ICM2022

University of Strasbourg

Alain Beretz

President

Mr. Shigefumi Mori

President of the Executive

Committee

International Mathematical

Union

Strasbourg, 23 October 2015

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing in relation to France’s and Paris’ bid to organize the International

Congress of Mathematicians, a respected and renowned highlight in international

mathematical research, in 2022. On behalf of the University of Strasbourg, I would

like to tell you that we are very keen on hosting the International Mathematical

Union’s General Assembly preceding it, and committed to providing the best

conditions for your meeting.

The University of Strasbourg can look back on a legacy spanning almost five

centuries and on numerous eminent scholars who have put it in the prominent position

it enjoys today. This university willingly embraces its European and international

vision. It caters to more than 46,000 students each year, and 20% of them are from

outside France. It has 2,500 doctoral students and 4,600 teaching researchers and

other staff, in its 37 academic and research units and 73 research units. This

multidisciplinary university conducts world-class research and is in 83

position on

the Shanghai Ranking. Three working Nobel Prize winners – Jean-Marie Lehn

(Chemistry, 1987), Jules Hoffmann (Physiology or Medicine, 2011) and Martin

Karplus (Chemistry, 2013) – work side by side with many European Research

Council (ERC) grant-holders and researchers commended by the Institut Universitaire

de France (IUF), striving for excellence together. The University of Strasbourg has

furthermore earned Initiative d’Excellence status on France’s forward-looking

investment program, and is home to 11 laboratories of excellence (LABEXes)

including IRMIA, the Institut de Recherche en Mathématiques, Interactions et

Applications.

This University’s strategic vision is aimed at stepping “Beyond Frontiers”. This

means frontiers between disciplines, frontiers between research and training, frontiers

that tend to separate the scientific world from the economic, professional and cultural

worlds, and geographic frontiers, whichever they may be. This collective challenge is

one that our entire community is rising to together.

The University’s future is being shaped by its unique position in the Upper Rhine

region. From a geographic perspective, this region is at the frontier between France,

Germany and Switzerland. This region is in a strategic position at the center of

Europe, and has achieved outstanding levels of performance in the fields of

innovation, education and research on international scenes. Strasbourg is also home to

leading French, European and international institutions, and a European cross-border

campus, encompassing 5 universities, 160,000 students and 20,000 researchers and

teaching researchers, is currently being created.

The University of Strasbourg is a member of the League of European Research

Universities, which I have been honored to chair since 2013.

It is for all these reasons that the University of Strasbourg would be delighted and

honored to host the International Mathematical Union’s General Assembly in 2022,

prior to the International Congress of Mathematics.

Your contact at the University of Strasbourg will be Professor Yann Bugeaud, the

Director of the Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée (IRMA). He and the

Vice-President for Research will provide you with all the information and anything

else you need to prepare this event and to ensure it unfurls flawlessly.

I hope that you choose to discuss our bid in more detail and look forward to hearing

about your decision.

Yours sincerely,

Alain Beretz