In Saint-Germain-en-Laye, iXcampus wants to double in size

A seven-hectare park, a restaurant with bay windows opening onto nature, a café with comfortable sofas and armchairs, a gym and its indoor football pitch, a 19th century castle^e century converted into a conference center.

Welcome to the iXcampus of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the Yvelines, similar to its Anglo-Saxon counterparts, bringing together 15 start-ups and innovative companies as well as two training courses from CY Cergy Paris University.

“After two years of distance learning courses for students and teleworking for employees, we need to offer a more qualitative working environment to attract talent, an environment that makes sense and is conducive to innovation and additional services such as a gym, a restaurant and a fablab,” says Julien Lalanne, managing director of iXcampus. He recalls that originally, in 2016, the company iXblue, the first stone in the construction of the campus, had settled here “to offer its employees an experience other than La Défense”. We are indeed far from the concrete landscape of the business district located 15 kilometers away.

The 160 students and 400 employees who pass through the site daily seem to appreciate this dream work environment, far from the noise of the city, on the heights of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Proof of this success, the campus will double its surface in order to accommodate, in 2025, 870 students and 900 employees still in the fields of navigation, photonics, robotics, artificial intelligence and engineering.

Two new buildings

The project will involve the construction of two new buildings. The first of 12,000 m² will include an incubator, a business incubator, a digital fablab and 4,500 m² devoted to university education. The second of 3,000 m² will house one or more higher education establishments and a residence for foreign students and researchers.

The provisional envelope is estimated at 40 million euros for 16,000 m² of surface to create. “The financing will be done by a public-private arrangement”, explains Julien Lalanne.

The partnership with CY Cergy Paris University – born of the merger in January 2020 between the University of Cergy-Pontoise (Val-d’Oise) and the International School of Information Processing Sciences (Eisti) – is essential for the Director General. “Everything is linked because all our facilities are shared, whether it’s the fablab, the auditorium, the restaurant or the gym. The students are constantly in contact with the start-ups established on the campus and find themselves doing internships with them”, describes Julien Lalanne.

The fablab allows start-ups to manufacture their prototype which will be tested on the market thanks to the networks of companies established on the campus and a club of local mentors.

Castle rental

In exchange, the young entrepreneurs undertake to make presentations or give lessons to students of CY Cergy Paris University and to take them on internships during the two years of incubation. “We are betting on the future with the aim of creating companies that will become ETIs”, summarizes the director who maintains a ratio of one third of start-ups and two thirds of companies that have reached maturity.

We are betting on the future with the objective of creating companies that will become ETIs

Julien Lalanne, Managing Director of iXcampus

Another asset of this place, the rental of the 19th century Saint-Léger castle^e century, completely renovated, which houses a conference center with a 270-seat amphitheater, a 40-seat auditorium, several reception areas that can accommodate from 50 to 350 people as well as three meeting rooms. Many of the major CAC 40 companies organize meetings of their executive committee or seminars in this prestigious place.

The campus wants to contribute to making Saint-Germain-en-Laye a major student city with 5,000 students by 2027 thanks to the increase in the number of staff at CY Cergy Paris University and Sciences Po Saint-Germain located opposite. from iXcampus.