To offer its laboratories the support needed to develop their research projects with companies, École Centrale de Lyon created its first research-promotion body in 1985. It took the form of an internal department, the Research Partnerships and Promotion Office. In 1993, the institute created another private law structure, Centrale Innovation, to enhance its connections with industrial partners.
More recently in 2014, Centrale Lyon joined other education and research institutions from the Lyon and Saint-Étienne areas to create a Technology Transfer Acceleration Office (SATT) called ‘Pulsalys’.