The world number one in luxury LVMH will be able to install its new research center on the Saclay plateau (Essonne) near the Polytechnique engineering school, despite the protests of several students and alumni. The board of directors of Polytechnique validated by 19 votes in favor, 4 against and one abstention the sale of a piece of land near their school to the luxury group.
100 million euros of investment
The project, called LVMH Gaia, will eventually bring together 300 researchers in an area of 22,500 m², according to LVMH, which intends to invest more than 100 million euros in the future building. The research center dedicated to “sustainable and digital luxury” from the group of Bernard Arnault, himself a polytechnic, plans to invest 2 million euros per year for 5 years in research partnerships with Polytechnique, dubbed l’X.
“Polytechnique is not for sale!”
The land, located within the innovation park of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (which brings together five schools, including the Ecole Polytechnique) belongs to the Paris-Saclay public development establishment (EPAPS). The plot chosen by LVMH as being close to the engineering school, the latter having a veto until 2025. Since its official announcement this summer, several Polytechnique students and alumni have voiced their opposition to the project, in particular through a collective called “Polytechnique is not for sale!”. The latter requests that the LVMH building be built off campus and that the land in the northeast area of the campus, including the parcel coveted by LVMH, be reallocated for use by the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
A “pernicious project”
A column published in Le Monde at the beginning of September signed by 73 former students evoked a “harmful project”, which “works on technical problems far removed from the school’s research topics: substitution of plastics for more ecological alternatives in perfume packaging , development of recommendation algorithms to increase the number of products sold, etc”.
The signatories accused Bernard Arnault’s group of wanting to “cement an artificial respectability on the environmental issue and ensure privileged access to students on campus, while the consequences on the school side would be extremely meager, both financially and scientifically.” . Matthieu Lequesne, spokesman for “Polytechnique is not for sale!”, believes with AFP that four votes against and one abstention in a board of directors “which always votes unanimously” is a strong sign of “opposition”. “The last time there was this much opposition was in 2016,” he said. “This is not the end of the mobilization”, he assures, “the users of the campus are mostly against this project”.
nothing sure
Nothing certifies, however, that LVMH is going to acquire the land, according to the group’s spokesman. The luxury group’s director of strategy, Jean-Baptiste Voisin, cast doubt on Monday at Les Echos. If Polytechnique’s board of directors does not oppose LVMH’s purchase of the land, “we will have the opportunity to buy it, but there is no word that we will. It is not just one location option among many others in the Paris region, and we are looking at all of them,” said Mr. Voisin, also general secretary of the Polytechnique alumni association. The project is “fully transposable,” according to him, “you take it by helicopter, you leave it where you want”.
In January, the TotalEnergies group had given up installing its new Research and Development center on land also located near the École Polytechnique after the mobilization of professors and students who opposed the project.
Source: BFM TV
