Innovative and sustainable products and processes


Specialisation formerly entitled Product Engineering

Overview

To train engineers to manage every stage of the development of a manufactured product: understanding requirements, ideation, design, selection of materials and processes, prototyping, industrialisation and consideration of the product life cycle.
Through practical projects carried out in collaboration with companies, students apply skills in CAD, industrial design, reverse engineering, virtual reality, experimental design, additive manufacturing and production organisation. They learn to integrate these approaches to transform an innovation into a technically feasible, industrially viable and responsible solution.
 

Learning outcomes of this specialisation
 
Focus What students learn to do
Design Understand a need, devise a solution, and design and model a product whilst incorporating the user experience.
Prototype and manufacture Select materials and processes, produce prototypes, and utilise rapid prototyping, casting and additive manufacturing.
Digitise Use reverse engineering, virtual reality, industrial data and digital design tools.
Industrialise sustainably Stabilise a process, organise production and balance performance, resources, life cycle and sustainability.

Contribution to sustainable development goals

SDG 9 - INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

SDG12 - RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Learn more about Centrale Nantes' commitment to the 17 sustainable development goals 

Admission
This specialisation is open to international students selected by our partner institutions via a double degree programme or an exchange study programme.

Double Degree Programme

Exchange Study Programme

  • Selected students have the opportunity to spend a semester or a year of their studies at Centrale Nantes to obtain ECTS credits. 
  • Applicants must be fluent in French (B2 level recommended) and have a Master 1st year university level with the equivalent of 240 ECTS credits (in the European system, or equivalent).
  • Learn more about the Exchange Study programme
NB Most engineering programme courses are taught in French.
Course Content
2026/27 Academic Year
 
Autumn Semester Spring Semester
Choice of materials and their deployment Industrial design and user experience
Product ideation Reverse engineering and virtual reality
Design and modelling of mechanisms in CAD Processes
Low-tech - sustainable innovation Additive manufacturing
Industrial data engineering Project 2
Design of experiments - DOE Internship
Rapid manufacturing
Production flow and organisation
Project 1
 
Download syllabus
Examples of projects and internships

Examples of past projects 

These projects enable students to apply the knowledge gained from the courses to real-world problems, from needs analysis through to prototyping and the definition of the manufacturing process.
 
  • 2025-2026 
    • Design and development of a mobile brick-making plant in collaboration with Java!
    • Development of a process for shaping mycelium-based materials
  • 2024-2025 
    • Continuous improvement of a cycle bus with Humbird
    • Design and production of prototypes of adapted sports wheelchairs for Paralympic athletes, with Team 303
    • Development of a mobile, self-sufficient energy station based on a hydrogen fuel cell, in collaboration with Pure E.T.

Examples of past internships 

  • Stellantis - Physical ergonomics study of a car cockpit and functional prototyping
  • Valeo - Innovation Project Manager – Exploration
  • Saint-Gobain Sekurit - Study of defects related to ink printing on glass
  • Toyota Motor Manufacturing - Improvement of industrial performance
  • Tefal - Continuous improvement and production
  • Airbus - Development of engineering methods
  • Studio Minimètre - R&D on bio-based materials and 3D printing
  • Amazon - Operations Engineering
  • Other host companies: L’Oréal, Schneider Electric, Tesla ...
After the specialisation

Sectors of activity

  • Aerospace
  • Automotive and mobility
  • Naval
  • Consumer goods and luxury goods
  • Energy
  • Healthcare
  • Construction
  • Machinery and equipment
  • Consultancy and industrial transformation

Career prospects

  • Product design and development engineer
  • Industrialisation or methods engineer
  • Industrial project manager
  • Innovation or R&D engineer
  • Process or additive manufacturing engineer
  • Continuous improvement and industrial performance engineer
  • Product engineer / technical product manager

 
Published on March 16, 2017 Updated on October 2, 2026

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