Local Communities

A commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) thinking at the local level

The Pays de la Loire CSR Awards

The CSR Trophies are intended for companies based in the Pays de la Loire region that wish to highlight their actions and results in terms of corporate social responsibility. Thus, about thirty projects are screened each year by students from three schools in the region: Centrale Nantes with students from the Engineering for Ecological Transition, ESAIP and ESSCA.

These awards are the result of a close collaboration between these three schools, as well as the Banque Populaire Grand Ouest, the CPME and EDF with two tangible objectives:

• Encourage CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives and promote profitable and sustainable good practices
• Help companies and organisations develop their activities in line with societal issues

►Discover the recent award recipients on the Youtube Channel for the CSR Awards

These actions contribute to SDG8, SDG9, SDG11 of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The CSR Committee of Nantes Métropole

Centrale Nantes participates in the Nantes Métropole CSR Committee as part of the Academic College. This allows us to promote corporate social responsibility and to link up with committed players in the region to help coordinate initiatives. Each year, this network organises the Social Change event to bring together the ecosystem around CSR and to promote the commitment of "caring companies", committed to young people and people with limited employment opportunities in the region by contributing to better access to employment, equal opportunities, diversity and action against all forms of discrimination.

The region's CSR platform

Centrale Nantes contributes to the regional CSR Platform. The role of the regional platform for corporate social responsibility is to bring together all these representatives, to mobilise them and to disseminate the initiatives of companies and organisations in the field of CSR. It is also a place for consultation to define the levers for the development of CSR in Pays de la Loire. This approach is linked to the CSR Platform of the Nantes Métropole according to the principle of subsidiarity.

The Lab Citoyen: promoting student and community projects

Centrale Nantes is participating alongside Nantes Métropole, the CROUS, Audencia and Nantes University in the LabCitoyen launched in Autumn 2021, centred on the Tertre district and campus.
The Lab will promote and support student and community projects in the district.
The Lab's first call for projects in 2022 selected 3 projects, including 1 at Centrale Nantes - Centrale Market, a mini recycling centre to equip student accommodation.

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► Learn more: Nantes Métropole's Energy Transition roadmap (in French)
 

Nantes University institutions come together in a Sustainable Development Conference

This conference was created in 2021 by the members of the experimental establishment. Its role and composition are currently being defined by a cross-disciplinary working group comprising representatives of the 7 institutions: Nantes Université, Centrale Nantes, Nantes University Hospital and Inserm, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire School of Fine Arts, Nantes School of Architecture (ENSA Nantes) and IRT Jules Verne.

Research and training with local players

Centrale Nantes pursues an integrated laboratory/industry research policy, through the creation of international chairs as well as regional chairs with its partners.

For example, as part of the Edycem chair, researchers are studying the durability and energy efficiency of concrete structures. Edycem (formerly VM Matériaux) is the concrete branch of the Vendée-based group HERIGE.

Centrale Nantes is a partner in the following Research - Training - Innovation programmes:
 

• Atlanstic2020 federates the regional ecosystem in digital sciences to rise to the challenges of the digital revolution, to improve the visibility and attractiveness of the digital sector in the Pays de la Loire region and to cope with the high demand for workers in this sector.
• Ouest Industries Créatives (OIC) is a collective regional initiative aiming to become, by 2020, a centre of excellence in research, training and innovation on the transformation of creative industries in the Pays de la Loire region. It is led by the University of Nantes and co-run with the Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, in partnership with 13 regional players in research, training and innovation, including Centrale Nantes. It involves 110 teachers and researchers and receives backing from the Pays de la Loire and the European Regional Development Fund.
• WEAMEC (WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community) WEAMEC (WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community) brings together the marine renewable energy ecosystem in the Pays de la Loire region. WEAMEC is supported by Centrale Nantes and its main partners, Nantes Université, the EMC2 cluster and the IRT Jules Verne, with the support of the Pays de la Loire Region, the ERDF, Nantes Métropole and the CARENE. WEAMEC brings together some thirty research establishments and laboratories and sixty companies in the Loire region. Learn more on the WEAMEC website

Educational activities with local players

Tutored Partner Projects (P2T)

Local organisations and companies can propose a P2T (Tutored Partner Project) to first year engineering students. Within this framework, local SMEs as well as local authorities and public companies entrust projects and follow the students over several months to solve concrete problems.

Civic Engagement

Engineering programme students are required to do 100 hours of voluntary work for associations of their choice in the fields of culture and leisure, international development and humanitarian action, education for all, the environment, emergency intervention, remembrance and citizenship, health, solidarity or sport. Many students contribute to local associations or carry out actions in local secondary schools.

 

Participation in national and international initiatives

Associations such as Together for Earth, Enactus are present at Centrale Nantes.
The institution also supports the AlumniForThePlanet initiative. Centrale Nantes students participate in GITE, the Ecoles Centrale Group for Ecological Transition, to coordinate actions across the five schools' campuses. Centrale Nantes has signed up to the Grenoble Accord.

Centrale Nantes Alumni is the network of Centrale Nantes graduates, interconnected with the network of the Ecoles Centrale Group (Centrale Lille, Centrale Lyon, Centrale Marseille and CentraleSupélec). This network has more than 100,000 alumni across the globe. The groups systematically invite students to all the events that take place in Nantes, in France or internationally through initiatives during internships, or activities such as Centrale Running which invites students, staff and graduates to run together.

The association's board of governors includes student members to represent the needs of students in terms of network activities and links with industry  for internships, associations or professional orientation (mentoring).
 

Ecological Transition Mornings: a contribution to the local debate in conjunction with national and international players

For several years now, Centrale Nantes students have organised Ecological Transition Mornings, open to all.
 

• Learn more and see the replays

Centrale Nantes supports the 'Communauté des Entreprises à Mission' (Community of Companies with a Mission)

A new possibility created by the PACTE law, the status of Société à Mission (mission-driven company) allows companies to include in their statutes their mission, in parallel to the search for profit, to act for the common good, social and environmental challenges, by defining their raison d'être and making concrete commitments for the structure and its ecosystem (suppliers, partners, etc.). Centrale Nantes hosted the first event of the 'Communauté des Entreprises à Mission' in the West of France in July 2021, with testimony from Farwind Energy.