Some 225 years after the duke of La Rochefoucauld, Arts et Métiers Paristech Managing Director Jean-Paul Hautier is setting out to complete his first official visit to the New World in April, 2008. In the United States, the Arts et Métiers brand (just like most of the other French «Grandes Ecoles») does not exist. It is yet to build. With a few rare exceptions, we are not known, and we are not counted.

Among the partners of the large and prestigious technology universities and companies in the US, one may find many universities from China, India, Germany, Israel... but not France!

We must change this situation on the ground. The future of most large academic institutions in France requires that they develop a culture of entrepreneurship, stimulate their research and development, and expand their international outreach. Govern ment funding alone will not meet the growing needs of our school. It must be supplemented with private funding from corporations, alumnis and philanthropists. Academic institutions such as MIT, Stanford, or Caltech have built a deep base of private funding and have enjoyed a rich private endowment for a long time.