Nathalie Bicais, mayor of La Seyne
“I am very proud to witness the opening of this building here, in the heart of Europe’s first science port, which will house a center of excellence of international standing.” Nathalie Bicais, Mayor of La Seyne, repeats: “From this heart, innovative solutions for the problems of global warming or damage to biodiversity arise.”
Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS
“Fundamental research at the service of society, but always in the long term,” summarizes Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS. “Messenger RNA has been used against Covid more than 60 years after it was discovered. The invention of machine learning dates back to the early 1980s,” he notes. Through its INSU technical department, the CNRS also uses instruments to put its research into practice: “Like the Franco-Italian Concordia station in Antarctica or the Canada-France-Hawaii Observatory, MEUST also supports INSU’s universe science program on Origin of the Perseverance rover on the planet Mars,” continues Antoine Petit.
Jean-Pierre Giran, President of Métropole TPM
The President of the Métropole TPM, Jean-Pierre Giran, expressed his delight that “in this world of immediacy, basic research takes place in the long term, with the support of the economic fabric and local communities”: “La Métropole TPM has administrative and military capital in Toulon, tourist capital in Hyères and scientific and industrial capital in La Seyne,” he outlines.
Laetita Quilici, Vice President of the Var Department
For her part, the vice-president of the Var department, representing Jean-Louis Masson, Laetitia Quilici, recalled that “the Var department supported basic research, whether through the renovation of the La Garde campus or today through the launch of MEUST.” »
* National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Mediterranean Eurocenter for Underwater Sciences and Technologies (MEUST)
La Seyne, DT INSU national website
With sites in Gif-sur-Yvette (Essonne) and Plouzané (Finistère), the future Seynois building will house part of the activities of the technical department of the National Institute of Sciences of the Universe (DT INSU) on over 2,500 m². Its mission: to develop, develop and coordinate research of national and international scope in the fields of astronomy, earth, ocean, atmospheric and space sciences. The CPPM (Marseille Center for Particle Physics) team will be able to continue MEUST research there. About twenty sailors spread across the English Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean contribute to this research, particularly within the Ifremer fleet. Finally, note the collaborations with the universities of Toulon, Aix-Marseille and Nice.
Partners and financial support
In addition to the CNRS, the municipality of La Seyne, the Métropole TPM, the Var department and the South Region also support and participate in the financing of the CNRS-MEUST building.
The budget is around 9.5 million euros and is distributed as follows:
CNRS: 5,467,000 euros
Department of Var: 1,750,000 euros
TPM Metropolis: 1,750,000 euros
South PACA region: 500,000 euros