École Polytechnique

10/07/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2025 03:20

Complex systems: when patronage pushes the boundaries of engineering

Thanks to the commitment of its patrons, École Polytechnique hosted an international scientific workshop devoted to complex systems, a major challenge in modern engineering. This event, organised as part of the Complex Systems Architecture Chair (ASC) at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, and made possible thanks to the support of Dassault Systèmes, Dassault Aviation, KNDS France, Naval Group, the French Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Innovation Agency, brought together world-renowned experts to explore new methods for analysing and certifying these systems.
07 Oct. 2025
International, Chairs, Corporate relations, Research, Technologies, LIX, Informatique
Scientific level :

Complex systems comprise several interconnected components - such as an ecosystem, a city, a brain or an aeroplane - and pose considerable scientific and technological challenges. Among them are distributed and concurrent systems: a distributed system runs on several interconnected machines, while a concurrent system allows several processes to run simultaneously. Studying them requires innovative approaches that are essential for the future of aviation, defence and advanced technologies.

An international scientific event organised by the ASC Chair

On 11 and 12 September, Jérémy Dubut, Monge Assistant Professor, holder of the Complex Systems Architecture (ASC) Chair at École Polytechnique and specialist in formal methods for the verification of cyber-physical systems, co-organised a workshop on the theme of complex systems as part of this Chair, alongside Philipp Schlehuber-Caissier, holder of the ASC Chair at Télécom SudParis.

The ASC Chair brings together several partner schools-Télécom Paris, Télécom SudParis and ENSTA-with the support of Dassault Systèmes, Dassault Aviation, KNDS France, Naval Group, the French Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Innovation Agency.

The complexity of interest systems, such as systems of systems or cyber-physical systems, whether in the military or civilian industry, requires innovative solutions at the crossroads of mathematics, computer science and engineering. As part of this event, we had the opportunity to bring together a unique community, both international and local, around the issue of distributed and concurrent systems, with very different scientific backgrounds: from C programming to algebraic topology, logic, language theory and distributed protocols.

Jérémy Dubut, holder of the ASC Chair at École Polytechnique.

During these two days, leading international specialists, including Éric Goubault (head of the ASC Chair at École Polytechnique and member of its academic council), Sergio Rajsbaum (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and Rob van Glabbeek (University of Edinburgh), met at ENS Paris-Saclay and École Polytechnique to share their research. Their discussions highlighted decisive scientific perspectives for the industrial sectors supported by the sponsors.

Eric Goubault, professor at École Polytechnique, head of the ASC Chair at the X, and member of its academic council.

I presented my work on calculating topological invariants of dynamic systems, whether concurrent or distributed, which enable their possible behaviours to be classified and thus prove that they will function as desired. These invariants are homological invariants in the sense of classical algebraic topology, and are similar to those already used in data analysis, known as persistent homology. Their advantage is that they can be calculated algorithmically.

Concrete benefits for the future

This workshop is only the first step. With the support of its partners, the ASC Chair is opening a course at École Polytechnique entirely dedicated to complex systems. Starting in January 2026, it will train new generations of engineers capable of meeting the technological challenges of tomorrow, directly linked to the issues facing industry and defence.

By supporting these ambitious projects, sponsors and their expertise are directly contributing to shaping scientific and industrial innovation. Their support is enabling the emergence of advances that will have a lasting impact on both academic research and major technological sectors.

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École Polytechnique published this content on October 07, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 08, 2025 at 09:20 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]