On February 4, 2020,Arts et Métiers ESI Group inaugurated CREATE-ID, an international chair for teaching and research in the field of engineering and digital engineering of materials, processes, structures, and systems. On the same day, Professor Francisco Chinesta, engineering professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Processes and Engineering in Mechanics and Materials (PIMM – Joint Research UnitArts et Métiers) and holder of the CREATE-ID Chair, was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal.
The CREATE ID International Chair in Teaching and Research between Arts et Métiers ESI Group, a leading provider of Virtual Prototyping software and services specializing in materials physics, focuses on several areas of research related to the industry of the future:
- simulation of production stages in real time based on physics models (via model reduction),
- Modeling and simulation driven by data (heterogeneous and not necessarily massive) and artificial intelligence techniques (Engineered Artificial Intelligence)
- the hybridization of these two components to define different types of digital twins, where data is used to enrich models, and models are used to make data more intelligent, with the aim of predicting the behavior of a material/process/component-structure/system throughout its lifetime.

Inauguration of the CREATE-ID chair, attended by (from left to right): Vincent Chaillou, Deputy CEO of ESI Group, Alain de Rouvray, founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ESI Group, Francisco Chinesta, lecturer and researcher at the PIMM Laboratory, Ivan Iordanoff, Deputy Director General in charge of research Arts et Métiers, Laurent Champaney, Director General Arts et Métiers
This research can be applied in several sectors: automotive, aeronautics, naval, metallurgy, health, etc. The Chair will also aim to develop engineering training and education in these areas of research.
As an international chair, CREATE-ID will disseminate its work and share its findings with the national and international scientific community, industry, andArts et Métiers studentsArts et Métiers attract young talent to projects related to the Chair.
Francisco Chinesta, CNRS Silver Medal 2019
Professor and researcher in engineering at the Laboratory of Processes and Engineering in Mechanics and Materials (PIMM) since 2017 and holder of the Arts et Métiers Group CREATE-ID Chair, Professor Francisco Chinesta was awarded the 2019 CNRS Silver Medal for his entire career by Jean-Yves Marzin, Director of the Institute of Engineering and Systems Sciences.
After earning a PhD in computational mechanics from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), he held the AIRBUS Chair from 2008 and then the ESI Group Chair at École Centrale de Nantes in 2013.
He was elected senior member of the Institut universitaire de France in 2011 and member of the Royal Academy of Spain in 2013.
In 2018, he received the Medal of the International Association of Computational Mechanics (New York, USA) and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zaragoza (Spain).

Jean-Yves Mazin, Director of the Institute of Engineering and Systems Sciences, presents Francisco Chinesta with the CNRS Silver Medal.