Nantes Métropole is made up of 24 communes, covers an area of 52,336 hectares and counts 600,000 inhabitants. It is governed by an assembly comprising 97 members who are elected directly by public vote. The assembly is chaired by Johanna Rolland.
As part of its goal for higher education and research, it aims to:
- attract internationally renowned foreign researchers by supporting strategic laboratories and institutes (IEA, IRT, MSH);
- promote Nantes as a centre of expertise (science events, PhD grants, etc.);
- foster private research and boost public research;
- position the Nantes-Angers-Le Mans university cluster (Pôle de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur) as a national research organisation;
- place Nantes conurbation on the European research map.
Nantes Métropole co-finances some of the work carried out by the West Creative Industries initiative.
