Schneider Electric renews its sponsorship with Hi! PARIS to accelerate open AI research and support the training of new talent
This renewal comes at a key moment for Hi! PARIS, which was recently designated a national AI Cluster as part of France 2030. This recognition confirms the center’s strong scientific momentum: 19 research chairs, 50 collaborative projects, 8 postdoctoral researchers and 44 PhD candidates funded—66% of whom are international—as well as more than 430 publications in top conferences and journals, and 13 ERC laureates within the community.
Schneider Electric’s support aligns with this momentum and contributes to a significant deepening of the research and innovation carried out within the center.
Supporting long-term scientific research: a new open chair dedicated to AI and Energy
During the first phase of the sponsorship, Schneider Electric significantly strengthened the scientific foundation of Hi! PARIS by supporting several chairs and funding open “blue sky research” projects.
This support has helped increase the center’s attractiveness and strengthen its credibility within the national ecosystem, notably in the context of the AI-Cluster initiative and the scientific organization of the 2025 AI Summit.
In this new phase, Schneider Electric will notably fund an open research chair dedicated to one of the central challenges of the energy transition: developing AI models capable of leveraging heterogeneous data (time series, tabular data, textual data, or data produced by IoT devices).
While electrification often relies on the analysis of massive data flows and the integration of highly diverse information, current approaches are still reaching their limits: difficulty scaling up, lack of robustness, and limited understanding of complex dynamics.
The chair will aim to design truly generalizable methods capable of addressing these scientific and industrial challenges. Its work will be fully open, in order to sustainably enrich the scientific community and support the societal issues associated with the energy transition..
Training a new generation of AI specialists and strengthening connections with talent
Schneider Electric’s sponsorship also plays a structuring role in education and training. Interactions between the company and Hi! PARIS students have increased significantly in recent years through participation in Career Fairs, Data Boot Camps, Summer Schools, and other key center programs, which have already reached more than 1,500 students.
The new phase of the partnership will make it possible to:
- increase the number of students trained in AI and data science, rising from around 1,100 to nearly 2,000 in the coming years
- strengthen support for PhD candidates through new immersion formats, challenges, and a more structured framework for interactions with Schneider Electric
- develop new opportunities for internships, research collaborations, and long-term projects aligned with the priorities of the AI-Cluster.
This strengthened collaboration aims to bring scientific research even closer to industrial needs, while contributing to the emergence of a generation of talent capable of imagining and deploying responsible AI.
Disseminating knowledge and strengthening scientific visibility
Schneider Electric’s support has also been instrumental in shaping Hi! PARIS’s scientific programming: technical symposiums, meet-ups on major societal issues related to AI, reading groups, and summer schools.
The new phase of the partnership will give Schneider Electric an enhanced role within the Hi! PARIS Initiatives, a program that brings researchers together to produce analyses, public policy reports, and open events at the intersection of technology, industry, and society.
A shared vision in support of responsible AI
Schneider Electric and Hi! PARIS share a common conviction: artificial intelligence must be open, responsible, and oriented toward real-world challenges.
This partnership has already helped strengthen research, enhance the center’s national visibility, and expand exchanges between the academic world and industry. It now paves the way for new scientific directions at the intersection of energy, data, and AI, while offering more structured opportunities for students and PhD candidates.
It is a long-term partnership, built over time, that illustrates what a strong collaboration between a global industrial leader and an academic center of excellence can achieve.
“Renewing our partnership with Hi! PARIS means reaffirming our conviction that artificial intelligence and data science are evolving at unprecedented speed and are essential to driving the energy and digital transitions. Together, we are training the talents of tomorrow and developing responsible solutions that serve a more sustainable and inclusive future” – Aymeric Renaud, President of Schneider Electric France.
“The partnership with Schneider Electric demonstrates the strength of alliances between excellent academic research and the concrete needs of the industrial world. By renewing its support for Hi! PARIS, Schneider Electric is helping open new pathways in artificial intelligence at a time when society requires reliable, sustainable, and responsible solutions. This sponsorship will enable us to amplify our impact, foster the emergence of top-level talent, and provide scientific responses to the energy and technological challenges we face today” – Thierry Coulhon, President of Institut Polytechnique de Paris and Éloïc Peyrache, Dean and General Director of HEC Paris.
About Schneider Electric – www.se.com/fr
Schneider Electric is the global leader in energy technologies, delivering efficiency and sustainability through the electrification, automation, and digitalization of industries, businesses, and homes.
Our technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and power grids to operate as open and interconnected ecosystems, thereby enhancing performance, resilience, and sustainability. Our portfolio includes connected products, advanced software architectures, AI-powered systems, digital services, and specialized consulting.
With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently ranked among the world’s most sustainable companies.
About Hi! PARIS – www.hi-paris.fr
Hi! PARIS is the center dedicated to research, education, and innovation in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, created by the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) and HEC Paris, and joined by Inria (Inria Saclay Center). Designated a national AI Cluster, it also brings together CNRS and the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT). The center develops cutting-edge, reliable, and sustainable AI with scientific, industrial, and societal applications. It fosters an interdisciplinary community, supports technology transfer to industry, drives the emergence of innovative solutions, and trains the talent who will shape the future of AI. Hi! PARIS benefits from the support of its patrons—L’Oréal, Capgemini, TotalEnergies, VINCI, and Schneider Electric—and contributes actively to the development of an AI ecosystem of excellence in France and internationally.
About Institut Polytechnique de Paris – www.ip-paris.fr
Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) is a public institution for higher education and research that brings together six major French engineering schools: École Polytechnique, ENSTA Paris, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC), ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris, and Télécom SudParis. Together, these schools combine their expertise to offer top-tier education and conduct high-level research.
Thanks to this unique academic and scientific foundation, IP Paris has established itself as a key player in science and technology in France and internationally.
About HEC Paris – www.hec.edu
Founded in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, HEC Paris is a leading European business school whose ambition is to have a positive impact on business and society through its “Think, Teach, Act” approach, contributing to a more inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous world.
With 167 faculty members from around the globe who produce and teach cutting-edge knowledge to more than 5,000 students from over 130 countries, the HEC Paris campus stands as a true laboratory of innovation and exchange, open to the diversity of the world and its challenges. Inspired by its five founding values—Excellence, Curiosity, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Diversity, and Responsibility—HEC Paris offers a comprehensive range of programs for tomorrow’s leaders: Bachelor, Grande École program, Specialized Masters (MS), MSc, Summer School, MBA, Executive MBA, TRIUM Global Executive MBA, PhD, as well as a wide array of executive education programs for managers and senior leaders.
