PhD Innovation Week: Testing Your Ability to Innovate
In early December 2024, PhD student Logan Chevret participated in the PhD Innovation Week. A sort of real-world exercise, he gained valuable experience in technical advice and practical application, with the ultimate goal of starting his own business.
If he had any doubts, he is now even more convinced: after finishing his studies, Logan Chevret would like to try his hand at entrepreneurship. “I’ve always been drawn to the practical applications of chemical research, ” says the doctoral student, who participated in the very first edition of PhD Innovation Week, held December 2–5, 2024, and organized by the University of Montpellier—the lead institution of the University Innovation Cluster—the doctoral college, and the Technology Transfer Acceleration Company ( SATT AxLR) of Montpellier. Together with a group of student volunteers, he practiced assessing the potential of innovative research and testing its potential transfer to the market. Inspired by the “Doctoriales,” this full-scale exercise is ultimately intended to raise awareness among students nearing the end of their studies about starting a business.
Currently pursuing a CIFRE thesis that bridges the academic and industrial worlds, the young man is spending his final year of study partly atthe Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier (ICGM) and partly at the Saint-Gobain research center in Paris. On a daily basis, he is therefore working hard to find solutions to “reduce the company’s carbon footprint.” This is a major industrial need, which he is attempting to address in two ways: by successfully recycling resins already on the market, and by replacing them in the long term with new, easily recyclable, low-carbon-impact resins.
A real eye-opener
The doctoral student is expected to finish his dissertation, which he began three years ago, by this fall. After that, he plans to eventually start his own business. “I’ve always enjoyed working on concrete projects. You have an idea, and gradually, you test its industrial applications, potentially all the way to the factory floor. We have the opportunity to support the project at every stage, from conception to completion, ” summarizes Logan Chevret.
For people like him, PhD Innovation Week was a real eye-opener. That week, some thirty doctoral researchers diverse backgrounds gathered at the University of Montpellier’s Boutonnet campus “with a shared desire to explore the business world, ” Logan explains. Numerous experts were on hand to assist them and walk them through the key steps. “For example, we learned how to pitch a product or launch a fundraising campaign…”
Assessing the feasibility of a project from start to finish
Divided into several groups, the students then put themselves in the shoes of a researcher about to launch their own startup based on a patent. “We were assigned an active but still unexploited patent that SATT AxLR had not yet commercialized. These were patents that had not yet led to the creation of a startup or a product. The goal was therefore to come up with a way to exploit this asset and monetize it,” continues Logan Chevret, who specifically worked on the Tumor Cell asset.
Filed 17 years ago, this patent is designed to detect cancerous tumors at an early stage through a blood test. “We chose this patent because we were interested in its potential,” adds the doctoral student, who then took part in the presentation at the end of the week. “The idea was to detail every stage of our project, from its implementation through to the creation of a company. We asked ourselves whether we should develop other patents in parallel. But also whether it would be wiser to set up an analysis lab to process our samples ourselves, or whether we should instead work in collaboration with hospitals. We also looked into the possibility of funding from Social Security. And then we tried to quantify the cost of each step…”
Alongside Satt-AxLr, the incubators Initium, the Bic de Montpellier, the Bic Innov’up in Nîmes, and Pepite-LR were also in attendance. It was an opportunity for Logan to make some contacts with the aim of refining his future projects. “It was reassuring; it helped us realize what kinds of support are available to us,” adds the student, who would like to continue working in the environmental sector. “I feel like I’m making a difference. It’s a promising and necessary field…” A new initiative co-sponsored by the University of Montpellier that promises to inspire even more people to pursue entrepreneurship!