French Engineering Universities: How They Deal with Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Innovation and entrepreneurship, which are sometimes linked in pedagogic considerations, especially in France, are points where French education is not good enough for the time being; many attempts have been realized since 30 years to improve the skills of our graduates in this field and however these attempts were not often very fruitful. With the development of Horizon 2020, European governments try to imagine new solutions to reach their goals and it is also the case in France. The French Ministry for Education and Research has launched a call for projects named PEPITE so as to develop Innovation amongst the students and particularly amongst the engineers. Accreditation agencies also cooperate in this direction because their members think that innovation is at the heart of economic development. This chapter compares the manner that European (and more specifically Belgium ones) and French engineering higher education institutions, among them Polytech Orleans, answered to the call of Horizon 2020 and develop strategies to increase innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe.