Ecosystem of Excellence

A new agreement with CERN stimulated and reinforced CDI’s entrepreneurship activities. The agreement provides the framework for an ensemble of collaborations on the theme of entrepreneurship and management. On one side, CERN will become a technological and operational partner for CDI's projects, and on the other, CDI will assist CERN in creating new relationships with industry partners, incubators and potential investors. The collaboration will involve several CERN initiatives, including the Knowledge Transfer group, IdeaSquare, and the CERN & Society Foundation.

CERN and CDI have already successfully collaborated on entrepreneurship programmes. Launched in February 2016 by Collège des Ingénieurs in Italy, Politecnico di Torino, and CERN Ideasquare, the Innovation for Change (I4C) project is dedicated to the world of Impact Innovation. The aim is to utilise the most advanced types of technology to help solve problems of social interest to generate a significant impact on the world in a medium-long term perspective. It has become the leading impact innovation program, based on collaboration between participants, companies, institutions, and NGOs.

In 2024, the Collège entered a partnership with the Dieter Schwarz Foundation in cooperation with TUM Heilbronn. The objective is to develop new leadership formats for the digital age.

In 2019, Vincent Laflèche, Director of Ecole des Mines de Paris, and Philippe Mahrer, President of the Collège des Ingénieurs, have signed an international double degree agreement and are committed to continuing their cooperation.

The Institut du Cerveau (ICM) – Paris Brain Institute  is an international brain research center whose innovative concept and structure make it the only institute of its kind in the world. The ICM brings patients, doctors and researchers together with the aim of rapidly developing treatments for disorders of the nervous system and enables patients to benefit from them as quickly as possible. For several years, the Collège has been conducting the "Brain to Market" summer school at the ICM.

In 2010, the Collège signed an agreement with the KIT to create a unique programme called "Science & Management" for Ph.D. students wishing to pursue an MBA alongside their doctorate. The PhD candidates benefit from pursuing their research and venturing into the business world at the same time.

In 1994 the Collège signed an agreement with the Ministry of Science and Technology. Every year the Collège warmly receives a handful of young Chinese graduates in STEM subject from the best universities such as Fudan, Shanghaï Jiao Tong, Tsinghua. These Fellows go on to have extremely successful careers in China.

The association involves 2000 Italian alumni and MBA students who have attended the best business schools outside of Italy such as Harvard Business School, London Business School, Chicago Booth, Standford Graduate School of Business, and many others.

In 2015 the Collège signed an agreement with the Politecnico di Torino, one of the best technical universities in Italy, for collaboration in the fields of management education, entrepreneurship and technology innovation. As one of the first projects born out of this collaboration was Innovation for Change where a selection of the PhD candidates of Politecnico di Torino every year join the CDI MBA Fellows for a multidisciplinary impact innovation program.

In 1990, the Collège launched the Copernic Programme in collaboration with Sciences Po, École des Ponts et Chaussées, École des Mines de Paris. The Programme focuses on management training tailored to the current social-political climate for young master's graduates from Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. This Programme is a public-private partnership.

From 2020, CDI and Scuola Normale Superiore have promoted a collaboration agreement to combine their doctoral path with that of the MBA programme at the Collège.

In 2009, the Collège signed an agreement with the Sorbonne Université to create a unique programme called "Science & Management" for PhD students wishing to pursue an MBA alongside their doctorate.