Located at the heart of the french Alps, Grenoble is a major area for research, advanced technologies and higher education. The area is known as a strong center for innovation, and was elected 5th more inventive city in the world in 2013 by Forbes magazine.

Thanks to an exceptional synergy between research, industry, and higher education, Grenoble offers the highest concentration of R&D jobs in France. The area is home to 5 major european research facilities attracting about 8 000 international visiting scientists each year, and to more than 200 public research labs of the national center for scientific research (CNRS), the commissariat for alternative energies (CEA), the national institute for health and medical research (INSERM), and other national research institutions. Several worldwide companies have chosen to set an R&D department in the Grenoble area, such as HP, Xerox, Siemens, Air Liquide, Alstom Hydro, bioMérieux,Bull, Oracle, Orange Labs, Schneider Electric, Soitec, STMicroelectronics, Vicat, etc..

The Grenoble area is the second higher education place in France regarding the number of PhD students. Half of these PhD’s are international students. High-quality academic programs in mathematics, physics, chemistry, artificial intelligence, IT, electronics, material science and process engineering have earned Grenoble an international reputation in higher education. The Université Grenoble Alpes is the 1st university of France in 11 fields, including nanosciences and nanotechnologies, according to the Shanghai Global ranking 2018.