User:Colapeninsula/Nantes Institute for Advanced Studies

The Nantes Institute for Advanced Studies or IAS-Nantes (in French, L’Institut d’Etudes Avancées de Nantes) is a higher education institute in the city of Nantes, France, established in 2008 on the model of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin and Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Each year, thirty scholars, writers, and artists, many from the developing world, are appointed as fellows and attend the institute where they are able to work and exchange ideas.

History
Alain Supiot of the University of Nantes proposed to the government of Lionel Jospin the creation of an Institute for Advanced Studies in Paris based on the German model. However this suggestion was rejected. A few years later, he was asked by Jean-Marc Ayrault, then mayor of Nantes, for proposals to improve the city's cultural standing, and he again suggested an institute, this time in Nantes. Thus in 2004, Supiot began work to create IAS-Nantes, which was established by decree in 2008. Its founding members were Nantes Métropole and the water company Veolia Eau. In January 2009 it welcomed its first 20 fellows.