Renewable Energy: PUI Connects Businesses at the Energaïa Trade Show
On December 11 and 12, 2024, the University Innovation Hub (PUI), bringing together key players from the academic, research, and socio-economic sectors in Montpellier, presented its very first booth at the Energaïa trade show. The goal: to foster new synergies with the business community and highlight its most dynamic research and laboratories in the field of sustainable energy.
Within the University Innovation Cluster (PUI), renewable energy is one of the most strategic priorities. On December 11 and 12, 2024, a group of its representatives stopped by the Energaïa trade show to give visitors a glimpse of the projects currently underway, showcasing the collaborative spirit within the PUI.
Supporting the energy transition
The PUI’s participation in this event, which attracted nearly 22,000 people this year, had three main objectives. First, to highlight the PUI’s tools “and the diversity and complementarity of the partners present, such as the University of Montpellier,INRAE, CIRAD, the CNRS, and Satt AxLR,” explains Guilhem Thomasset, a technology transfer engineer at the CNRS and coordinator of the “renewable energy” thematic roadmap within the PUI. Another focus was on showcasing the skills and expertise of research laboratories, “witha view to initiating collaborations.” Finally, throughout the fair, the PUI sought to highlight UM’s academic programs and the pool of students who could potentially be of interest to companies in the sector.
Key insights
Phillipe Combette, Vice President of the University of Montpellier in charge of partnerships and innovation, was also present at the booth. He had the opportunity to discuss topics such as“floating offshore,”“dynamic cables,”“hydrogen,” and “photovoltaics ." In particular, they discussed the Mega Sète project led by SolarinBlue, which involves creating a one-megawatt-peak offshore solar farm off the coast of the port of Sète-Frontignan, with a view to future commercial deployment. Ultimately, it could target port areas, islands, or floating wind farms, for example.
Throughout the day, four laboratories specializing in electronics, chemistry, and materials also came to share their innovations. The Charles Gerhardt Institute of Montpellier (ICGM) presented HydrogenLab, a laboratory co-created with Michelin to develop new materials for fuel cell cores and electrolyzers using innovative processes. The research director at the European Institute of Membranes (IEM), shared the initial details of the E-ethylene project, which aims to “produce ethylene from CO2 via electro-reduction .”
The Marcoule Institute of Separative Chemistry (ICSM) has finally provided some insight into the battery recycling project it is conducting in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. On the second day, conference attendees explored the expertise of Géosciences Montpellier, from its geothermal work to its Eastern Lights project, which focuses onCO2 storage and transport. Atthe BioWooEB Unit, the focus was on the Bio4Africa agricultural diversification project , while the Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology (LBE) presented its Bio2E platform (environmental biotechnology and biorefinery), open to collaborations with academic, institutional, and industrial partners to convert agricultural, industrial, and urban waste into biogas and other forms of bioenergy.
The PUI Reflex in Montpellier
“This was a first. The PUI is a new coordination tool for public institutions in the Montpellier area, designed to support collaborative research, technology transfer, and business creation. We need to raise awareness of it, ” insists Guilhem Thomasset. Ultimately, he hopes that companies facing a technological impasse will instinctively turn to the PUI and foster new collaborations. “If, at the end of this type of event, we succeed in establishing collaborations with the companies in attendance, it will be a resounding success, ” the engineer continues. The near future will tell.