VR Pole

VirtuReaL is the pole of excellence dedicated to Rapid Product Development, based in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, which focuses on the following areas

  • CIRTES: Research & Development
  • InSIC: Engineering, Master’s and Doctoral Training
  • Actarus: Dissemination and service business development
  • INORI: Innovation Platform

Reportage Vosges Television – Impact Eco #1

The organization of the cluster

The VirtuReaL cluster was created in November 2003 by CIRTES, on the occasion of the first International Meetings on Rapid Product Development. Today, it brings together:

  • the CIRTES,
  • the innovative company Actarus, created in February 2000 by CIRTES, from its Research & Development work,
  • the InSIC (Institut Supérieur d’Ingénierie de la Conception), founded in October 2000 by CIRTES, the Ecole des Mines de Nancy and the Ecole des Mines d’Albi,
  • the SAS INORI, created by CIRTES in September 2011 and associating twenty industrial and financial partners

The specialities of the pole 

The VirtuReaL cluster is a group of skills at the service of Rapid Product Development composed of independent and complementary structures that make it a platform of excellence in design engineering.

its specialties are as follows:

  • CFAO,
  • Digitization,
  • Virtual Sculpture,
  • Virtual Reality,
  • Digital Simulation,
  • Rapid Prototyping,
  • Rapid tooling,
  • Rapid manufacturing,
  • Rapid shape machining,
  • Machining monitoring,
  • 3D control.

More information about the entities comprising the cluster

CIRTES SRC

Contractual Research structure, CIRTES aims to carry out:

  • Research and Development contracts for its industrial customers around two axes:
    • Rapid Prototyping and Tooling from its patented Stratoconception® process,
    • Experimental study of cutting from its patented ACTARUS® system.
  • technology transfer missions for the integration of the digital chain of Rapid Product Development in companies and mainly in SMIs,
  • the valorization and dissemination of the results of its Research and Development work through a range of products, software, workstations and instrumented tools,
  • the training and hotline on its processes.

ACTARUS SAS

Machining MonitoringCompany specialized in the development and marketing of products and services for real-time machining monitoring. Actarus implements the patented continuous cutting temperature measurement system developed by Cirtes. Actarus has an international expertise in tool/part/material.

GIP-InSIC

Institut Supérieur d'Ingénierie de la ConceptionEngineering and doctoral trainingSince 2000, the InSIC has been training engineers for the position of project manager in design, capable of driving industrial creativity in design offices and R&D departments. Students who have completed the BTS or DUT programs join the engineering program at the École des Mines de Nancy, specializing in design engineering, in partnership with the ITII Lorraine. InSIC also hosts the M2 Product Design specialization of the INPL's Global Design Master's program. These two courses also include trainees in continuing education. They are accessible through the Validation of Experience (VAE) system. The ERMeP research team at InSIC welcomes doctoral students in its specialty.

INORI SAS

The INORI innovation platform was selected at the national level in September 2011, following the call for projects launched by the French government, Ministry of Industry, and the Caisse des Dépôts. A new company has been created. It allows manufacturers to have access to state-of-the-art equipment and to work with VirtuReaL teams on the testing and development phases on test pilots in order to facilitate the transition from R&D to the Industrialization of new products.