The General Directorate of the Institut National Polytechnique Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY (INP-HB) signed a framework agreement with SIGMA CYLINDERS, one of the largest manufacturers of LPG gas cylinders in the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. This strategic collaboration marks a major step forward in the Institute’s commitment to strengthening the links between academic training and the professional world.

The framework agreement primarily aims to enhance the academic, technical, and professional skills of INP-HB students. In a rapidly evolving industrial environment, INP-HB seeks to provide its students with privileged access to internship opportunities, professional immersion, and high-level collaborative projects. The agreement therefore includes academic and professional internship opportunities for students, the hosting of interns within SIGMA CYLINDERS based on jointly agreed themes, as well as the participation of SIGMA CYLINDERS in the Institute’s academic and educational activities.

INP-HB, faithful to its mission of training scientific and technological elites, commits to providing SIGMA CYLINDERS with students from Logistics, Commerce, Electromechanics, Accounting, and Human Resources programs; involving the company in juries, conferences, seminars, as well as cultural and sports activities organized on its campuses; encouraging the participation of students and teachers in collaborative projects; and contributing to the continuous professional training of SIGMA CYLINDERS staff through the Specialized Training and Executive Development School (EFSPC).

In return, SIGMA CYLINDERS strengthens its position as a company committed to training and innovation. The company undertakes to host students selected by the Institute, organize career conferences and introductory sessions on operational professions for first-year students, conduct awareness campaigns on the use of domestic gas cylinders, finance applied research topics (final-year projects and theses) addressing internal industrial challenges, become a patron of the INP-HB Foundation, and actively participate in the Institute’s educational, cultural, and sports activities.

This agreement is valid for a renewable period of one year.

By combining industrial expertise with academic excellence, this partnership paves the way for increased professionalization of students while allowing SIGMA CYLINDERS access to a pool of highly qualified talent. This initiative reinforces INP-HB’s vision of training engineers, technicians, and executives capable of addressing Africa’s energy, industrial, and technological challenges.