French companies are investing more and more in Brazil. This made it all the more important to pursue what had been started in the early 90s with UNICAMP, the University of Campinas. The year 2000 saw double degree systems set up with PUC in Rio de Janeiro, the Sao Paulo University Polytechnic and UFC Fortaleza. This was a Centrale Intergroup initiative, and was later extended to the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre) and to UNICAMP.

In December 2002, Ghilhem de Nucé became the first engineer to get a double degree from a European university (Centrale Lyon) and a Brazilian university (U.S.P. Sao Paulo). By 2003, half a dozen French and Brazilian students got double Centrale Lyon - Brazilian degrees.

Research collaboration is ongoing with these partner universities, and also with others such as the Federal University of Minas Gerai and the University of Brasilia.