Winners of the 21-22 Innovation Awards Take Center Stage
At the invitation of the University of Montpellier and its partners in the I-SITE program of excellence, members of the innovation ecosystem gathered at the Village des Sciences on Tuesday, October 18, for thethird edition of the Innovation Afterwork event. Five researchers engaged in innovative projects that are opening up new economic, technological, or societal avenues for new applications were honored with the 2021–2022 Innovation Awards.
Before the awards ceremony, Philippe Augé, president ofUM Philippe Combette, vice president in charge of partnerships and innovation, announced the upcoming launch of athird campaign to support the establishment of new partnerships. These partnerships involve bringing in new employees from companies or individuals with business start-up projects into research organizations through the “Companies on Campus” program . Stay tuned.
The jury, chaired by Franck Molina, director of SyS2Diagand winner of the 2020 Innovation Award, selected one nominee for each of the five research clusters. Of the 24 applications, only those that were most outstanding in terms of impact, innovation, and recency were selected. The winners received a personal prize of 3,000 euros, presented by Philippe Combette and Magali Roubieu, director of strategic projects atUM. Xavier Garric, Professor winner of the 2019 Innovation Award, shared his success story as co-founder and scientific advisor to WOMED, a company specializing in the treatment of female infertility.
The five 2021 Innovation Awards are:
Biology and Health Division
Alain THIERRY, Researcher at Inserm (UMR IRCM – Montpellier Research Institute)
Alain Thierry is currently anInsermResearch Director at the IRCM and leads the “Precision Medicine Biomarkers in Oncology” team. Fifteen years ago, he began fundamental research on circulating DNA, which quickly revealed significant potential for clinical applications and innovations. Today, this research makes it possible to determine treatment options, detect residual disease after surgery, monitor for recurrence, and identify treatment resistance. Alain Thierry’s team is considered one of the world’s leading teams in this field.
Social Sciences Division
Sophie SPRING, Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Montpellier (UMR MRM – Montpellier Research Management)
Sophie Spring has designed a serious game aimed at raising awareness among aspiring entrepreneurs about the challenges of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR). Incubagame is a free game, open to everyone, that can be downloaded on a computer, phone, or tablet. Players can play as many times as they like and have access to simple, user-friendly educational resources. The goal of the game is to explore key aspects of starting a business—such as whether the project is a good fit for the entrepreneur, market positioning, and legal and financial structuring—while incorporating CSR considerations from the very beginning of the project development phase.
Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, and Systems
Vincent CREUZE, Professor the University of Montpellier (UMR LIRMM – Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics)
Vincent Creuze’s work focuses on the “small” underwater robots weighing less than 100 kg that were designed atthe LIRMM. These innovations are now used on a daily basis by French archaeologists at depths of up to 2,500 meters, both for scientific missions focused on the study and preservation of cultural heritage and for missions in the public interest. Vincent Creuze has been working since 2014 in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research. Thanks to these innovations, France is currently the first country to use specialized underwater archaeological robots on a daily basis. This French expertise in deep-sea archaeology is recognized worldwide by archaeologists and scientists and has received significant media coverage.
Agronomy – Environment – Biodiversity Division
Magali GIES, Postdoctoral Researcher at CIRAD (UMR Qualisud)
Magali Gies, pictured at the awards ceremony, completed her dissertation in 2019 at the University of Montpellier, during which she developed a functional food made from fermented, probiotic, plant-based grains that has cholesterol-lowering potential thanks to the addition of phytosterols. Malnutrition and overnutrition are global issues that affect all populations, regardless of socioeconomic background. This food product is therefore intended for populations in newly industrialized countries, where the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is growing exponentially. Today, Magali Gies is continuing her research through the PROMET project (funded by MUSE) as a postdoctoral researcher atCIRAD.
Chemistry Division
Habib BELAID, Postdoctoral Researcher at the CNRS (UMR IEM European Institute of Membranes)
Habib Belaid is a postdoctoral researcher atthe European Institute of Membranes(IEM) in Montpellier. His work focuses on the synthesis and characterization of biomaterials for healthcare applications. His research has led to the development of new formulations of printable composite materials with biocompatible and bioresorbable properties, as well as bioactive and antibacterial properties. The launch of a new product and service will help address a major health challenge in the field of bone tissue engineering in dentistry and oncology.