Cedre Centre de documentation, de recherche et d'expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des eaux

Cedre is a not-for-profit association created on 25th January 1979, as part of the measures taken in the aftermath of the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. The association is governed by a General Assembly of members and a Board of Governors. The members of the association belong to French Government administrations, local authorities (various levels), public research establishments and private organisations (trade unions, companies). It is charged with providing advice and expertise to the authorities responsible for spill response.  It is competent both for marine waters and inland surface waters. Cedre is constantly gaining expertise and developing tools to fulfil its various duties. Cedre's advice and expertise can also be provided to foreign authorities or private companies. Cedre is available around the clock to offer authorities and industry  technical and scientific assistance either remotely, within incident command centres or in the field.

Around 50 people work at Cedre, mainly with scientific backgrounds in a variety of fields (chemistry, biology, oceanography, navigation, oil, oil production, etc.). Cedre’s headquarters, technical facilities and the majority of its personnel are based in Brest, Brittany. In addition, a delegation for the Caribbean is located in Fort-de-France.

Through Cedre's wide range of activities, it is able to provide advice and expertise in the field of spill response :

• emergency response;
• training;
• contingency planning;
• operational documents and guidelines;
• tests, experimentation and research on the physical and chemical behaviour or toxicity of oil and chemicals.

Ecole des Mines d'Alès

The Ecole des mines d’Alès is an engineering school based on research centers including the Laboratory of Environmental Engineering and Risk. The Institute for Science of Risks is specialized in the characterization of the major risks of natural hazards as well as industrial risks, as well as in the evaluation of the consequences of accidents or disasters. These research themes are developed in three main aspects, methodological approaches for the implementation of approaches and risk analysis method, experimental approaches: a real knowledge of experimental trials (including atmospheric dispersion of toxic gas, oil fires, accidental pollutant dispersion channel, ...) and modeling the consequences of accidents especially with the aim of making of decision support tools in crisis management. The Ecole des Mines d'Alès is involved in the project through ARMINES (www.armines.net) which is a private non-profit Research and Technological Organisation (RTO) funded in 1967 at the instigation of its partner engineering schools, the Ecoles des Mines network. ARMINES currently shares 48 Joint Research Units (Common Research Centres) with its partner schools, where each legal entity, either private or public, provides personnel, investment and operating resources for common research purpose. Under the supervision of the French Ministry for Productive Recovery, ARMINES is bound by French government-approved agreements to its partner schools of the Ecoles des Mines network: Paris (Mines ParisTech), Albi-Carmaux (Mines Albi-Carmaux), Alès (Mines Alès), Douai (Mines Douai), Nantes (Mines Nantes) and Saint-Etienne (ENSM-SE). ARMINES also collaborates with ENSTA ParisTech.

In this specific context, ARMINES operates within the framework of the law of 18 April 2006 which allows public sector higher education or research establishments to entrust private-sector organisations with their contractual research activities.

With a total turnover of more than €47 million (2012), ARMINES has held on to the top spot amongst private contract research institutions affiliated to higher education establishments. ARMINES is also member of EARTO (European Association of RTOs), EIRMA (European Industrial Research Association Management) and the Carnot Institute Association.

In terms of European activity, ARMINES and its partner schools are involved in European projects since 1994 (FP4) and obtained, within FP7, 11 projects as coordinator and 87 as partner.

Alyotech Technologies

Combining experience and technology, Alyotech Group specializes in two main branches: engineering and IT. The group’s offer spans from electronics, embedded systems, testability, BI, governance, applications development, simulation, etc. providing our customers with consulting and a wide range of services, including project management, support or third-party maintenance. It also includes off-the-shelf softwares distribution, customization, training and support. Alyotech's solutions deliver both performance for tailor-made applications and cost-effectiveness for demanding businesses and technology challenges. Besides, Alyotech is active in a number of R&D projects in which industrial partners, institutions, competitiveness clusters, universities, laboratories are participating. The projects are backed by French and European public funds or are self-financed.

Scientific Simulation: a Strategic Research Orientation

Alyotech's Simulation Team has 15 years of experience in scientific computing; 50 consultants; 10% PhD & 90% engineers; with skills in fluid dynamics, oceanography, meteorology and computing science, applied in diverse areas like Defence and Security, Energy and environment. There are currently 40 projects in process with 40% of the projects being developed in collaboration with top-hand scientific partners, providing complementary skill and expertise.

Employees : 700 | 2014 Turnover: 50 M€ | R&D Investment: 4% of the revenue

Sites: Paris, Antony, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Lannion, Bordeaux, Toulouse | Subsidiary: Morocco

Business Partners: The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Lebanon, India 

DG Environment, FPS Health, Food Chain Safety & Environment

The Directorate-general for the Environment is a department of the Belgian federal public administration. Its multidisciplinary team devises, develops and is responsible for implementing an integrated and preventive environmental policy that is a pioneer of sustainable development in order to ensure a quality environment for everyone.

The Directorate-General's activities mainly focus on:

• framing an integrated product policy;
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions in keeping with the commitments made under the Kyoto Protocol;
• policymaking in respect of the release on the market of chemical products and the prevention of risks from non-ionising radiation (mobile phones) and from noise pollution;
• conducting inspections related to the release on the market, authorisation and use of these products;
• ensuring the follow-up of the international environment policy and the co-ordination at national level;
• protecting the marine environment.

DG Environment is taking a great number of initiatives in all these areas. Furthermore, DG Environment acts as an interface with Europe and with international partners. This pivotal role is all the more vital since environmental legislation is largely determined by international and European law.

The Marine Environment unit of directorate-general Environment is responsible for the protection of marine environment in the North Sea and world oceans. To combine the values of nature with the numerous activities at sea is a major challenge. The Marine Environment unit contributes to sustainable management of the North Sea by coordinating policies, by preventing and reducing pollution and damage to or disruption of the marine environment, and by monitoring the impact of activities carried out at sea. This department also plays an active role in the scope of regional, European and multilateral marine policies.