strategic plan for research and innovation - École Polytechnique de ...

STRATEGIC PLAN
FOR RESEARCH
AND INNOVATION
Committed to Progress / 2011-2016

Index
Contributions............................................ 4
Introduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mission and vision .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Context and challenges .................................... 7
Action strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Strategic direction 1....................................... 8
Strategic direction 2....................................... 9
Strategic direction 3...................................... 10
Strategic direction 4.......................................11
Strategic direction 5...................................... 12
Polytechnique’s spheres of excellence......................... 13

4 Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2011-2016
Contributions
Members of the Strategic Planning Task Force
Co-ordination:
Gilles Savard
/ Dean, Research and Innovation
Patrick Desjardins
/ Professor, Department of Engineering Physics
Carl-Éric Aubin
/ Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Catherine Beaudry
/ Professor, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering
Caroline Boudoux
/ Professor, Department of Engineering Physics
Augustin Brais
/ Director, Office of Research and Centre for Technological Development
Robert Corthésy
/ Professor, Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering
Basil Favis
/ Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Clément Fortin
/ Director, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Nicolas Godbout
/ Professor, Department of Engineering Physics
Jean-Jacques Laurin
/ Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
Dominique Orban
/ Professor, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering
Samuel Pierre
/ Professor, Department of Computer Engineering
Céline Roehrig
/ Advisor to the Dean, Research and Innovation
Réjean Samson
/ Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
François Soumis
/ Professor, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering
Jean-Yves Trépanier
/ Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

5
Introduction
/ Gilles Savard, PhD, Dean of Research and Innovation
Committed to Progress presents the strategic directions chosen by the
Polytechnique community in order to face a newly globalized and highly
competitive research environment in which universities are expected to
have a growing impact on society. This plan is not a fast, opportunistic
response to recent paradigm shifts. Quite the opposite; it is born of an indepth
deliberation on the part of our community. This reflection is solidly
built upon Polytechnique’s mission, vision statement and values, and the
element of training holds a central place in it. Supported by the Task Force
for the Strategic Planning of Research and Innovation, this plan is the
outcome of a process that we have sought to make open, inclusive and
transparent. It has been validated on an ongoing basis by Polytechnique's
main authorities and by our partners, particularly the Comité consultatif
de l’École Polytechnique (Polytechnique Montréal advisory committee—
COCEP). This ambitious project meets the standard of excellence
maintained by our faculty, our students and our staff.
Committed to Progress will guide Polytechnique’s actions at a time of
increasing globalization, during which governments, funding agencies
and public authorities are making research and innovation a core element
of their initiatives to support economic growth. As a designated player
in this growth, Polytechnique must now demonstrate its contributions
to society. It must become even more involved in key areas of local and
national competition and commit to consolidating the valorization of
research results. Polytechnique must also be a model of responsibility and
ethics. It is not sufficient to simply meet these requirements—we must be
at the forefront; we must be a leader.
Committed to Progress demonstrates that Polytechnique is resolutely
determined to remain among the leading engineering faculties in
Canada and that it wishes to continue to increase the magnitude of its
positive impact on society. This impact can be measured using several
criteria: the quality of the researchers and innovators we train, the
importance of our innovative and breakthrough research projects, and
the establishment of visionary strategic partnerships. This impact can
also be measured by our openness to society’s needs, which translates
into our community’s responsible social commitment.
The general strategic objective of our 2011–2016 plan revolves
around these five themes: Training, Research, Partnership, Social
Commitment and Responsibility. This objective is:
To have a measurable impact on 21st-century society by means
of training highly qualified personnel and by conducting,
disseminating and valorizing innovative research and
development work.
Today, this plan enables the establishment of a framework of reference
to guide Polytechnique’s actions, in particular those of the Research
and Innovation Directorate, in order to support Polytechnique’s
research mission and to face today’s challenges. It also highlights
the importance of the well-structured organization of our spheres
of excellence in research, and of differentiating our approaches
depending on the type of research in question, whether sector-based
or supportive.
I wish to sincerely thank all the people who contributed to developing
this plan. Your rigour and your investment in the values of our
institution are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your commitment!

6 Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2011-2016
Mission
and Vision
The mission
As an institution of higher learning, Polytechnique Montréal’s mission is
to:
• provide high-quality engineering training at every level, with a focus on
human values;
• carry out relevant, high-level research as the basis for high-quality
training at the master’s and doctorate levels that takes into consideration
the needs of industry and society;
• wield intellectual and social influence, concretely achieved through
interactions with external communities both at home and abroad.
The flagship of engineering in Québec, Polytechnique Montréal is also one
of the largest engineering training and research institutions in Canada.
True to its mission for over 135 years, Polytechnique has trained more than
38,000 engineers, developers and researchers. Polytechnique contributes
to major discoveries and technologies in every sphere of engineering, and
its accomplishments are disseminated and admired across the world.
Polytechnique is a key player in the area of engineering and innovation,
and a sought-after partner for many innovative businesses, both in Québec
and elsewhere in Canada, as well as in the rest of the world. Since its
founding, Polytechnique has been an institution resolutely engaged in its
community.
The vision
Polytechnique is a university institution that trains world-class engineers
and researchers, and is internationally renowned in that capacity; it is
solidly rooted in its field, where it is recognized for the quality and added
value of its training at all levels of higher education, as well as for its
active role in technological, economic and social development. It relies
on:
• its ability to innovate at every level of teaching and research;
• the intensity of its partnerships with industry;
• the efficiency of its management processes.
Polytechnique defines itself as a leader—an institution that, in addition
to excelling in all its activities, contributes to transforming approaches in
the field. Polytechnique is a leader that, through its graduates, research
projects and partnerships, has a tangible and lasting positive impact on
its milieu.
The flagship of engineering in Québec, Polytechnique Montréal
is also one of the largest engineering training
and research establishments in Canada.

7
Context and
challenges
The environment for training highly qualified employees and research
is constantly changing in Québec and Canada. And with good reason:
businesses are facing unprecedented workforce challenges, seeking
to recruit employees who are highly competent in both the scientific
and technical fields, but also as agents of progress and as leaders who
can integrate into a milieu that is rapidly changing. Consequently,
Polytechnique is determined to maintain and strengthen its training of the
highly qualified workforce that society needs.
The Stratégie québécoise de la recherche et de l’innovation (Québec
Research and Innovation Strategy—QRIS) has now explicitly placed
research and innovation at the core of a province-wide system of
innovation. Governments are asking universities to play an increased role
in key areas of competition, to get involved in society, to consolidate the
valorization of research results and to establish major partnerships.
In the same vein, government practices in regard to research funding have
markedly evolved over the course of the last 10 years. While programs that
encourage the pursuit of free and fundamental research still exist, their
financing is stagnating despite the increased number of professors active
in research in Québec. At the same time, we are seeing a proliferation of
programs aiming to strengthen priority areas that pertain to innovation
and technology-transfer challenges. In this regard, institutions are being
asked to contribute financially to mounting major projects which they
must then prioritize based on their institutional research plan.
Lastly, universities are rightfully being expected to set an example in terms
of sustainable development, social involvement, ethics and governance.
Polytechnique wants to reaffirm its intention to remain a model of good
governance and responsibility.
Action
strategies
Committed to Progress is the overarching theme of our strategic plan. Polytechnique aims to have a measurable impact on 21st-century society by
means of training highly qualified people and by conducting, disseminating and valorizing innovative research and development work.
Polytechnique is focusing on five complementary strategic directions in order to maximize the impact of its actions:
1. Training researchers and innovators, agents of progress at the global level, who are capable of transferring their knowledge to society.
2. Conducting innovative research that has a major impact on 21st-century society.
3. Building visionary strategic partnerships.
4. Strengthening Polytechnique’s commitment to, and leadership within, its communities, both geographic and intellectual.
5. Acting responsibly and ethically.

8 Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2011-2016
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION 1
Training researchers and innovators,
agents of progress at the global level,
who are capable of transferring their
knowledge to society.
Polytechnique is recognized for the quality of its graduates’ training.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many of them hold strategic positions
in Québec, Canada and elsewhere in the world. In a society that is relying
on a more creative and entrepreneurial population, Polytechnique must
continue to innovate in its training and commit to educating researchers
and innovators to be agents of progress at the global level, who are capable
of transferring their knowledge to society. Essentially, Polytechnique aims
to train the highly qualified workforce that society needs, particularly in
Québec. We are talking about a workforce that is not only competent
in scientific and technical terms, but is also able to quickly affirm its
leadership, read its environment, identify favourable opportunities,
mobilize resources and find innovative solutions.
In addition to training tomorrow’s researchers, Polytechnique wants to
directly contribute to increasing industrial R&D in Québec by educating
workers who can grasp local and global issues and contribute original
solutions. Polytechnique also wants to affirm its status as an international
university, attracting high-calibre students from all over the world.
Our objectives for 2011-2016
■ Offer programs and an educational environment that are
attractive and adapted to stakeholders’ needs, expectations and
ambitions.
■ Recruit high-calibre students and postdoctoral interns.
■ Introduce students to research and innovation starting at the
undergraduate level.
Criteria for measuring our success
■ Quality of graduate students’ education, as recognized by our
partners.
■ Ability to follow the professional development of our graduates.
■ Quality, number and diversity of graduate students and
postdoctoral interns.
■ Level and diversity of funding sources for doctoral students.
■ Number of undergraduate students involved in research
activities.

9
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION 2
Conducting innovative research that
has a major impact on 21st-century
society.
Polytechnique is a leader in Canadian research. Our researchers hold a
very high level of funding, supervise an impressive number of students and
publish in the best journals. Polytechnique professors also play key roles
in the major research networks in Québec, in Canada and worldwide. Our
ambition is to be an institution recognized for its innovative research and
for its impact on society. Our spheres of excellence must be recognized
internationally for the quality of their research and development work.
At a time of the internationalization of research, Polytechnique must
collaborate with the best foreign researchers. We must also encourage
and support interdisciplinary and high-risk research in promising fields,
as well as recognizing that a diversified and high-level research base is
essential for nourishing the development of new knowledge.
Our objectives for 2011-2016
■ Develop a high-calibre faculty and support its research
excellence.
■ Ensure excellence in basic research, encourage interdisciplinary
research in order to stimulate research that leads to
breakthrough technologies, and cultivate an innovation mindset.
■ Strengthen and support the spheres of excellence in leadingedge
fields.
■ Maintain and improve Polytechnique’s research infrastructure.
Criteria for measuring our success
■ Comparative performance analysis of research based on
key indicators: grants, chairs, partnerships, impact factor.
Objective: 95 percentiles in Canada.
■ Impact indicators shared and accepted by our partners.
■ Proportion of professors whose research is funded. Objective:
95%.
■ Level of start-up funding for professors’ research activities.
■ Number of newly funded interdisciplinary studies.
■ Quality of mechanisms and functional structures making it
possible to evaluate, monitor, provide leadership for and develop
the spheres of excellence.
■ Quality of research infrastructures.

10 Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2011-2016
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION 3
Building visionary strategic
partnerships.
As far back as more than 40 years ago, Polytechnique was innovating by
embarking on research projects in partnership with industry. This practice,
which in the past was the private preserve of a few especially avant-garde
institutions, is now part of the research portfolio of nearly all Canadian
universities. In fact, the main Canadian and Québec granting agencies
now place particular emphasis on such partnership projects.
In an increasingly global context, we are now seeing the creation of
research consortiums, multi-university partnerships and multi-sector
collaborations. There is no denying that Polytechnique remains a small
institution, and it cannot hope to compete with organizations or groups
that are 10 or even 20 times its size. Polytechnique also recognizes the
importance of increasingly anchoring its major sector-based spheres of
excellence in industry.
Our challenge for the next few years will be to establish strategic
partnerships that will increase the impact, at all levels, of the research
activities carried out at Polytechnique.
Our objectives for 2011-2016
■ Establish major strategic partnerships.
■ Encourage and facilitate open innovation.
■ Strengthen Polytechnique’s participation in major local and
international projects.
■ Intensify technology transfers.
Criteria for measuring our success
■ Number, scope and quality of partnerships. Objective: 50%
increase.
■ Creation of world-class institutes chosen as part of the Grande
Campagne (major fundraising campaign).
■ Quality of involvement in international research consortiums.
■ Recourse to our infrastructures and expertise on the part of
businesses, particularly SMEs.
■ Business practices facilitated and adapted to open innovation.
■ Quality, diversity and quantity of technology transfers.

11
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION 4
Strengthening polytechnique’s
commitment to, and leadership within,
its communities, both geographic and
intellectual.
In line with its mission, Polytechnique must “wield intellectual and
social influence, concretely achieved through interactions with external
communities both at home and abroad.”
At a time when young people are hesitating to pursue technical or scientific
careers, when major technological issues are giving rise to social debates,
and when society is relying more and more on innovation and technology
to ensure its economic future, it is essential that Polytechnique assume
its place.
We will work to strengthen Polytechnique’s commitment and leadership
within its communities, both geographic and intellectual. We will make
sure that Polytechnique’s contribution to society increases and gains
deserved recognition.
Our objectives for 2011-2016
■ Increase dialogue between Polytechnique researchers and
society.
■ Foster innovative studies that integrate engineering with other
disciplines.
■ Disseminate more broadly the results of research carried out at
Polytechnique, showcase the innovators behind these successes,
and boost Polytechnique’s reputation.
Criteria for measuring our success
■ Implementation of an educational showcase on science and
engineering.
■ Quality and level of participation in organizations devoted to
research.
■ Quality and organization of events involving society and
Polytechnique researchers.
■ Quality and number of financed interfaculty projects.
■ Reputation of Polytechnique researchers.

12 Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2011-2016
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION 5
Acting responsibly and ethically.
Polytechnique acts in a responsible and ethical manner. Recognized for
the quality and effectiveness of its management processes and for its
research governance structures, for many years Polytechnique has also
been a benchmark in the university world for the management of its
intellectual property.
At a time when government bodies must adopt sustainable-development
policies, Polytechnique can count on high-level internal expertise in this
area.
We will work to integrate the principles of sustainable development into all
of our business processes. As proof of our responsibility and transparency,
we will improve our accountability mechanisms and make them even more
efficient.
Our objectives for 2011-2016
■ Continue to improve our research governance practices.
■ Optimize and enrich mechanisms for planning, monitoring and
accountability.
■ Improve our efficiency and agility by co-ordinating our efforts,
consolidating our resources and simplifying our processes.
■ Be a benchmark in intellectual-property management.
■ Adopt good sustainable development practices.
Criteria for measuring our success
■ Polytechnique’s leadership in research governance.
■ Capacity of the Commission de la recherche (research committee)
and of the leadership structures of our spheres of excellence to
actively contribute to research development at Polytechnique.
■ Efficiency of the Bureau de la recherche et Centre de
développement technologique (Office of Research/Centre for
Technological Development – BRCDT).
■ Recognized practices for exemplary management of intellectual
property.
■ Integration of sustainable-development approaches into our
processes.

13
Polytechnique’s
spheres of excellence
Polytechnique has developed spheres of excellence and critical mass
in research in several strategically important fields.
Polytechnique has consolidated three sector-based spheres of excellence
in highly competitive fields: aerospace and transportation; multimedia,
information technologies and telecommunications; and life sciences
and engineering. These three areas are of key strategic importance for
Montréal and Québec. They are supported by a well-structured sectorbased
environment and by the local presence of numerous SMEs, major
originators, and research consortiums in which Polytechnique actively
participates.
Polytechnique researchers have also established major strengths in three
theme-based areas of excellence corresponding to transversal and often
supportive technologies: leading-edge materials and nanotechnologies;
systems science and engineering; and energy, environment and sustainable
development. The applications of these theme-based research spheres
touch on many fields in which technologies are often still in their early
stages. Polytechnique researchers are members of numerous national and
international research networks in these areas.
Polytechnique affirms its desire to showcase innovation in training,
interdisciplinarity and open innovation, and commits to acting with a
sustainable-development perspective.
As described in Strategic Direction 2, Polytechnique aims to strengthen
and support these spheres of excellence. We will implement the required
mechanisms to ensure their development and monitoring, and to identify
promising fields for the future. We will also devote major efforts to
increasing leadership in these areas, in order to maximize synergies.
Field-based spheres
Theme-based spheres
Aerospace and
transportation
BY INNOVATING IN
ENGINEERING TRAINING
Leading-edge materials
and nanotechnologies
Multimedia, information
technologies and
telecommunications
Life sciences and
engineering
. . .
BY FOSTERING
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
AND OPEN INNOVATION
. . .
WITH A SUSTAINABLE-
DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE
Systems science and
engineering
Energy, environment
and sustainable
development

Research and Innovation Directorate
Polytechnique Montréal
Case postale 6079, succursale Centre-ville
Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7
Telephone: 514 340-4990
Fax: 514 340-4992
E-mail: dri@polymtl.ca
www.polymtl.ca/recherche/en