Master International Professional Master in Management of Eco-Innovation (ECO-INNOV)

Eco-innovation is the development of technical and management approaches to the challenge of reducing the environmental footprint of human settlement.  Successful eco-innovations solve environmental problems, and create business opportunities. This one-year, internship-based post-graduate degree is conducted in English by a partnership of university and industry-based instructors, aiming to give you the skills and experience needed to join the next generation of eco-innovation entrepreneurs and managers.

•    Learn eco-innovation management from inspiration to solution — ecological problems, technical and social innovation strategies, technologies and applications, knowledge translation and management, environmental and intellectual property law, founding and financing a start-up, and more…
•    Learn in English in France, at France’s environmental university
•    Paid internships with leading French eco-innovation businesses
 
The programme is managed by the Econoving International Chair in Generating Eco-Innovation, whose research and development activities bring students a rich array of further educational opportunities.  From listening to seminar speakers to participating in the Chair’s research programme and its pilot projects in our home city of Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, students from around the world are immersed in the theory and practice of eco-innovation.

The program’s components :

You will learn in the classroom and in internship situations where you will address real eco-innovation management problems faced by our industry partners.  Throughout two intensive nine-week academic terms you will be guided by a combination of university- and industry-based instructors, studying a total of six eco-innovation modules.  During internship terms you will take up a paid internship with one of our industry partners, addressing a real eco-innovation management problem.  Your learning in academic terms will be integrated and applied to a real-life eco-city innovation problem in an Integration Seminar combining group and individual work.

Skills acquired :

From classroom learning to internship experience you will gain skills in:

• Analysis of the challenges of eco-innovation in different cities, regions, and countries
• Articulation of the importance of environmental ethics to eco-innovation
• Understanding determinants of national competitiveness and the contribution of eco-innovation to competitiveness
• Application of principles of sustainable development
• Methods of technological and social foresight analysis
• Observation and measurement of environmental change
• Evaluation of innovation systems in energy, transport, construction, and water
• Analysis of environmental law
• Analysis of key factors for success in business management for eco-innovation
• Eco-innovation business plan development
• Integration of intellectual property management into eco-innovation
• Identification of finance options for eco-innovation
• Evaluation of environmental, technical, and financial risk
• Leadership and project management in research, development and demonstration focused on eco-innovation

Partners :

We are privileged to partner with: Alstom, ADEME (France’s Agence de l’Environnment et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie), GDF-Suez, Italcementi, Saur, and SNCF. From water to energy, building technologies to transport, and the policy and governance framework supporting sustainable development, our partners are at the heart of the French economy and its support for eco-innovation, with global reach to clients throughout major and developing markets.

We also benefit from a strong partnership with Paris-region financial actors committed to supporting the growth of eco-innovation enterprises. Contributing organizations include: Cleantech BA, Demeter, XAnge PE, Oséo, and many more.

Conditions of admission :

We welcome applications from candidates able to commit to full-time study beginning in September 2012.  As an interdisciplinary, post-graduate programme we seek candidates with strong academic records and demonstrable capacity for boundary-crossing learning and application of learning.  Candidates with technical backgrounds may be preferred as candidates’ suitability for available internship postings is a key part of our evaluation process.

All candidates whose prior degrees were achieved in a language other than English must demonstrate sufficient command of the English language via provision of appropriate formal documentation:

•    TOEFL (including the Tests in Written and Spoken Practice), minimum score of 550 (paper-based test), 213 (computer-based test) or 80 (internet-based test)
•    IELTS: 5.5 Cambridge Advanced Exam in English: B minimum
•    Cambridge Proficiency Exam in English: C minimum

Requirements :

French candidates must already hold an M2 or diplôme école en sciences et/ou économie gestion.  In exceptional cases candidates holding an M1with relevant experience may be considered for admission.

Non-French European candidates should hold a Master’s degree in a relevant preparatory area.  In exceptional cases candidates holding a Baccalaureate degree plus relevant experience may be considered.

North American applicants should hold a four-year Baccalaureate degree plus relevant experience, or a relevant Master degree.

Applications from all other candidates are welcomed by the Admissions Committee on a case-by-case basis.

Registration :

If you reside in one of the countries listed below, you are obliged to apply for admission via the official government's website for foreign students: http://www.campusfrance.org/en/b-agence/application01.htm

Countries concerned by this procedure: Algeria, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Chilie, China, Colombia, Congo (Brazaville), Czech Republic, Gabon, Guinea, India, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Senegal, Russia, S. Korea, Syria, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, USA, Vietnam.

If you need help with the application process, please contact your local French embassy or CampusFrance office for advice and guidance. 

You are required to send in your complete application file directly to the programme administrator at the following address: econoving@uvsq.fr

1. Application form [PDF - 92 Ko], completed and signed
2. Certified copy of the Bachelor's degree and accompanying certified transcripts all translated in French or English
3. Evidence of English language proficiency. All applicants must submit official international scores
4. Two Passport photos
5. Photocopy of all passport pages and "carte de séjour" if applicable
6. Detailed curriculum vitae
7. Motivation letter (no more than 500 words) written in English explaining the reasons why you are applying to the programme.

Rolling admissions process -- Apply NOW to secure a place!  Admissions will continue until available seats are filled.  Applications will be received until August 31, 2012

Further education :

We welcome applications from professionals who are currently employed, changing careers or seeking employment and from students returning to education after a time away (two years).

Please contact:
Clarisse MAGALHAES
Tel: 01 39 25 51 17
clarisse.magalhaes@uvsq.fr

List of subjects :

306 in-class hours over six modules, plus an integration seminar

Eco-innovation and competitiveness in a globalizing economy (46hrs)
-Nature of eco-innovation
-Juridical aspects towards conflict management
-Scenarios and forecasting: methods, tools, and measures
-National, Europan and international regulation of eco-innovation

Methods and tools for economic and environmental evaluation (56hrs)
-Economic evaluation
-Environmental evaluation
-Evaluation of risk
-Indicators and observation

Finance and entrepreneurship (46hrs)
-Investment finance
-Venture capital
-Marketing eco-innovation

Social acceptability (21hrs)
-Field notes: social acceptability of industry activities
-Governance, mediation and the precautionary principle
-Inter-cultural management

Major scientific challenges and technologies for sustainability (51h)
-Application of information technologies in eco-innovation
-Renewable energy technologies
-Advanced detectors
-Biotechnologies
-Clean and sustainable transport
-Sustainable construction
-Clean production and by-product treatment

Multiple skill modules (54h)
-Project Management
-Creativity
-Negotiation/Conflict Management

Integration Seminar (16hrs)

Internship Clinic (16hrs)

In addition to the 306 contact hours over six modules, plus the integration seminar and the internship clinic, you will have the opportunity to participate in :

• Intensive French courses
• Intensive English courses
• Creativity Workshop
• Company site visits illustrating eco-innovation challenges and practice (experimental buildings, labs, demonstration of products)
• Direct contacts and exchanges with start-up firms associated with the Econoving Chair programme as well as with the finance and capital investment actors
• Workshops and seminars organized by UniverSud Paris laboratories
• Econoving Innovation Seminar Series in which master students will benefit from visiting speakers' perspectives on innovations in general, and eco-innovations more specifically

Assessment tasks :

You progress will be assessed on an individual basis within course modules, internships and the Internship Clinic, and in evaluation of a personal portfolio.  Your work as a team-member will also be assessed, in the context of the Integration Seminar.

Internship :

In addition to your Integration Seminar experience of group work to apply learning to a real-world problem, you will gain on-the-job eco-innovation experience in one of our six partners’ research and development units. During your internship experience you will return periodically to the university for an Internship Clinic where you will share and learn from your workplace experiences.  Internships are conducted at our partners’ facilities in the Paris region.

Contacts :

Address:
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Chaire Internationale Econoving
5-7 boulevard d'Alembert,  78047 Guyancourt Cedex, FRANCE
Phone : +33 (0)1 39 25 51 56

Programme administration :
Dr. Ioan Ciumasu
Assistant Professor - Econoving International Chair in Generating Eco-Innovation
Ioan.Ciumasu@uvsq.fr

Secretariat :
Jane Bauluck
mary-jane.bauluck@uvsq.fr
Phone : +33 (0)1 39 25 50 09
Université de Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines
5-7 boulevard d'Alembert - 78047 Guyancourt Cedex - FRANCE
Bureau A321

Website:
http://econoving.universud-paris.fr