Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (ISM-UMR7287) Aix Marseille Université & CNRS

What Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (ISM-UMR7287) Aix Marseille Université & CNRS does

Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne-Jules Marey (ISM, UMR 7287) is a French public research laboratory jointly operated by CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université, headquartered at the Faculty of Sports Sciences on the Luminy campus in Marseille with additional sites at Hôpital Sainte-Marguerite, the Timone Medical Faculty, and the IUT d'Aix-en-Provence. Founded in 2007, the institute employs approximately 150 researchers, teacher-researchers, technical and administrative staff, and doctoral students, organized into three teams: BMI (biomechanics/bioengineering), DynamiCC (behavioral dynamics and cognition), and SBI (bio-inspired systems). Its research spans movement analysis from molecular and cellular scales to whole-body and animal-to-robot scales, integrating biomechanics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and bio-inspired robotics with high-tech instrumentation including motion capture, virtual reality, wearable and embedded sensors, mechanical testing rigs, and a wind tunnel.

ISM operates five specialized technological platforms that double as technology-transfer vehicles: CRVM (France's first VR platform for studying human behavior), the ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX Flying Arena (Vicon/Qualisys motion capture plus WindShape wind tunnel), MECABIO (multi-scale mechanical, biochemical, and histological characterization of materials and biomaterials with clinical imaging access), TechnoSport Marseille Luminy (sport and movement performance), and the Plateforme Technologique du Pays d'Aix (AFNOR-audited, ministry-labeled technology transfer to SMEs). The institute's revenue model is non-commercial: it is funded by CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université base budgets, competitive grants (notably the ANR 12M€ TIRREX project under France 2030), long-term corporate university chairs (Decathlon for sports, Stellantis for automotive, AG2R for elderly fall prevention), and fee-based industry services delivered through its platforms. Its customers are therefore public research funders, corporate R&D partners, and SMEs using the platforms — not product end-users.

Name

Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (ISM-UMR7287) Aix Marseille Université & CNRS

Legal name

Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne-Jules Marey

Website

https://ism.univ-amu.fr

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ISM (UMR 7287) is a French public research laboratory jointly run by CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université, conducting multidisciplinary movement science research across biomechanics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and bio-inspired robotics via three teams and five specialized technological platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Marseille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Public Institutional Funding (CNRS & AMU): Core public funding from CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and Aix-Marseille University as a joint research unit (UMR 7287).
2. Corporate University Chairs: Long-term corporate partnerships via university chairs: Decathlon (sports equipment industry), Stellantis (automotive industry), and AG2R (elderly fall prevention and cognitive-motor function decline prevention).
3. ANR and Research Grants: Funding from ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) and other national/international research grants such as the TIRREX project (ANR reference: 21-ESRE-0015, 12M€ total budget).
4. Technology Transfer and Industry Services: Technology transfer services and paid technical expertise provided to companies through platforms like Plateforme Technologique du Pays d'Aix (PFT, audited by AFNOR and labeled by the Ministry of Education and Research) and MECABIO.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ISM is a public research laboratory (UMR 7287) that conducts fundamental and applied research in movement sciences, biomechanics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and bio-inspired robotics. It delivers this research through three research teams (BMI, DynamiCC, SBI) and five specialized technological platforms, while also providing technology transfer services, expert consulting, and co-development partnerships to industry sponsors including Decathlon, Stellantis, and AG2R via long-term corporate university chairs.

Product overview

ISM is a university research laboratory (UMR 7287) organized around three research teams (BMI - Biomechanics/Bioengineering, DynamiCC - Behavioral Dynamics & Cognition, and SBI - Bio-Inspired Systems) and five technological platforms. The platforms are shared research facilities (not commercial products): Centre de Réalité Virtuelle de la Méditerranée (CRVM) for immersive virtual reality studies; Plateforme Arène de Vol ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX for aerial robot research with motion capture; Plateforme MECABIO for mechanical characterization of biomaterials and biological tissues; Plateforme TechnoSport for sports performance research; and Plateforme Technologique du Pays d'Aix for technology transfer. The institute focuses on movement science research rather than commercial product development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Centre de Réalité Virtuelle de la Méditerranée (CRVM) A technological platform dedicated to studying human behavior in immersive virtual reality situations, promoting VR technologies and methodologies as a convergence ground between Life Sciences, Information Sciences, and Engineering. It serves research, training, and industry applications.
• Plateforme Arène de Vol ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX A flying arena platform for terrestrial and aerial robot trajectory tracking with high-resolution motion capture systems (19 Vicon cameras for indoor arena; 23 Qualisys Miqus cameras for mixed indoor/outdoor arena) and WindShape pixelated wind wall for controlled turbulence simulation up to 50km/h.
• Plateforme MECABIO A mechanical characterization testing platform for materials, biomaterials, and biological tissues. Provides fatigue and wear testing, structural analysis, biomechanical testing (traction/compression/flexion on biological tissues), bioreactor testing with cell-seeded biomaterials, histology services, and clinical imaging access.
• Plateforme TechnoSport Marseille Luminy An innovation platform dedicated to sport and movement performance research, from elite sports to pathological movements. Studies the human/equipment interface with scientific and technical expertise in interdisciplinary research, bridging industry R&D with scientific expertise.
• Plateforme Technologique du Pays d'Aix An AFNOR-audited and Ministry of Education and Research-labeled technology transfer platform located at IUT d'Aix-en-Provence, providing technological expertise to companies and supporting innovation development and new technology transfer to SMEs.

Quantifiable outcome

• ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX project enables GPS-denied indoor/outdoor drone navigation research across 19 partner institutions
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CNRS Délégation régionale 11 (GIPSA-lab)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 February 2021ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX Flying Arena project carried under the ANR TIRREX initiative (ref: 21-ESRE-0015). Project lead institution: CNRS Délégation régionale 11 (GIPSA-lab). Project duration: 16/02/2021 to 15/02/2029.
• TIRREX Consortium (19 Partners)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerANR-funded research infrastructure project (Technological Infrastructure for Robotics Research of Excellence) with 19 partners including CNRS, CEA, INRAE, INRIA, 14 universities and engineering schools. Enables new experiments in robotics, human-machine interaction, motion capture in sports, and turbulence studies. ISM hosts the ROBOTEX 2.0 TIRREX Flying Arena.
• DecathloncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term university chair partnership with Decathlon, the sports equipment industry leader, for collaborative research in sports equipment innovation and performance analysis.
• StellantiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term university chair partnership with Stellantis, a major automotive manufacturer, focusing on motion analysis, driver behavior, and vehicle-human interaction research. Includes OpenLab Automotive Motion Lab.
• AG2RcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity chair partnership with AG2R (a French insurance and social protection company) for designing training situation tests to prevent fall risk and decline in cognitive-motor functions.
• Ecole Centrale MarseilleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEcole Centrale Marseille contributes expertise in implantable medical device characterization and industrial standards to the MECABIO platform, enabling unique regional and national multi-disciplinary analysis capabilities.
• Joint Robotics Laboratory (JRL) - CNRS/AISTcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational joint research laboratory between CNRS and AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan). Located at AIST, Tsukuba, Japan. For ~20 years JRL has designed humanoid robots and developed locomotion, manipulation, perception, and multi-contact task capabilities. ISM contributes through joint robotics seminars and collaborative research.
• OpenLab Automotive Motion Lab (Stellantis)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenLab Automotive Motion Lab is a joint laboratory between ISM and Stellantis focused on automotive motion research, involving ISM researchers and Stellantis engineers (e.g., Jocelyn Monnoyer, research engineer).

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique): French national public research institute focused on digital science and robotics; sister organization in the French public research system with overlapping bio-inspired robotics, autonomous systems, and human-machine interaction research, and a TIRREX consortium partner.
• Imperial College London - Department of Bioengineering: Academic department integrating biomechanics, biomaterials, and neurotechnology; comparable to ISM's BMI team in medical-device and rehabilitation-oriented research.
• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems: Public research institute combining materials science, biomechanics, and autonomous/intelligent systems; comparable scale and multi-disciplinary integration spanning bio-inspired robotics, perception, and movement science.
• GIPSA-lab (CNRS UMR 5216): French CNRS research laboratory on signal, image, and autonomous systems; project lead for the TIRREX infrastructure program and direct research collaborator with ISM on robotics and human-machine interaction.
• ETH Zürich - Sensory Motor Systems Lab: Academic research group focused on biomechanics, motor control, and wearable/robotic assistive technologies; directly comparable to ISM's BMI and DynamiCC teams on quantitative movement analysis.

Peers

• Italian Institute of Technology (IIT): Public research foundation combining robotics, bioengineering, and neuroscience with technology-transfer platforms; highly comparable to ISM in its integration of bio-inspired robotics, biomechanics, and translational industry programs.

Broad incumbents

• Fraunhofer Institute: Germany's applied research organization with an explicit technology-transfer-to-industry model and audited platforms; comparable to ISM's PFT Aix and AFNOR-labeled approach, though at much greater scale.
• MIT CSAIL: Major university research lab on AI and robotics including bio-inspired locomotion, perception, and human-robot interaction; broader scope than ISM but with overlapping movement/robotics research themes.
• CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives): Large French public research organization with broad programs in robotics, embedded systems, and biomedical technologies; TIRREX consortium partner and a much larger incumbent offering overlapping capabilities as part of a wider portfolio.

Emerging players

• Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Robotics: University institute focused on experiential and bio-inspired robotics with industry translation; a smaller, newer entrant with overlapping research themes and industry partnership model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Institutdessciencesdumouvement/featured
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/institut-des-sciences-du-mouvement
• Instagraminstagram.com/cnrs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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