IFP at a glance

Version française

Home > IFP > IFP at a glance

IFP at a glance

IFP is a world-class public-sector research and training center, aimed at developing the technologies and materials of the future in fields of energy, transport and the environment. It provides public players and industry with innovative solutions for a smooth transition to the energies and materials of tomorrow – more efficient, more economical, cleaner and sustainable.

IFP fosters knowledge transfer between long-term fundamental research, applied research and industrial development in keeping with the recommendations of the Barcelona European Council held in March 2002. It is funded both by a State budget and by resources provided by private French and foreign international partners.

IFP is entrusted with a public-interest mandate

Harnessing expertise to power tomorrow

Human resources and expertise

Representing more than 50 professions, from geological engineers to powertrain engineers, IFP's 1,720 staff, based in Rueil-Malmaison and Lyon, form a unique body of specialists and an unparalleled network of expertise. To successfully carry out their research work, they have access to an extremely high-quality technical environment, in terms of both facilities and testing resources.

Graduate training programs for engineers

An integral part of IFP, the IFP School offers graduate training programs for engineers designated to meet the needs of industry. The quality of its teaching, combined with the extent and diversity of its partnerships with universities and industry, make it a prominent international force. Every year, more than 500 students from around the globe graduate from the school, fully prepared to take up the challenges posed by the energies of the future.

A driving force in the industrial development of its research results

In a constant drive for progress, IFP aids the conversion from invention to innovation, from patent to product and from research to industry. Since its inception, IFP has therefore been a major driving force for industrial development, with more than 40,000 patents to its credit filed in France and throughout the world (including more than 12,800 active patents).
From the outset, IFP has been committed to seeing the outcome of its research exploited by industry. This has prompted it to support the creation of some thirty companies, which have themselves become significant employers and exporters. A core component of the policy of technology transfer to the market, these businesses span all the research fields in which IFP is active: from oil research, consultancy and engineering to the supply of products, equipment and services, together with new energy technologies (NET).

Five strategic priorities

IFP is striving to honor its mandate from five complementary angles:

Controlled CO₂
Capturing and storing CO₂ to combat the greenhouse effect

As the bulk of CO₂emissions result from energy use, efforts to reduce them must be combined with efforts to capture CO₂wherever possible, i.e. primarily at industrial sites. IFP is developing processes for CO₂capture, transport and underground storage, in order to prevent its release into the atmosphere.
+ IFP's research to control CO₂

Diversified fuels
Diversifying fuel sources

To alleviate the transport sector's dependence on oil, IFP is working on transforming biomass, gas and coal in a bid to develop the fuels of tomorrow, such as biofuels. It is also examining longer-term solutions, such as hydrogen.
+ IFP's research on fuels

Fuel-efficient vehicles
Developing clean, fuel-efficient vehicles

Supported by its cutting-edge experience in the field of powertrains, acquired in partnership with the world's major automobile manufacturers, IFP designs and perfects technological solutions aimed at constantly reducing fuel consumption and minimizing the environmental impact of vehicles.
+ IFP's research on engine technologies

Clean refining
Converting as much raw material as possible into energy for transport

On the strength of its recognized know-how in clean refining processes and petrochemicals, IFP is developing technologies that will make it possible to produce larger amounts of environmentally-friendly fuels and composites.
+ IFP's research on refining

Extended reserves
Pushing back the boundaries in oil and gas exploration and production

Because oil and gas exploration has so far been carried out only at the most accessible sites, IFP is inventing and supplying the technologies needed to exploit reserves that are as yet untapped, making it possible to go further and deeper, working more efficiently and for longer.
+ IFP's research on exploration-production