)
* part of the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
** ''
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
'' (on campus since 1976)
**
HEC Paris
HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...
(on campus since 1964)
This
Paris-Saclay University was ranked 14th in the world in the 2020
ARWU ranking.
The
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
, formed around the ''
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
'', was ranked 61st internationally by the
QS World University Rankings
The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
2021, 93rd by the
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...
2020, and 2nd by the Times Higher Education Small University Rankings.
Companies established at Paris-Saclay
Town planning

The campus has currently three main areas:
Urban campus area
''Quartier de Moulon''
The area, located in the cities of
Orsay
Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris.
A fortifie ...
and
Gif-sur-Yvette, includes the main campus of
Paris-Saclay University, which has 15,000 students in the area, with its graduate schools ''
CentraleSupélec'' and the ''
École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay'', its
Faculty of Science, its Polytechnic University School and the Paris-Saclay University Institute of Technology. There should then be around 8,100 staff, 5,000 students for engineering schools and 8,000 students only in the university's
faculty of science.
The
French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
is located at
Gif-sur-Yvette since 1946. The area has a dozen research units and service, and also 1,500 people.
It should accommodate several components of the
Paris-Saclay University (earth sciences, economics and management, law and sport) as part of the development in the 2010s, but also several facilities pooled projected by the campus operation (conference center, students and international doctoral students accommodation centers, home business, documentation, logistics).
''Quartier de la Vauve''

The area, located in the city of
Palaiseau, includes the main campus of the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
, the second
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...
of Paris-Saclay, with the ''
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
'', the
ENSTA Paris, the
ENSAE Paris, the
Telecom Paris and
Telecom SudParis.
It also includes the
ONERA
The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...
and the Paris-Saclay University's
Institut d'Optique Graduate School and
AgroParisTech /
INRAE in 2021. The
IPSA aerospace College moved to
Ivry-sur-Seine in 2009.
Other areas
= "Jouy-en-Josas" area
=
HEC Paris
HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...
, associate member of the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
, has been located at
Jouy-en-Josas since 1964.
INRAE has 1,400 people in the area, and facilities for experimentation on livestock and
microbiology
Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...
. An extension of these activities provided for the arrival of more than 300 people in 2012, with the construction of
Biosafety P3 facilities for
virology
Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...
.
= "Orme/Saclay" area
=
It includes the
CEA's
Saclay Nuclear Research Centre, member of
Paris-Saclay University, the Orphée reactor and
SOLEIL in
Saint-Aubin.
= "Nozay" area
=
It includes
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...
in France (former
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...
), in
Nozay.
Versailles Satory area
The
Satory site is located in the immediate vicinity of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
, in the historic heart of the city. At the hinge between the
Bièvre valley and
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles ( new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen ...
, it is divided into two parts. The western part includes Army establishments and companies linked to the defence sector, such as
Nexter Systems
KNDS France (formerly known as Nexter, GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French Government-owned corporation, government-owned arms industry, weapons manufacturer, based in Versaill ...
and
Renault Trucks Defense. It also brings together several players in the field of mobility, with the presence of
IFSTTAR, a public transport research organisation, the
Citroën Racing motor sports team and the Val d'Or circuit, which also includes test tracks. The eastern part is home to logistics and training units of the
Gendarmerie Nationale and the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
, as well as 5,000 housing units for staff and their families.
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines area
As part of the Paris-Saclay project, the EPA Paris-Saclay is being asked to support development operations undertaken by the
Yvelines
Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.[Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles ( new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen ...]
. The rail corridor, which separates the latter in two, constitutes a reserve of space available for construction.
The
ESTACA Paris-Saclay institution moved to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in 2015.
Projects critics
Various extensions of the campus were criticized by environmental movements in the early 1990s who accuse it of reducing the size of the agricultural areas. These criticisms are reformulated in the expansion projects of the 2000s.
Some also criticize a project that promotes the ''
Grandes Ecoles'' too much, especially with regard to the governance of the Campus. The Snesup (''Syndicat national de l'enseignement supérieur'') denounces "a project based on an elitist vision of higher education" and the exclusion of many institutions from the board of directors. The management project initiated by the "campus plan" has also been criticized by local politicians who criticize the state for being the sole leader of the project, or other project stakeholders who criticize the state of exercising too much intervention.
The organization referred to as a
business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...
is also criticized by the actors who doubt its effectiveness or fear that its development would be detrimental to other geographical areas, as in the case of the
University of Paris-Sud
Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...
and the ''
École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay'' leaving towns in the Paris region, or in the case of ''
grandes écoles Grandes may refer to:
*Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician
* Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia
* Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
'' leaving Paris.
See also
*
Paris-Saclay University
*
Polytechnic Institute of Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
*
Plateau de Saclay The Plateau de Saclay (), also called Silicon Valley Européenne (in English, European Silicon Valley), is located north of Essonne and south-east of Yvelines, 20 km south of Paris. It is bounded by the valley of the Yvette (river), Yvette (''V ...
*
Business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...
*
Research-intensive cluster
*
Research park
The following is a list of science park, technology parks and biomedical parks of the world, organized by continent.
Asia
China
Mainland China
* Shanghai Pudong Software Park (Shanghai)
* Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park (''aka'' Zhangjiang Drug ...
*
Science park
A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park", "technopark", "technopolis", "technopole", or a "science and technology park" TP is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters ...
*
List of technology centers
This is a list some of technology centers throughout the world. Government planners and business networks often incorporate "silicon" or "valley" into place names to describe their own areas as a result of the success of Silicon Valley in Califo ...
Bibliography
* ''Plan Campus du plateau de Saclay'', Tome 1, Paris, March 2009, 65 p.
* ''Plan Campus du plateau de Saclay'', Tome 2, Paris, March 2009, 115 p.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris-Saclay
Education in Île-de-France
High-technology business districts in France
Information technology places
Science parks in France
Essonne
Yvelines
Planned developments
Education in France
Science and technology in France