The programme PRESTIGE stands for PRES Towards International Gain of Excellence. It is a grant programme which main aim is to attract foreign researchers to do research work and undertake training in various institutions of the Clusters (PRES) of the two participating French Regions: Region Rhône-Alpes and Region Midi-Pyrénées. Its goal is also to send abroad some of the promising young researchers, from the two Regions, so that they participate in international research activities at the highest level.PRESTIGE is based on incoming and outgoing mobility initiatives that already exist in the Regions, participating in the proposal, but combines them into an innovative programme of much larger size covering a very broad range of research fields. It helps to create a network enabling the research fellow to choose freely the research topic, destination and research group and favours with cross-fertilization exchanges between researchers.PRESTIGE has the following main objectives of:• Promoting interdisciplinary research cooperation with young talents;• Boosting employment in R&D;• Increasing the competitiveness of the participating Regions;• Increasing the visibility at international level of regional initiatives so as to structure the European Research Area (ERA).PRESTIGE is composed of the following partners:• Campus France, the Coordinator;• CPU, the Conference of French Rectors;• The Region Rhône-Alpes and its Clusters of Higher Education and Research (PRES) called “Université de Grenoble” and “Université de Lyon”;• The Région Midi-Pyrénées and its Cluster of Higher Education and Research (PRES) named “Université de Toulouse”.PRESTIGE is planned for 5 years (4th quarter 2013 – 4th quarter 2018) and is based on an academic duration of four years (four main calls for fellows will be launched). The programme has an overall budget of 24 944 000 €, 60% of which will be financed by regional sources, public bodies and private companies.