Grenoble is a city on the south-eastern France situated at the foot of the French Alps where the Drac joins the Isère River. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère. The proximity of the mountains make the city named “Capital of Alps.” To the north is the Chartreuse, to the south and west the Vercors, and to the east the Belledonne range. For the French it is the capital of the Alps, and the Tour de France regularly passes through Grenoble.
The city experienced a period of economic expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries, symbolized by the holding of the Olympic Winter Games in 1968. Nowadays, Grenoble is a significant scientific centre in Europe. A remarkable location, an exceptional natural environnenment and a network of companies/universities encourage innovation.
Grenoble is now a major scientific center, especially in the fields of physics, computer science and applied mathematics. Many fundamental and applied scientific research laboratories are conjointly managed by Grenoble University, Grenoble Institute of Technology and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Numerous other scientific laboratories are managed independently or in collaboration with the CNRS and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA). Other research centers in or near Grenoble include the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the Institute Laue – Langevin (ILL), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and one of the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (Nuclear Energy Commission)(CEA) main research facilities. The recent development of Minatec, a centre for innovation in micro & nanotechnology only increases the position of Grenoble as one of the European scientific centers.
