Infrastructures are indispensable components in contemporary societies because they are deeply rooted in their modes of operation. Their availability and quality are essential elements for the attractiveness of territories in terms of population, activities and economy.

Today, infrastructures face three major challenges:

• The challenge of ecological and energy transition;
• The challenge of digital transition, for smarter and more connected infrastructures;
• The challenge of economic constraint in social equity, for more resilient and more accepted infrastructures.

Collaborative research and innovation are fundamental vehicles for responding to these challenges. They bring technical and technological solutions to the fight against climate change and its impacts, to increase efficiency and the preservation of resources, and to improve the living environment.

Among the support mechanisms for research and innovation in France, the “national projects” mechanism, supported by the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition, provides a framework adapted to collaborative applied research and to experimentation, including full-scale experimentation, aimed at advancing the knowledge, practices, tools and methods used in the design, construction and management of infrastructures. It’s an effective and operational tool, helping to meet the objectives of energy transition in line with public policies.

The IREX, Institute for Applied Research and Experimentation in Civil Engineering (www.irex.asso.fr) actively participates in the implementation and animation of this system: administrative and financial management, technical coordination, valorisation, communication and dissemination of results, animation of scientific and technical communities. The IREX mobilizes nearly 300 actors around the projects that it animates. These actors have activities related to the design, the construction and the management of infrastructures: project owners, operators of infrastructures, engineering departments, construction businesses, manufacturers, public and private research laboratories, universities and engineering schools.

The examples below illustrate the diversity of the subjects dealt with in the framework of national projects but also their stakes for the evolution of the sector:

• The development of recycling in the construction and heavy maintenance of infrastructure: the RECYBETON project (www.pnrecybeton.fr) on the recycling of concrete construction demolition products to manufacture new concretes; the MURE project (www.pnmure.fr) on the multiple recycling of asphalt pavements; in both cases, the demonstration is made that high recycling rates are possible;
• Improving the protection of infrastructures against natural hazards, with the C2ROP project (falling rock, rock hazards and protection works) – www.c2rop.fr);
• Improving the effectiveness of road network maintenance policies with the DVDC project (the life of Pavements) – www.dvdc.fr) ;
• The development of Data Modelling (BIM – Building Information Modelling) to accelerate the digital transition of infrastructures, as part of the MINnD project (modelling of interoperable information for sustainable infrastructures) – www.minnd.fr), whether it be roads, railways, engineering structures or underground works, in all their dimensions.

In addition, the four clusters for innovation in the construction sector (CREAHd in New Aquitaine; Eco-site in Burgundy – Franche-Comté; Indura in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes; Novabuild in Pays de Loire) and IREX have just created an informal structure Innov’Infra, the “competitiveness hub for development and infrastructure” in order to harmonize, consolidate and render their actions more visible.

Brice Delaporte,
Délégué Général Irex
www.irex.asso.fr