Who are we?

The 15 Carnot MICA Member Institutions

A network of excellence dedicated to functional materials, surfaces & interfaces

Carnot MICA unites 15 complementary institutions — 7 research laboratories and 8 technical/technology centers (CRT/CTI) — working alongside industry to accelerate materials innovation. Together, they cover the entire value chain: design, formulation, characterization, processes, reliability, scaling-up and industrial transfer.

Thanks to their multidisciplinary expertise, these leading players support nearly 900 companies each year, from SMEs to large corporations, in developing high value-added solutions.

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Our members

A collective strength serving innovation

The 15 Carnot MICA members pool their skills, equipment and technological platforms to offer industry:

Direct access to leading materials specialists
Cutting-edge testing and analysis resources
High-impact R&D partnerships
An agile, results-driven and market-oriented approach

This unique organization ensures rapid, integrated and sector-adapted responses to industrial challenges.

CRT / CTI

CRT/CTI : Accelerating innovation and market deployment

Carnot MICA’s technical centers play a key role in moving from concept to industrial application. With their experimental platforms, testing capabilities and process expertise, they support companies in prototyping, validation, optimization and TRL scaling. Their applied know-how ensures concrete, reliable and rapidly transferable results.

AERIAL

Aerial is a research and technology center specializing in supporting research, innovation, and industrial development projects in the fields of agri-food, freeze-drying, and multisectoral applications of electron beam and X-ray irradiation techniques. Aerial is recognized as a Center of Excellence for radiation processing by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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APESA

APESA supports organisations in their environmental, social and economic transition projects by acting as: their day-to-day regulatory adviser on HSE matters; the lead implementer of environmental and socio-economic transitions; and the catalyst for technological solutions to enhance the value of bioresources. This technology centre is based on three key areas of activity: research, consultancy and training.

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CRITT Materials Innovation

CRITT MATÉRIAUX INNOVATION is a center specializing in the study and characterization of materials and their surface properties. Serving industry, its laboratories (metallography, chemical analysis, mechanical testing, etc.) and its platforms for metal powder processing, cold plasma treatment, and wear analysis enable it to support companies across numerous sectors in their innovative projects.

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HOLO 3

HOLO3 is a Technology Resource Center (TRC) specializing in optical technologies. Its mission is to bring innovative technologies from the laboratory to the industrial stage and to make them available to its partner clients. HOLO3 offers services in three main areas: optical metrology for the design of custom machinery, metrology services, and virtual reality.

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IFTH

IFTH is the leading industrial technology center for the textile and apparel sector in France, serving brands, textile manufacturers, and the broader industry ecosystem to promote growth, sustainable innovation, and the reshoring of activities within the country. It possesses human and technological resources that are unique in France for testing, certifying, innovating, and training. IFTH masters every stage of the value chain, from fibers and yarns to garment manufacturing, with unique expertise in innovative fibers, functionalization, recycling, and eco-design.

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Laboratoires

Laboratories: Exploring, understanding, and inventing the materials of tomorrow

Carnot MICA’s member laboratories provide scientific excellence and a deep understanding of material, interface, and surface phenomena. They develop new concepts, devise original solutions, and leverage state-of-the-art equipment to characterize, model, and design the materials of the future. Their advanced research directly fuels industrial innovation and paves the way for sustainable technological breakthroughs.

BIOS

The Biomaterials and Bone Inflammation (BIOS) laboratory aims to gain a better understanding of bone pathophysiology through cell-cell, cell-pathogen, and cell-biomaterial interactions in inflammatory and/or septic sites, with the goal of developing new functionalized biomatrices for bone filling and evaluating their regenerative potential.

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ICPEES

The Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, the Environment and Health (ICPEES) works on global issues ranging from the synthesis of molecules to the development of the final product for applications relating to energy, the environment or health, and is organised into three research departments: Catalysis and Materials, Molecular and Analytical Chemistry, and Polymer Engineering.

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ICS

The Charles Sadron Institute (ICS) is a global leader in research on soft matter, covering the entire value chain from chemistry and physical chemistry to physics and the engineering of polymeric and/or self-assembled functional systems and materials.

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INSERM BIOMATERIALS & BIOENGINEERING

INSERM Biomaterials & Bioengineering is a laboratory dedicated to developing new strategies in the fields of healthcare materials and tissue engineering to address clinical challenges.

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IRCELYON

IRCELYON conducts research in the field of catalysis for energy production, pollution control, the utilization of renewable resources, and atmospheric chemistry.

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Carnot Network

The Carnot Network

Carnot MICA is a member of the Carnot Network, which comprises 39 institutes located across every region in France. These public research organizations provide both their technology and the expertise of their research teams to support companies of all sizes and across all sectors. The Carnot Network is committed to ‘developing partnership-based research to benefit corporate innovation’ while increasing the economic impact of R&D projects. It offers a wide range of skills tailored to meet business needs in terms of research and innovation.

Find out more about the Carnot network