In recent years, the Innovators Under 35 awards, which began in the U.S.A in 1999, have expanded to Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, and now France, with other editions in sight. This growth highlights the diversification of Innovation and Entrepreneurship centers, facilitated by networks of information and global communication, which, only a few years ago, were concentrated in few countries.
France is the second European country to have these awards after Spain, which hosted the annual Emtech conference in Malaga in 2011. The fact that this competition is expanding during difficult economic times, demonstrates that there is still an entrepreneurial ecosystem and innovative spirit in Europe.
Twenty experts from different disciplines and countries formed the jury that chose this group of ten talented French innovators:
- Abdennour Abbas. Ultrasensitive Biosensors for medical diagnosis based on artificial antibodies.
- Simon Benmarraze. Compact thermal technology to obtain energy more efficiently and at a lesser cost.
- David Fattal. 3D imaging and video on mobile devices without glasses.
- Pierre-Emmanuel Grange. Daily micro-grants to increase NGO funding.
- Daniel Marhely. Open technology to access music from any device.
- Thibaut Mercey. Rapid detection system of pathogenic bacteria in food.
- Emanuele Orgiu. Hybrid organic materials that can be controlled electrically and optically.
- Etienne Perret. Low cost and sensitive Radio Frequency ID tags
- Massimiliano Salsi. Transoceanic cables to transmit large volumes of data.
- Matthieu Sonnati. Vegetable components for quick drying and ecological paints.
David Fattal received special recognition as Innovator of the Year and Pierre-Emmanuel Grange was the Solidary Innovator of the year.
The first edition of the MIT Innovators under 35 in France had solid support, from people such as ministers, political representatives or relevant figures, demonstrating the commitment of institutions and businesses with entrepreneurship and innovation in Europe.
