PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND LABORATORIES
Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la MER (Ifremer)
Heir to the pioneering history of French oceanography, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) has been pursuing its quest for knowledge about the marine environment for 40 years. The only French public research institute entirely dedicated to the ocean, it explores all aspects of marine science, from the abyss to the surface and from the coast to the open sea, from its 24 locations anchored in the world’s second largest maritime domain. With its shipping subsidiary Genavir, it operates the French Oceanographic Fleet and deploys its 17 vessels and 6 devices for the benefit of the entire national scientific community.
Through its scientific and technological research, innovations and expertise, Ifremer contributes to the protection and restoration of the ocean, the sustainable management of marine resources and environments, and the sharing of marine data and information. Ifremer is involved in scientific initiatives and programmes at national, European and international level.
COMPANIES
Consult’Ocean
Consult’Ocean supports organisations, both public and private, that want to make decisions differently. By drawing on the narrative power of the ocean, the firm connects global issues and economic realities, sheds light on strategic choices and helps chart a course that is equal to contemporary challenges. Created by Sarah Lelong, doctor of ocean law and biology and expert in ecological strategy and governance, Consult’Ocean develops a unique approach where narrative, knowledge and action are inseparable.
La Banque Bleue
Historically a bank for entrepreneurs and the maritime professions, the Banque Populaire Grand Ouest and the Crédit Maritime Grand Ouest were built around their territory and the coastline that characterise the regions of the Greater West. A common thread has always united all their actions: a passion for the ocean, a love of these regions, and the desire to make their territory ever more dynamic and attractive. Since 2017, under the aegis of the Banque Populaire Grand Ouest, they have been supporting projects identified as blue growth. This is how the Banque Populaire Grand Ouest and the Crédit Maritime Grand Ouest, convinced that the future of our regions and our country revolves around the sea, created the Banque Bleue.
Oceano Vox
Oceano Vox is a company that provides data collection services for maritime decarbonisation and climate risk assessment. A French BIG DATA player, it provides reliable in situ data collected by ships and ports as a service. OCEANO VOX aims to build the most extensive real-time ocean observation network by connecting, equipping and rewarding ships with a free real-time weather and alert service.
Passeur d’écologie
Xavier Bougeard relies on a highly diverse ecosystem of scientists, associations, expeditions, talented mediators, artists and national education stakeholders, and partner companies to give his proposals and achievements the value that your project deserves. It constantly updates its scientific knowledge, particularly with the researchers who produce it. It works with teachers, trainers and educational specialists to offer you the best tools and solutions.
RBR
RBR was established in 1973 under the name Richard Branker Research. Located in the Canadian capital (Ottawa, Ontario), RBR designs and manufactures oceanographic instruments to help customers around the world monitor the parameters of the blue planet. Two major themes, the evolution of ocean temperature and rising sea levels, drive our commitment to the development of oceanographic instruments.
RBR’s R&D team develops and builds various sensors, measuring instruments and systems that can be deployed from the ocean depths to the poles and coastal environments. They are used to acquire the physical parameters of the water necessary for the current study of the ocean: temperature, depth, salinity, dissolved gas content, light intensity, chlorophyll, etc. RBR is heavily involved in the development of CTD sensors, i.e. conductivity, temperature and pressure sensors for float-type platforms for the ARGO programme, gliders and AUVs. RBR specialises in high-resolution, high-precision data, combining technology with simple implementation. RBR is engineers at the service of science.
RBR has international offices. RBR France, based in Quimper, develops projects with various clients, gets closer to markets and scientific institutes, which are our privileged clients, and companies involved in the instrument, and responds to their needs as best as possible.
Vendée Globe
The Vendée Globe is a solo, non-stop, unassisted, round-the-world sailing race that takes place every four years. It is contested on IMOCA boats, which are 18-metre-long monohulls. The skippers set off from Les Sables-d’Olonne in the Vendée, travel approximately 45,000 kilometres around the globe, rounding the three legendary capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and finally Cape Horn) before returning to Les Sables-d’Olonne. The race has gained international renown, attracting skippers from all over the world. Beyond the competition, it is above all an incredible human adventure.
For its 2024 edition, Océans Connectés is a partner of the Vendée Globe. The Vendée Globe aims to use the media power of the event to raise public awareness of ocean conservation throughout the round-the-world race. By sailing around the planet, the Vendée Globe sailors highlight the fragility of our oceans in the face of global warming. They are direct witnesses to the changes taking place, particularly around Antarctica, a region that is particularly threatened.
SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES
École Normale Supérieure – PSL
Intellectual freedom, multidisciplinarity in humanities and sciences, individual attention to students, bountiful campus life, gathering students and professors from all disciplines, form the heart of the specificities of the Ecole normale supérieure. Since more than 2 centuries, the ENS prepares its students to the most various openings and the highest responsibilities, while being fully invested in the intellectual, scientific and cultural debates of its time – in particular through the multiplicity of the normaliens’ engagement.
Sciences Po Rennes
For 30 years, Sciences Po Rennes has been providing a public service of higher education and research. For this 30th anniversary, the school’s students, teachers, staff and partners had the opportunity to look back on the road travelled, in order to consider the future together. Their desire to become actors committed to the transformation of the world is reflected in the implementation of a new innovative educational project, characteristic of the Rennes model, symbolised by the raison d’être: ‘A humanist school to never stop learning and together take care of the world’.
- Openness to the world: Sciences Po Rennes was the first IEP to make the 3rd year abroad compulsory.
- Anticipation: creation in 2012 of a campus in Caen specialising in transitions (citizen consultation, urban innovation, rights of future generations, etc.).
- Cooperation and hybridisation: Sciences Po Rennes was the first institution to create a double degree with the INSA engineering school in 2018, and a partnership with the Nantes Atlantique School of Design in 2021.
- Social and environmental responsibility: introduction in 2019 of a compulsory first-year course on ‘Climate issues and the living world’ and a desire to democratise the school.
ASSOCIATIONS
ACOPS
The Advisory Committee on the Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) is an association created in 1952 to protect the sea against oil spills. Its field of competence was later extended to all marine pollution before being broadened further to include the protection of the sea in general. ACOPS’s areas of intervention are the rigorous application of international maritime law and sound, verified scientific data in the discussions and working groups of the intergovernmental organisations in which it has institutional observer status.
Association Christian Le Provost, océanographe
The association ‘Christian Le Provost Océanographe’ was created in September 2007, in homage to Christian Le Provost, a Breton oceanographer. Christian Le Provost was one of the builders of modern French oceanography, and a major player in international oceanographic research. He made a decisive contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the field of ocean circulation and sea level measurement. In particular, his work on improving tidal forecasting enabled satellite altimetry to establish itself as an indispensable tool for understanding global ocean circulation. Through its activities, the association aims both to continue promoting the scientific work of Christian Le Provost and to bring knowledge of oceanography within reach of the general public through meetings between scientists and citizens.
Bretagne Pôle Naval
La Fresque Océane
Created in 2019 by Alice Vitoux, this workshop will enable you to construct a systemic vision of the Ocean by diving into 6 themes thanks to a set of 100 cards: the ecosystem services of the Ocean, marine biodiversity, fishing, pollution, maritime industries and climate change. You will bring out individual and collective actions with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Plateforme Océan & Climat
Even though it is an essential element in climate regulation, the ocean has long been conspicuous by its absence from climate negotiations. This realisation, and the desire to remedy it, led to the creation of the Ocean & Climate Platform (OCP) on 8 June 2014, World Oceans Day, with the support of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and an informal group of civil society actors. The Ocean & Climate Platform aims to encourage reflection and discussion between the scientific community, civil society and political decision-makers in order to take better account of the ocean in the fight against climate change.
MEDIA PARTNERS
Presse Océan
Presse Océan is a regional daily newspaper covering the department of Loire-Atlantique. Based in Nantes, it is published in four editions in the department of Loire-Atlantique, notably in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.