COGITHON

Innovation is the very culmination of scientific research, but it is also the condition for the survival and/or development of most companies and associations, and hence of all human organizations. Innovation is also a very important lever for the economic development of territories, where it is often coupled with the circular economy or the inclusion economy. 

Being able to participate in the design and implementation of innovative projects, and finding the financial and partnership resources to do so, are skills that are increasingly in demand among all employees, whatever their status and role in the organization (in short, from blue-collar workers to CEOs, technicians, engineers and even ... researchers!) The aim is as much to inculcate a professional culture of innovation as to teach its basic methodological and technical principles. This educational program is based on a project-based pedagogy, and uses seminar work (7 days a week, 24 hours a day) in a closed environment, cut off from the outside world for better concentration. The pedagogical principle is to bring together several skills (in our case, those of 4 GE Master's courses and 2 Energy Master's courses) in the same time and place to work as a group on a local environmental issue. Conferences, meetings, visits, reflection and work will alternate to enable students to deliver a written response and an oral presentation at the end of the week. The best projects will be presented orally to a panel of professionals and defended by the students themselves. 

Open to all GE majors in M2 (except GeIBioTe) in FI and APP, and to the Energy master's program.

With the exception of the Aquadura course, for which this UE takes place over the course of the semester, the Cogithon takes the form of a 6-day seminar. The seminar starts with a theoretical part (the first day) and then proceeds in the form of workshops in which students are organized into project teams. Teams compete to present a project in response to an invitation to tender, which changes every year and is drawn up in partnership with local players. The call for tenders is based on the work of the Aquadura course and their November restitution. 

- have completed the "Project Management" UE; 

- at least some experience of working in a team ; 

- computer and Internet skills (C2i certificate recommended) ; 

- be able to research and analyze documents in order to write a bibliographical summary; 

-be able to present results in written form (structured, clear, critical report with bibliographical references) and orally (structured, clear, comprehensible communication using a slide show or poster); 

- know how a local authority works. 

This is an intensive course. It requires collaborative skills, good work capacity and stamina, initiative and creativity. 

Students must familiarize themselves with documents prior to the start of the teaching unit (tools/methods for innovation, structuring research). 

The seminar takes place every year in January over a one-week period, from Sunday (installation in accommodation, welcome by the teaching team, introduction to the seminar and ice-breaker games) to Friday or Saturday. The seminar then follows a series of sequences leading up to the presentation of the projects proposed by the competing teams on Friday afternoon, in response to the call for projects. Return to campus on Friday evening or Saturday morning. 

- Project management ; 

- Respond to a call for projects in accordance with specifications; 

- Present a project orally and defend it; 

- Working in a group ; 

- Identify the different research structures in France and understand how they operate (dependencies, funding, players); 

- Knowing the different ways of promoting research; 

- Intellectual property ; 

- Identify and recognize the various support structures for innovation, integration and the circular economy; 

- Identify and formalize the skills and ideas that could prove innovative and/or be used to create new activities; 

- To propose, in a short time, a realistic innovative project for an identified structure with a proposal for partnerships and financing; 

- Be aware of innovation and the creation of innovative companies