Innovation competition: 8 Start-ups and PSL Projects Win the 2024 Edition

30 September 2024

On Thursday, September 19, the General Secretariat for Investment, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Directorate General for Enterprises, and Bpifrance honored the winners of the innovation competition (i-PhD, i-Lab & i-Nov).

The i-PhD, i-Lab, and i-Nov competitions support innovation projects at various stages of development. Eight start-ups and innovation projects from or supported by PSL University are among the winners. Congratulations to all!

Three i-PhD Winners:

Launched in 2019 by the government in partnership with Bpifrance, i-PhD is the first tier of these competitions and aims to attract PhD students and young doctors to leverage their work in order to create Deeptech start-ups. They will benefit from 12 months of individual and collective support to explore the full potential of their research topics.

Salvatore Azzolini, i-PhD Winner 2024
Lutèce Dynamics
🧪 Langevin Institute - Vision Institute
🏫 ESPCI Paris - PSL, Sorbonne University, CNRS, INSERM

The project aims to develop and market a label-free microscopy module for the functional tracking of 3D cultures of human cells and complex tissues, compatible with any commercial microscope. After nearly 10 years of research, our technology can now measure a metabolic signal via fluctuations in light scattered by cellular organelles. Our main application is the longitudinal analysis of 3D human cell cultures, organoids, to test the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs while reducing the number of samples used.

Charles de Dampierre, i-PhD Winner 2024
Bunka
🧪 Jean Nicod Institute, Department of Cognitive Studies, ENS-PSL
🏫 ENS-PSL, CNRS, EHESS

Professionals spend a lot of time searching for relevant information within their organizations. Thanks to recent advances in language models, it is now possible to deploy AI assistants that integrate with company data and streamline this process. However, the information used to feed these systems lacks transparency, is uncategorized, and poorly cleaned. Bunka leverages the latest advancements in cognitive sciences and AI to develop efficient and auditable B2B assistants, focusing on refining the data ingested by the system, from internal company data to external data used to train language models.

Marion Négrier, i-PhD Winner 2024
TEX UP
🧪 Material Forming Center
🏫 Mines Paris - PSL, CNRS

Today, only a very small proportion of textile waste is recycled due to constraints related to the complex composition of fiber blends and the presence of certain disruptors (accessories, finishes). Half of this waste is composed of cellulose, a natural polymer and excellent candidate for material development. TexUp aims to develop new bio-based and recyclable materials through a process of dissolving the cellulose contained in this waste, to replace certain plastics in fashion, furniture, decoration, and more.

Three i-Lab Start-up winners:

Another part of the innovation competition, i-Lab highlights public research results through the creation of innovative companies. It funds the best research and development projects with up to €600,000 per project.

Lyflow - Oria Bioscience
👤 Alexandre Santinho
🏫 ENS – PSL / CNRS

Purification of organelles in microfluidics to boost drug discovery by providing access to intracellular therapeutic targets.

Release - i|ion Water Tech
👤 Lucie Ries
🏫 ENS – PSL / CNRS

i|ion develops a new generation of easily deployable, cost-effective, and more sustainable desalination solutions to preserve water resources.

Syntopia
👤 Adrien Rennesson
🏫 ESPCI Paris - PSL / CNRS

Syntopia accelerates the search for therapeutic solutions for rare diseases through a proprietary platform that combines microfluidic tools and artificial intelligence models.

Two PSL Start-up i-Nov Winners:

The i-Nov competition supports innovation projects with particularly strong potential for the French economy, led by start-ups and SMEs, in order to foster the emergence of leading companies in their fields with global ambitions.

The projects concerned involve research, development, and innovation, with total costs ranging from €1 million to €5 million and lasting between 12 and 36 months.

Embodme
👤 Edgar Hemery

SuperIRIS is the first interactive screen that works with both touch and touchless technology. Allowing for more natural, accessible, and hygienic interaction, this interactive screen is designed to replace traditional touchscreens in public spaces and digital industries.

Embodme develops near-field vision sensors for human-machine interfaces. The Parisian start-up launched its first product in 2020: an innovative musical controller used by renowned artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Coldplay before moving into the interactive display market.

Kleep
👤 Federico Fortis
Founded in 2021, Kleep is an emerging generative AI company serving e-commerce. By developing B2B technological solutions, its mission is to help e-retailers reduce the number of returned items and thus achieve more profitable and sustainable e-commerce activities.

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