P2IO is one of the 100 laboratories of excellence (LabEx) approved by the government in March 2011 as part of the Investments for the Future funded by the 2010 Grand Emprunt and extended in 2020 for a period of 5 years.
The LabEx brings together the laboratories of the Paris-Saclay Campus involved in the physics of the infinitely small, the infinitely large and the study of the conditions of appearance of life.
The partner laboratories and teams come under the supervision of 5 tutelage: CEA, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay, and Université de Paris and is organized as a network of 17 laboratories belonging to the following units : IJCLab, IPHT, Irfu, CPHT, LLR, IAS, SERMA.
P2IO brings together 2000 people, including 1000 researchers and teacher-researchers, belonging to world leading laboratories representing 25% of original physics, 40% of subatomic physics, 90% of gas pedal science in France.
It covers a broad spectrum of disciplines: particle physics, nuclear physics, astroparticles and astrophysics, combining experience and theory, gas pedal science and instrumentation. Its scientific priorities are structured around 4 scientific themes: Symmetries in the subatomic world; Dark Universe and multi-messenger astronomy; Strongly coupled nuclear matter; Formation of stellar and planetary systems, conditions for the emergence of life, 3 technological themes: Innovations in accelerator science and related spin-offs; Advanced detectors and spin-offs; Simulation and knowledge extraction from complex data and two interdisciplinary themes: Energy: Nuclear energy for the future; Medical technologies: Imaging and radiotherapy.
The principles of P2IO aim to encourage innovative initiatives by broadening collaborations between its members, to set up common platforms and to promote training actions. The 2015-2018 period saw the launch and deployment of 5 Emblematic projects for a global budget of 3.2M€. 4 of these projects were successfully completed in 2019. The last one was stopped prematurely. In 2020, two large-scale projects (Flagship Projects) started, each with a budget of 1M€.
