A label for Research and Innovation
The Carnot program was set up in 2006, with the aim of developing partnership research for business innovation. Research work is carried out by public laboratories in partnership with socio-economic players, and is designed to meet the needs of the latter. This label, paired with annual financial support from the French government, is awarded to public research structures known as Carnot institutes. There are currently 39 Carnot institutes, which carry out a range of research activities designed to renew their scientific and technological skills, as well as a proactive policy of partnership research for the benefit of the socio-economic sector.
A mark of excellence
Obtaining the Carnot label requires being selected through a particularly rigorous call for applications. The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research then awards the label to organizations meeting the labeling criteria, which are subsequently subject to compliance with the Carnot Charter to ensure quality collaborative research. It is the French National Research Agency that oversees adherence to this charter by the Carnot institutes.
To ensure the coherence of the Carnot program and foster a genuine operational dynamic, the Carnot Institutes Association (AiCarnot) unifies all Carnot institutes by animating and structuring the network. This networking approach enables the development of new opportunities for collaborative research by leveraging the complementarity among its members, such as through inter-Carnot partnerships. This dynamic effectively supports business innovation.
Carnot Networks in Health
To promote the sector-specific offerings of the Carnot network and jointly envision inter-Carnot offerings in various domains of interest to industries, the Carnot institutes have formed networks, four of which operate within the health sector. OPALE co-leads, along with Carnot@AP-HP, the one dedicated to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (including CAR-T) and is a member of the one dedicated to Digital Health and Digital Technologies.
The French National Cancer Institute (INCa) recognizes the exceptional research skills of the OPALE Carnot Institute and its entities through a number of labels. These include :
OPALE is a member of the UNITC consortium, recently accredited by INCa as a "national research network on CAR-T cells and other innovative gene therapies in oncology".
The 1st edition of the LEUKEMIA 360 event, organized by OPALE, benefits from the support and label of INCa.
Several OPALE entities benefit from a label and support from INCa:
1. CIGAL (Cooperative Intergroup for Advances in Leukemia) and the SFCE (French Society for the Fight against Childhood and Adolescent Cancer and Leukemia) are accredited with the label "French cooperative intergroups with an international dimension in the field of cancer"
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2. Several centers belonging to these OPALE member clinical research networks have been awarded the "CLIP2 ("INCa Labelled Early Stage Center") label.
3. Several platforms at centers belonging to these cooperative intergroups support their clinical research activities, and have been awarded the "Data Processing Center" label.
The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) THEMA-2 "European Leukemia Institute" brings together Université Paris Cité, AP-HP, Collège de France, Inserm and their academic, associative and industrial partners. The IHU aims to:
- Position itself on high-risk/high-gain scientific projects, offering precision medicine to patients suffering from leukemia and related diseases;
- Offer a cross-disciplinary, specialized approach to leukemia, with a focus on quality of life and support for patients' outpatient care;
- Offer patients a cross-disciplinary and specialized approach to leukemia, integrating quality of life and support into the outpatient pathway.
The THEMA-2 IHU is located at the Saint-Louis Hospital (AP-HP) and is directed by Pr Hugues de Thé. It is funded to the tune of 30 million euros.
Through its entities and experts, OPALE is also part of various French and European research or educational networks, such as the Cooperative Groups in Oncology (GCO), the adult leukemia CIGAL intergroup (accredited by the French National Cancer Institute), The European School of Haematology (presided over by the Chairman of OPALE), The European LeukemiaNet, HARMONY, and HARMONY PLUS (IMI), among others. Several entities within OPALE (cooperative groups) have also received funding for their clinical projects from the Force Hemato endowment fund.
Long-standing relationships and collaborations have been established by scientific leaders at OPALE with those from prestigious foreign research centers, such as the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (United States) or the Shanghai Institute of Hematology, at Ruijin Hospital (China), whose experts are invited to participate in our annual scientific seminar.
On an institutional level, OPALE and the Shanghai Institute of Hemetalogy, China's National Center for Translational Medicine, part of Ruijin Hospital, signed in an ambitious scientific cooperation agreement in July 2024 (see annoucement), to accelerate therapeutic and diagnostic innovation in the field of leukemia and related diseases, in partnership with industry.
Patients are the final beneficiaries of OPALE's research. They are also key players in our research, through their participation in our clinical trials and the provision of their blood samples for our biological studies.
OPALE works closely with patient representatives, and several of our entities have developed long-standing relationships with associations and foundations supporting our research, such as: La Ligue Contre le Cancer, Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, Association Laurette Fugain, etc.
These relationships can take various forms, including project funding, patient committee reviews of consent forms, or the participation of OPALE experts in scientific advisory boards and leukemia awareness campaigns.
OPALE is an active player in oncology entrepreneurship. Several startups, including spinoffs, have emerged from the research and patents of its entities. Additionally, our institute is a founding member and active player of OncoSTART, a consortium dedicated to supporting the creation and acceleration of businesses in the field of oncology in France.
We are also partners of BioLaunchPad, founded by Institut Imagine, a program for training entrepreneurs and accelerating startup projects in the biomedical field. It aims to build bridges between research and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on healthcare innovation.
A project incubator will also soon be oponing its doors to host startups in line with our research themes, in the MEARY Center at Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris, France.
