"Many of the universities and research institutions are centred in the capital area, as is usual in many
other countries. But there are quite a few important research units in other parts of France as well.
The leading institution in the field of information and communication, the laboratory of GRESEC,
is located in the city of Grenoble, which is situated in the Alps region […].

Outside the capital of France, the most well-known research institution is situated in Grenoble: the
laboratory of GRESEC (Groupe de recherche sur les enjeux de la communication). The laboratory is part of
the Institut de la Communication et des Médias (l'Unité de Formation et de Recherche (UFR) des Sciences de la
communication) within the Université Stendhal, Grenoble3. The institute was officially founded in 1975,
when Infocom was established as a discipline by the CNU. The most famous professor of GRESEC
is Bernard Miège, who is among the most cited of Infocom scholars in France and who is also
known abroad in the field of cultural industries and the Habermasian theory of public sphere. The
“Grenoble school” has a central position in researching the field of cultural industries in France, and
much of its influence comes from German and American studies. The research corresponds to
Anglo-Saxon idea of developing the ideas of the Frankfurt school. Miège has served as the director
of the Grenoble research group for many years, but recently retired. Today the laboratory is directed
by Professor Isabelle Pailliart.

The laboratory has about 30 teacher-researchers (5 professors, 25 maîtres de conference), 60 professional
teachers (intervenants), 600 students and doctoral students (60). The main orientation of GRESEC
follows the emergence, development, and social implications of modern communication media. This
orientation also takes into account the changes in the social and cultural mediations that are
increasingly commercial and industrial, interactivity, multi-modality, and the signification of devices
offered to user-consumers. The laboratory is organised around four main focus areas:

1. Industrialisation of information and culture (ICI). The evolution of information and culture
from various aspects (cultural, socio-political, social, and economic), the social logic directing
the social actors. The progressive emergence of the networks of communication accelerated
by the movement of industrialisation and branding.
2. Changes in the public space: communication, territories, and organisations (MEP). Public
space, techniques of politics of communication. The field work is varied, ranging from local
media to political communication of territorial collectivities to scientific communication and
corporate communication.
3. Multimedia and interactive writings : production and uses. (EMIPU). Digital technology of
information and communication (TICN), especially the domain of learning
4. Information and communication (CRISTAL). Automatic processing of language, essentially
French, linguistic approach. (http://w3.u-grenoble3.fr/gresec/.)" [...]

"The questions of globalisation and cultural identity are also important topics for research, which are
often studied within an orientation focused on cultural industries or cultural communication. The
critical approach has a steady position in French intellectual thinking, and theories of the political
economy of communication and theories of public sphere and democracy are popular. The media
and communication system is studied as part of the cultural industry or public space, thus not
necessarily as an independent research object. Important institutions in this area are the GRESEC in Grenoble 3 and the co-operation project of Paris 13 Nord, Paris 8, and Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris Nord."

"Indeed, there are a few institutions that have a longer tradition of contract
research, and interestingly enough, they are also among the most respected institutions for their
theoretical work. For example, the Centre for the Sociology of Innovations, Centre de Sociologie
d’Innovations (CSI) in the L’école des Mines in Paris, which does also research in the field of
communication, conducts a great deal of research on a contractual basis. So does the most wellknown researcher in the group, Bruno Latour, who is internationally recognised for his strong theoretical works, which have been translated into several languages. The same applies to the GRESEC in Grenoble and its famous long-term leader Bernard Miège. Contract research is part of the laboratory culture: empirical data and experience gained in partner projects are seen as enriching
theoretical research, because the empirical findings validate the theoretical concepts. In the 1980s
the big contracts with France Télécom helped to stabilise posts in the laboratories. GRESEC has
contracts, for example, with different governmental ministries (e.g., education, culture, and road
security), territorial collectives and the county hospital, as well as with a local telecommunications
operator (for second- and third-generation mobile phone services) in the private sector. Financing
from contracts has allowed the research laboratories to employ more researchers, obtain financing
for doctoral students, provide students with contacts in the empirical field, and send them to both
national and international conferences. GRESEC has also been able to establish a documentation
centre for communication studies, and the external funding has allowed them to organise workshops
and scientific encounters, in a word, to animate the scientific community."