Our expertise
ICube is widely recognized for its work across several applied fields.
It develops healthcare technologies, engineering for sustainable development, and innovations that help shape future industry.
Since its creation, the laboratory has been active in areas that are essential for addressing today’s societal, environmental, and industrial challenges.
To achieve this, ICube builds on strong scientific expertise in:
- Modeling and analysis – algorithm and model design, leveraging numerical simulations, leveraging and applying AI-based solutions.
- Design – innovative and advanced design in mechanics, electronics and photonics, computer science, and digital technologies.
- Prototyping and experimentation – taking concepts from laboratory prototypes to pre-industrial proof-of-concepts, supported by dedicated facilities for building, testing, and evaluating systems within the lab and across its technological platforms.
These three areas of focus are reinforced by ICube’s unique organisation: the laboratory brings together two scientific communities positioned at the interface between digital and physical worlds. This configuration gives ICube an exceptional ability to conduct truly multidisciplinary research.
ICube’s research teams master and advance an exceptionally broad spectrum of key technologies:
- In mechanical engineering: numerical modeling and simulation for fluid mechanics, multiscale approaches for material,, particularly in biomechanics, design methodologies, analysis and optimization of production systems and information systems, climate- and energy-engineering solutions.
- In computer science: image processing, machine learning methods, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, development and optimization of parallel computing techniques, geometric and graphical computing, advanced networking—including the Internet of Things and next-generation networks—along with simulation technologies for medicine.
- In robotic design and control: development of medical devices, satellite image processing, remote sensing, photogrammetry applied to cultural heritage, multimodal and integrative biomedical imaging.
- In electronics and photonics: materials for information technologies and energy conversion, electronics and microelectronics, photonic instrumentation and processes.
Across all these fields, the laboratory conducts cutting-edge research while being able to work from upstream exploratory concepts to downstream applications—ranging from disruptive innovations to hardware or software demonstrators and their deployment.
Expertise that drives partnerships
Research at ICube is carried out across a wide range of collaborative frameworks.
Our researchers coordinate and contribute to collaborative research projects in France and internationally.
Over the past five years, the laboratory has carried out more than 120 projects funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), with an average of 80 active projects each year. During the same period, 65 additional projects were conducted through European and international partnerships. Altogether, this represents more than €6.1 million in funding secured annually, reflecting the researchers’ strong track record in winning competitive national and international grants.
The laboratory is also deeply committed to partnership-based research with stakeholders from the socio-economic sector. This is one of ICube’s major strengths: it benefits from a rich innovation ecosystem and has been part of the Carnot Télécom & Société Numérique (TSN) institute since 2013, through its strategic partnership with Télécom Physique Strasbourg.
This cooperation reflects the high quality of our collaborative research and ensures that our partners benefit from a secure framework regarding contracts and intellectual property.
Each year, partnership activities supported by SATT Conectus represent close to €3.5 million in contracts. Research outputs are tailored to a wide range of needs, from expert reports to start-up creation, as well as technology maturation leading to licensing agreements with industrial partners.
