Adrien Bilal (X2010), an assistant professor of economics at Stanford University, has been awarded the 2026 Best Young Economist Award. Adrien Bilal’s research focuses on the economic consequences of global warming. Two of the three other economists honored with this award are also alumni of École Polytechnique.
The MSc&T « Visual and Creative Artificial Intelligence » ranks first in its category, the MSc&T « Energy and Environment: Science, Technology & Management » ranks second in its category, and the MSc&T « Internet of Things: Innovation and Management » ranks third in the Innovation Management category. École Polytechnique’s MSc&T program thus reaffirms its success and its ability to meet the expectations of students and their future employers in key fields of the future.
École Polytechnique’s team won the 13th French Physics Tournament. As a result, they have qualified for the International Tournament, which will be hosted in May by Oklahoma State University in the United States.
The start-up Ami Labs (Advanced Machine Intelligence), founded by French researcher Yann LeCun (former Chief Scientist at Meta and winner of the 2018 Turing Award), became a unicorn as soon as it was created. It will be led by Alexandre Lebrun (X1994) and co-founder of the medical AI start-up Nabla. Ami Labs'goal is to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence capable of understanding the world around us: ʻworld modelsʼ.
Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, six second-year Cycle Ingénieur Polytechnicien students participated in the British Model NATO, held on February 25 at the British Foreign Office. This first French participation in the British Model NATO took place as part of the Model NATO course offered by the English section of the School’s Department of Languages and Cultures.
From 23 to 27 February, École Polytechnique organised its first internship for girls enrolled in preparatory classes for science-focused higher education institutions (CPGE), which took place on the school's campus. This initiative, which is without precedent, aims to promote greater gender diversity in engineering schools and, more broadly, in scientific careers. Other courses were also held last month in the CPGE classes of the Clermont-Ferrand academy to further enhance diversity in these fields of excellence.
École Polytechnique hosted the third edition of the international scientific conference “Réflexions,” organized by the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, of which École Polytechnique is a founding member. The Energy4Climate interdisciplinary research center and renowned researchers associated with École Polytechnique—Philippe Drobinski, Céline Guivarch, and Mathieu Xémard—led the roundtable discussions at this third edition.
Named “AI for Markets and Quantitative Investments” (MaQI), this new master's program complements École Polytechnique's AI training offerings. It aims to help position France as a center of excellence in finance training in the age of AI. The program will begin in September 2026.
École Polytechnique has confirmed its top position in the annual ranking of French engineering schools published by the specialist magazine L’Usine Nouvelle. L’X confirmed its top position in two of the four indicator categories in this ranking: internationalization and the integration of its students into professional life. It also secured first place in research, a category in which it ranked third in 2025.
From middle school to higher education, a variety of support measures can be implemented to encourage and assist women in achieving success in science. On Monday, 26 January, Juliette Toumelin (Head of the Equal Opportunities Division within the Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Responsibility Department) and Antigoni Alexandrou (CNRS Research Director at LOB) discussed the mentoring programmes available at École Polytechnique and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
Arthur Mensch (X2011), co-founder and CEO of Mistral, the French AI gem, came to meet École Polytechnique students for a talk on entrepreneurship and the implications of AI, two topics which he addressed by echoing his School's motto: “For the Nation, for Sciences, and for Glory.”
Bertrand Bessagnet, a CNRS Research Director affiliated with École Polytechnique, conducted the first study on air quality modeling at such resolution over Bhutan. Using the cutting-edge CHIMERE model, the research study was conducted in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Law University in Bhutan. The findings of the research study have now been published.