Esterel EDA

Is there a connection between Esterel Studio™ and the public Esterel from X, Y, Z university?

Yes, indeed, there is an active Esterel academic community. Version 5 of the Esterel language definition is public. Some universities and companies have even designed Esterel tools and compilers for different application domains (robots, telecom devices, etc.). Thanks to Esterel's precise and formal definition, Esterel programs always have the same behavior no matter who makes the tool.

More recently, Esterel Technologies released Version 7 of the language, to support hardware design and synthesis. Moreover, it has initiated a process to make this version public by sponsoring the IEEE standardization process.