LISIS

What LISIS does

LISIS is a French public research laboratory (Unité Mixte de Recherche) headquartered in Marne-la-Vallée, with a secondary site in Noisy-le-Grand. It operates as a multi-institutional consortium hosted by CNRS, INRAE, ESIEE Paris, and Université Gustave Eiffel, under the direction of David Demortain. The lab conducts interdisciplinary research in Science and Technology Studies, innovation studies, sociology, economics, and computational social sciences, serving the academic research community, public policy stakeholders, and international organizations such as the FAO.

The lab's principal technical asset is CorText Manager, a proprietary computational text and data analysis platform used to mine and analyze bibliographic, patent, and other large-scale textual datasets. CorText serves as the lab's primary internal research infrastructure and is associated with the European RISIS research infrastructure. LISIS also produces peer-reviewed publications, policy reports, and the book "Technologies of Discontinuation: Towards Transformative Policies" (2026), and runs a doctoral training program scheduled through November 2026.

LISIS does not operate as a commercial entity. Its business model is that of a publicly funded research unit: funding flows from institutional block grants from its four host institutions, competitively awarded research grants (e.g., European framework programs via RISIS), and project-based contracts with international organizations (e.g., FAO expertise reports on voluntary sustainability standards). There is no disclosed pricing model, revenue stream, or commercial go-to-market activity. The customer base is effectively the lab's institutional sponsors and policy partners, with no observed end-customer concentration outside the public research and policy ecosystem.

Name

LISIS

Legal name

UMR Lisis

Website

https://umr-lisis.fr

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LISIS is a French public research laboratory (UMR) under CNRS, INRAE, ESIEE Paris, and Université Gustave Eiffel, conducting interdisciplinary research in science and technology studies, innovation, and computational social sciences. It serves academia, public policy stakeholders, and international bodies such as the FAO, operating the CorText Manager platform for large-scale text and data analysis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Marne-la-Vallée

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Research Funding: Funded through institutional affiliations with French national research organizations (CNRS, INRAE, ESIEE, Université Gustave Eiffel). Revenue derived from public research grants and institutional funding.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LISIS is a public interdisciplinary research laboratory that conducts academic research on sciences, technologies, and innovation in society. It combines Science and Technology Studies (STS), innovation studies, sociology, economics, management sciences, and computational social sciences, while developing and operating the CorText Manager platform for textual and bibliographic corpus analysis. The laboratory produces peer-reviewed academic publications, expert policy reports for public authorities, and doctoral training programs.

Product overview

LISIS is an interdisciplinary research laboratory (UMR) affiliated with University Gustave Eiffel, CNRS, ESIEE Paris, and INRAE. The laboratory does not operate as a commercial product company but conducts academic research and produces scholarly publications. Its primary analytical platform is CorText Manager, a text and data analysis tool used for corpus analysis in support of research on science, technology, and innovation studies. The lab also produces expert reports, publishes scholarly works, and offers doctoral training programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CorText Manager

Quantifiable outcome

• FAO expertise reports on voluntary sustainability standards
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational research partner and institutional supervisor of LISIS as a mixed research unit (UMR). CNRS provides institutional backing and research framework support.
• INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational research institute co-supervising LISIS and contributing researchers including Research Director Marc Barbier. INRAE supports agricultural, food and environmental research expertise.
• Université Gustave EiffelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMain university host of LISIS providing institutional framework and academic supervision for the research laboratory.
• ESIEE PariscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEngineering school partner providing co-supervision and academic framework for research activities.
• RISIS (Research Infrastructure for Science and Innovation Studies)coreTechnology or IntegrationEuropean research infrastructure project where CorText tools and bibliographic databases are mutualized, supporting standardized data for science and innovation studies.
• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLISIS researcher Allison Loconto contributed expertise reports on voluntary sustainability standards for FAO, examining sustainability standards, science-policy interfaces and impacts on sustainable food systems.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• ITAS — Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis, KIT: German interdisciplinary institute focused on technology assessment, STS and sustainability transitions. Directly comparable to LISIS in combining STS research with policy advice to public authorities.
• Rathenau Instituut: Dutch technology assessment organisation advising parliament and government on science, technology and innovation. Directly comparable as a European STS/policy interface lab serving national and European authorities.
• Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines Paris–PSL: French social-science research lab studying innovation through STS and sociology of techniques. Highly comparable in disciplinary mix and orientation to science, technology and innovation studies.
• INGENIO (CSIC-UPV): Spanish joint research centre studying science, technology and innovation from social-science perspectives. Comparable in interdisciplinary STS/innovation research profile and policy engagement.
• SPRU — Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex: Founded interdisciplinary research centre studying science, technology and innovation policy. Closely comparable to LISIS in combining STS, innovation studies and policy-oriented research with a strong international publication record.
• IFRIS — Institut Francilien Recherche, Innovation et Société: French interdisciplinary research federation on science, innovation and society. Highly comparable as a French STS/innovation research network with similar tutelle-style institutional structure.

Broad incumbents

• Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition: Major German research institute studying innovation and competition law/policy. Comparable on the innovation-policy axis, but with a broader mandate and a more legal/economic orientation than LISIS.
• Fraunhofer ISI — Institute for Systems and Innovation Research: Larger German applied research institute covering innovation systems, foresight and policy analysis. Overlaps with LISIS on innovation studies and policy-facing research, but operates at significantly greater scale and scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/umr-lisis

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about LISIS