https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-vivatech-2024

The CNRS at Vivatech 2024

March 22, 2024

Innovation

The CNRS, a key actor in deeptech, will once again be present at Vivatech, Europe’s largest annual tech gathering entirely dedicated to innovation from 22-25 May 2024. The organisation’s experts and partners, along with representatives from start-ups that originated from laboratories under the supervisory authority of the CNRS, will participate in this new edition, exchanging with the public and presenting groundbreaking technologies in the fields of health, sustainable development, space, and the digital revolution.

The stand

4 major topics embodied by 10 start-ups that originate from research conducted in laboratories under the supervisory authority of the CNRS:

Space

Ion-X develops and produces ion thrusters for satellites.
Aldoria designs orbital information systems that provide a complete understanding of the space environment in real time.

Digital revolution

Biomemory, a global leader in DNA storage and an iconic actor in Greentech, is revolutionising the digital landscape with a DNA storage solution combining performance, durability, and minimal environmental impact.
QPerfect has developed a high-fidelity quantum simulator allowing software producers and developers to test and optimise their platforms and applications.

Health

Vect-Horus has developed a technology platform specialising in molecular vectors that target specific receptors, a groundbreaking innovation for crossing the blood-brain barrier.
Hephaïstos Pharma is developing an immunotherapy treatment against incurable and metastatic cancers.
Tafalgie Therapeutics is developing the first medicine whose mechanism of action is derived from an endogenous secretory protein that can modulate pain signals, with neither dependence nor tolerance.

Sustainable development

Naïo Technologies produces agricultural and viticultural robots that solve labour problems and reduce the use of weedkillers.
Lactips is developing an innovative thermoplastic material based on the milk protein casein, one that uses no microplastics, is biodegradable in the space of a few days in all environments, and is also soluble in water (even up to 10-15°C).
Mecaware offers a solution for the extraction of metals in a closed loop, with no inputs that impact the environment, no production of effluents, and no particular energy requirements.

CNRS Innovation and Prospective Talks

An expansive programme of round-tables, bringing together CNRS scientists and representatives from the innovation ecosystem, will mark the first three days of the gathering.

Wednesday, Mai 22th

11h – 11h45 :
Generative AI and innovation: an always winning combination?
Generative AI, a concrete innovation that is pervasive in our society, is causing radical changes in uses and occupations. A concrete illustration of basic research, the Jean Zay supercomputer has garnered wide attention, and is helping to develop generative AI. But does one innovate more and better with AI?

Speakers :

Adeline Nazarenko, CNRS Computer Sciences director
Christophe Cerisara, CNRS researcher at the Lorraine Research Laboratory in Computer Science and its Applications
Romuald Elie, AI research team lead at Google Deepmind

14h – 14h45 :
Profits and societal impact: what technology transfer model for free software?
Academic research produces numerous software programs whose dissemination could prove beneficial well beyond the walls of laboratories. Free software? Open source? Numerous technology transfer strategies are possible, but they diverge from the usual patterns.

Speakers :

Isabelle Blanc, chief data and software officer au MESR
Alexandre Zapolsky, president of Linagora
Pierre-Henri Wuillemin, lecturer and researcher in artificial intelligence, decision mathematics and data science at LIP6 (CNRS / Sorbonne University)
Mehdi Gmar, CEO of CNRS Innovation

15h30 – 16h15 :
High-risk research and groundbreaking innovation: when basic research creates disruption
The CNRS conducts basic research, and is thus positioned very far upstream in the innovation chain. Its research staff works on subjects that will surpass our current knowledge and revolutionise the society of the future. An insight with speakers who are shaping the world… of tomorrow.

Speakers :

Stéphane Lemaire, scientific director and co-founder of Biomemory, CNRS director of research
Guido Masella, CTO and co-founder of QPerfect
Pr Thomas Ebbesen, director of the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study
Michel de Lempdes, president of France Deeptech

17h – 17h45 :
Public research, a breeding ground for health innovation in the field of therapy
France is Europe’s 3rd most innovative country in the fight against cancer (2024 EPO study). Over the last decade, the rising number of patent applications submitted by French applicants was partially due to developments in immunotherapy and targeted therapy. An overview.

Speakers :

Martine Caroff, CSO and co-founder of Hephaïstos Pharma
Jean-Manuel Péan, CSO of Vect-Horus
Franck Lethimonnier, director of the INSERM Health Technologies Institute, co-director of the PEPR Biotherapies and Bioproduction of Innovative Therapies
Siau Bai, Early Innovation Partnering director, Johnson & Johnson

Thursday, Mai 23th

14h – 14h45 :
From the laboratory to the factory: the challenges of scaling up?
How can the challenges of scaling up be overcome? Funding, expertise, real estate issues… What are the levers and obstacles faced by deeptech start-ups in transitioning from the laboratory to the factory?

Speakers :

Arnaud Villers d’Arbouet, founding partner and CEO of Mecaware
Guy Chichignoud, technical director of ROSI
Massis Sirapian, director of the New Frontiers Division at the General Secretariat for Investment
Vincent Lamande, president of the SATT Ouest Valorisation

15h30 – 16h15 :
Derisking technology: taking stock of 10 years of CNRS support for deeptech projects
The CNRS is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its prematuration programme, which provides funding and support for emerging projects with high innovation potential in their early stages of technological development. This is essential for derisking innovation projects emerging from public research.

Speakers :

Carlos Drummond, CNRS director of research and co-founder of Carbon Waters
Cyrile Deranlot, president of Daumet
Thomas Hiriart, CEO of Ion-X
Yves Matton, CEO and co-founder of Technofounders

17h – 17h45 :
The European Union: boosting innovation emerging from public research?
How does the European Union sustain a dynamic that fosters innovation growing out of public research? Feedback from entrepreneurs who have benefited from European Union funding.

Speakers :

Alain Mermet, director of CNRS Europe and International Department
Sylvie Lorente, associate dean for Research and Innovation, College of Engineering, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA and professor at INSA Toulouse
Amanda Silva Brun, CNRS director of research and co-founder of Everzom.
Dafiné Ravelosona, CTO and co-founder of Spin-Ion Technologies

Friday, Mai 24th

14h – 14h45 :
Public research in the service of innovation in defence and security
Public research is a tremendous breeding ground for meeting our country’s defence and security needs. AI, cybersecurity, quantum technology, health… An overview of innovation that grew out of public research with CNRS partners.

Speakers :

Emmanuel Gardinetti, head of the Defence Expertise and Technologies Department, in charge of innovation at the Defence Innovation Agency
Léo Lefebvre, product manager of Aldoria
Pr Christophe Gaquière, CEO and co-founder of MC2 technologies
Alain Foucaran, professor, deputy scientific director at CNRS Engineering and scientific coordinator of the framework agreement between CNRS and the Defense Innovation Agency

15h30 – 16h15 :
What indicators for reconciling innovation and societal impact?
While the chief indicator on the market remains economic profitability, how can innovation with a social, societal, or environmental impact be supported, encouraged, and assessed? The CNRS is actively involved in this issue, and is launching the first call for proposals dedicated to societal innovation.

Speakers :

Jean-Luc Moullet, CNRS deputy CEO for Innovation
Aziz Moqrich, CNRS director of research and scientific director of Tafalgie thérapeutics
Olivier Palluault, managing director of Scop Ellyx
Amaury Hayat, researcher and professor at l’Ecole des Ponts ParisTech

17h – 17h45 :
Research and innovation in the service of the environmental transition
The French government entrusted the CNRS with managing the Climate, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Societies programme agency. In keeping with the organisation’s commitments in the service of society, many enterprises that emerged from laboratories under its supervisory authority pursue activity connected to the environmental transition. How can this dynamic be supported?

Speakers :

Thomas Beaulaton, business developer at Naïo Technologies
Frédéric Prochazka, scientific director and co-founder of Lactips
Eric Marty, managing partner of Demeter
Elsa Cortijo, executive director of the Climate, Biodiversity and Sustainable Societies programme agency