AgroParisTech Innovation
September 16 2025Originally created as a non-profit association under the French law of 1901, AgroParisTech Innovation has been pursuing its mission since 1972 to contribute to the national and international reputation of the institution by supporting the research and innovation projects of its faculty members, as well as training through research. In 2025, with a view to ensuring its long-term future and growth, AgroParisTech decided to evolve this structure, with the same purpose, towards a more agile status better suited to its ambitions: that of a simplified joint-stock company (SAS) with a single shareholder. AgroParisTech Innovation SAS is the structure dedicated to setting up and implementing research contracts between the institution’s teams and external partners, generally from the business world, who are looking for innovation and cutting-edge scientific expertise.
Excerpt from AgroParisTech Innovation’s Articles of Incorporation
The purpose of the Company is:
- To contribute to the national and international reputation of AgroParisTech by promoting the research and innovation activities of its teacher-researchers and training through research,
- To assist in national and international cooperation between academics and professionals for these activities,
- To manage research and continuing education contracts,
- To participate in the management of organizations whose purpose may contribute to the reputation of AgroParisTech.
A Brief Look at AgroParisTech Innovation
AgroParisTech Innovation is the Contract Research Organization (S.R.C.), a subsidiary of AgroParisTech, wholly owned by the institution. Its mission is to promote and support innovation and technology transfer activities originating in AgroParisTech’s laboratories, making it an essential tool for the institution’s commercialization, innovation, and technology transfer policy, alongside the Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Technology Transfer. To fulfill its missions, it manages a large number of research contracts, both fundamental and applied, which are carried out in AgroParisTech’s research units.
From the very first contacts, AgroParisTech Innovation organizes the contractual relationship between a private or public partner wishing to implement a new technology, innovative methods, or complex experimentation, and the scientific team subsequently responsible for carrying out the research project. Upstream, it provides valuable assistance in setting up projects and negotiating contracts with partners, particularly in terms of legal, strategic, financial, and intellectual property support. It then mobilizes all the necessary resources (human and material) to carry out the research projects under the scientific authority of an AgroParisTech researcher or research professor. Downstream, it is involved in commercialization initiatives that may arise from the exploitation of the results produced.
AgroParisTech Innovation is also a key player in AgroParisTech’s InnLabs, scientific and technical cooperation platforms: it is responsible for their day-to-day operation and coordination. Based on experimentation, cooperative work, and a plurality of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, the InnLabs aim to prove ideas or concepts (POC), demonstrate feasibility, and also seek and quantify impacts. They are physically identifiable and constitute open, welcoming places that are integrated into their university ecosystem (presence of teachers, students, technicians) and participate in a virtuous circle where the ideas of some enrich the projects of others, and where knowledge, imagination, and technical and scientific skills intersect.
AgroParisTech Innovation in Figures
- 80 individuals, 90% of whom are researchers
- 100 to 120 active research contracts yearly, ranging from €5,000 to €21 million.