Mehdi GmarDirector of CNRS Innovation
Mehdi Gmar became the director of CNRS Innovation on June 1st 2022. He has a diploma in engineering physics (1995 - ENSPG PHELMA) and a doctorate in nuclear instrumentation (2000 - CEA). He began his career at the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) where he spent 20 years in management positions in the field of instrumentation research and then technological research for business innovation. His next career move brought him closer to the institutional ecosystem made up of public actors and French regions when he was appointed deputy programme director for 'research technology transfer' at the General Secretariat for Investment in 2016. He returned to the CEA in 2019 as director of its technology research unit, CEA Tech. In 2021, he was appointed as a research and industry advisor to Frédérique Vidal, the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
Missions
CNRS Innovation's role is to protect the intellectual property rights linked to CNRS laboratories's results through a portfolio of patents and software which it manages and ensure the transfer of these results to the socio-economic sphere. It is responsible for the CNRS pre-maturation programme and for RISE, the organisation's support programme for start-ups.