An elite technological university of engineering
and a research center

IMT Atlantique is one of the top 10 engineering schools in Franceand one of the top 400 universities in the world in THE World University Ranking. It is a general engineering grande école financed by the Ministry of Industry and Digital Communication, and the first Institut Mines Télécom “Mines-Telecom” Technological university, founded on January 1st, 2017 from the merger of Mines Nantes and Télécom Bretagne. 

IMT Atlantique is:

  • a Higher Education Institution with first-rate research potential, internationally recognized for its research (present in 5 disciplines in the Shanghai, QS and THE rankings).
  • a resolutely multi-site institution reflecting the world in which we live.
  • an institution with a strong local presence, and a commitment to contributing to local developmentan institution which is aware of its environmental and societal responsibility. In 2019 it was awarded the sustainable development & social responsibility accreditation.
  • and finally, an institution that trains executives capable of understanding and mastering the complexity of the highly interconnected systems of the future, by combining their knowledge of the systems with that of the networks that link them.

Nantes Campus

Brest Campus

Rennes Campus

IMT Atlantique

THE DEPARTMENT OF AUTOMATION,
PRODUCTION AND COMPUTER SCIENCES (DAPI)

is part of the current revolution bridging the gap between the cyber and physical worlds. DAPI’s aim is to create adaptable industrial systems making the best possible use of the available resources, while remaining true to a philosophy of sustainable development. The Faculty members of DAPI and PhD students are also members of the CNRS Lab. LS2N.

The department expertise spans a wide range of fundamental and applied skills including applied mathematics, operational research, industrial engineering, computer science, robotics and automatic control. Its research and teaching activities are organized around three training and research groups:


Software Engineering and Distribution group with three research teams.

The first, the STACK team studies the challenges related to the management and advanced uses of Utility Computing infrastructures (i.e., Cloud, Fog, Edge and more). Secondly, the NaoMod (Nantes Software Modeling Group) team that tackles challenges related to the continuous construction of software via model engineering, with numerous industrial applications in areas such as IoT or Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs). Last but not least, the Gallinette team is working on a new generation of proof assistants (of programming languages in particular), with the guiding idea that practical experimentation goes hand in hand with fundamental research.

Optimization and Decision Aid group with two teams.

First, the SLP (Logistics and Production Systems) team, it works on various research topics like the design and optimization of production systems, logistics and transport networks, planning and scheduling of production and service activities, and risk analysis and management for industrial systems and services. The second team is TASC (Theory and Applications of Systems of Constraints). It focuses on the theory and practice of combinatorial problem solving using constraint programming, a unifying and flexible paradigm combining optimization and relaxation and allowing the taking into account of dynamic constraints and business rules.

Robotics, Control and Interactions group with three teams.

First, the Commande team aims to guarantee the performance and stability of a complex dynamic system in the face of model uncertainties and perturbations via a robust control approaches. The team is particularly interested in applications in the field of transport (autonomous vehicles, driving aids, hybrid vehicles) and energy. Secondly, the Robotics team that develops theoretical and practical activities in bio-robotics in the field of locomotion and perception, in particular via electrical sensing. It is also interested in the modelling, identification and control of high-performance production robots. Finaly, the PACCE (Perception, Action, Cognition for Design and Ergonomics) team which is interested in user-centred design, the design of virtual environments and cooperative human-machine and human-to-human activities. From an application point of view, the focus is on dynamic and possibly risky activities, such as medical interventions.

LS2N LABORATORY

The Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N) is a new Joint Research Unit (UMR 6004) created in January 2017 which results from the merger of UMR IRCCyN (UMR 6597: Institut de Recherche en Communications et Cybernetique de Nantes) and LINA (UMR 6241: Laboratoire d’Informatique de Nantes Atlantique).

Bringing together 450 people at the heart of digital sciences, this laboratory aims to significantly advance the visibility of research in Cybernetics and Computing in Nantes. The scientific talents of LS2N participate in the digital revolution of our society on the scientific and technical subjects that it implements. Research is carried out in awareness of the societal challenges that this revolution generates, by cultivating curiosity and openness to other disciplines. The complexity of the research objects studied makes it necessary to adopt a global so-called “systemic” approach in which computer concerns, (automatic) control / command and signal and image processing come together to answer the questions posed by systems that are open, interactive, communicative, ubiquitous … The laboratory is a player in innovation valuing these objects with partners in its environment.


The members of LS2N belong to 5 different affiliations. It is located in Nantes on 5 campuses. Its research activity is structured into 5 centers of competence and 5 transversal themes.

The 5 areas of disciplinary skills are :

  • Signals, Images, Ergonomics and Languages,
  • Data and decision sciences,
  • Software and distributed systems sciences,
  • Design and management of systems,
  • Robotics, processes, calculation

The 5 cross-cutting themes (in line with the scientific and societal challenges that the unit wants to meet, taking advantage of the strengths of the Nantes region) are:

  • Factory of the future,
  • Energy management and control of environmental impacts,
  • Life sciences,
  • Vehicles and mobility,
  • Digital creation, culture and society



  • Photos courtesy of ©SéverineRubinForLS2N and ©IMTATLANTIQUE