Spotlight on innovation leaders
The University of Montpellier and its 15 partners in the I-SITE MUSE project "Montpellier University of Excellence" organized, with the support of the Occitanie Region, an after-work event dedicated to innovation on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier. In the presence of Hind Emad, Vice President for Economic and Digital Development of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, congratulated the winners of the 2020 MUSE Innovation Award, researchers who have distinguished themselves in the emergence of ideas that have opened up new economic, technological, or societal avenues for new uses.
The MUSE Innovation Award to promote new ideas
Since 2018, the MUSE project has established an Innovation Award to honor researchers, teacher-researchers, Professors staff at MUSE member institutions who are at the heart of innovation initiatives.
The jury for the second edition of the Innovation Award, chaired by Christophe DERAIL, Vice President of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, met on Friday, October 16, 2020. A total of 21 applications were received from the five research centers of Montpellier University of Excellence. After deliberation, the jury selected the five most outstanding applications in terms of impact, innovation, and novelty.
The five winners of the "2020 MUSE Innovation Award" are:
- Claude GRISON, Director of the ChimEco joint research unit, for her research work on ecocatalysis, an essential technology in ecology and green industrial chemistry, with a view to creating ecological, economic, and social value from scientific findings.
- Franck MOLINA, Director of the Sys2diag joint research unit, for his work on the design of diagnostic testing methods that do not require a laboratory, and more specifically for his invention of the first SARS-CoV-2 saliva test, EASYCOV.
- Mikhael BECHELANY, researcher at the European Institute for Membranes (IEM) for his work on multifunctional inorganic membranes and, in particular, their applications in the fields of energy, the environment, and health.
- Philippe POIGNET, Director of the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics (LIRMM) for his work related to retinal surgery, specifically through a medical device incorporating an assistance robot for microsurgery. This remote-controlled macro-micro robotic platform enables more precise and safer surgical procedures.
- Simon de CHARENTENAY, Professor Center for Comparative Constitutional and Political Studies and Research (CERCOP) for his work on the legal theory and practice of Blockchain.
The 2021 edition of the Innovation Awards has been launched
This festive after-work event, organized to promote exchanges between researchers and stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem, provided an opportunity to announce the launch of a new edition of the Innovation Awards. Registration for the 2021 edition is now open, and applications can be submitted online via the I-SITE MUSE project website before October 22, 2021. Following a selection process based on the applications, five winners from the MUSE research clusters will receive a personal prize of €3,000.