French-American Chamber of Commerce Texas - Magazine BEA2021

celebrating the CleanTech, MedTech & Aerospace rising stars

Discover the vibrant ecosystem of La French Tech Houston and Austin are proud to present the 22 finalists of the first edition of the Business Excellence Awards. Read about the vision of key industry players, innovators and community builders who lead and nurture La French Tech.

Christophe Vuillez has been recently appointed as the new Senior Vice President, Refining & Petrochemicals Americas, and Country Chair for TotalEnergies in the U.S We have the honor to have Christophe as the keynote speaker of the Business Awards Ceremony.

6 questions about intellectual property addressed to Mark Tidwell, Partner at Haynes and Boone.

Georges Hostache, Conseiller du Commerce Exterieur and French Tech Houston representant shares his thoughts and future envision of the French Tech ecosystem.

Discover Celine Tranquillin's journey from childhood to entrepreneur. Celine has lived in both Texas and France, and she is now a Startup Program Manager at the CEA in Grenoble, France.

FRENCH TECH HOUSTON

The French Tech Houston is made up mainly of French entrepreneurs who, in a citizen approach, share their expertise and network at the service of Team France based in Houston (French Consulate, CCEF, Business France, CCIFI), and provide an international relay to the French Tech network

The French Tech's mission is to accelerate the growth of French startups, initiate high-impact projects for the entire local tech ecosystem, and to apply the French Tech roadmap, including Talent & Inclusion, Responsibility & Impact, and Attractiveness & Expansion objectives.

The Business Awards project is the perfect example of the French Tech's ambition as it highlights French innovative companies from the Cleantech, Medtech, and Aerospace industries. The numbers below can illustrate the work that has been done:

80+ challengers and over 200 startups contacted

41 exceptional jurors and 6 live pitch sessions

1,000+ votes received for the people's choice awards

100 VIP guests

And you will discover many more French Tech projects in this edition

For this first ceremony, we have the honor to have Christophe Vuillez, Senior Vice President Refining & Petrochemicals Americas at TotalEnergies, as our keynote speaker TotalEnergies is pioneering the energy transition, and it best voice we could have to match our "Sustainability & Innovation" ceremony theme

Today, the French Tech Austin and Houston work in synergy. The complementary ecosystems and the recent major developments such as the new Apple campus, the relocation of Tesla, the Space X launch base, and the new headquarter of HP are concrete facts of Texas business potential. On top of our well-known strength within the energy industry, the healthcare industry with the world's largest medical center, and top-notch aerospace companies, joining forces was obvious. As the economy recovers we'll find together our way out of the pandemic, and we will be looking with enthusiasm for new opportunities to support our community and achieve common goals

President - French Tech Houston

FRENCH TECH AUSTIN

Created after a meeting during SXSW 2015, French Tech Austin is a network dedicated to promoting the Austin ecosystem to French entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses in the U S With Austin winning recognition as one of the best cities in the U S to launch a tech startup, French Tech Austin’s mission is to coordinate the tremendous resources and supporters in our Austin ecosystem to help French entrepreneurs understand why Austin is a great choice to locate a U.S. office.

In addition, French Tech Austin is promoting France as a land of opportunities for international entrepreneurs who want to start or expand a business in Europe. France has launched many programs and incentives to attract entrepreneurs Americans and Texas companies, in particular, should take advantage of them to diversify and strengthen their business operations

The French Tech Austin initiative has broad support among accelerators, chambers of commerce, SXSW, the City of Austin, as well as tech companies such as Dell

French Tech Austin is delighted to collaborate with FACC on the Business Award on two fronts:

Promoting the Award to tech start-ups in Austin

Welcoming to Austin any award winners willing to discover our ecosystem

President - French Tech Austin

108 French Tech Capitals worldwide

What is la French Tech?

12 French Tech Capitals in the USA including 2 in Texas!

13 French Tech Capitals in France acting as our partners and liaisons

Mission

“La French Tech” is the brand for the French startup scene. It is a movement bringing together startups, investors, policymakers and community builders. Our mission ? To make France one of the greatest places in the world to grow global companies that make sense for our future.

. Learn more

Austin & Houston

2 Communities working together to bridge the thriving Texan Ecosystem with France.

Different organizations serving French interests in Texas share the goal of supporting the French tech initiative. The "Team France Export" joins forces to execute the French Tech mission and objectives.

It is the FACC's mission to strengthen the links between Texas and France and to help to develop French-American business relationships.

In this regard, we work on promoting Texas as a business-friendly place where to invest and expand for French companies able to go overseas The FACC has been instrumental in setting up the French Tech in Houston and in featuring the French innovation and tech scene through numerous events

Over the summer, the startup challenge project has become a reality with the first Business Award Ceremony hosted on September 23rd at Rice University in Houston. More than 80 French and American startups and SMEs have applied to participate in challenges in CleanTech, Med Tech, and Aerospace

Thanks to the jury of experts, their projects have been assessed and the best will be rewarded during the Ceremony by our business network, gaining the visibility and the support of our communities

Sincerely,

President, FACC Texas

Florence Kosmala President, CCEF

Manon Chappat-Alarcon Business France

Constance Bost Director, FACC Texas

Marc Garbey President, FT Houston

Alex Raguet President, FT Austin

A variety of initiatives started in 2020 to support the French Tech Mission. La French Tech Austin & Houston partnered with community leaders in the U.S. and in France to share insights about talents and business opportunities, and to promote startups.

Several events presented cutting-edge technologies and promoted the French "pépites" - the most promising startups. Some "mentoring events" were hosted by successful entrepreneurs to support their peers in their entrepreneurial journey.

Patrick PIOT

Pierre DUBUC

Audrey-Laure BERGENTHAL

Etienne ALMORIC

Constance Bost, speaker at the "Doing business in Europe and France" webinar

Aurore Ladeveze on the Paris-Saclay Spring live show

Liz Wiley to attend the inauguration of the French Tech Villa in Angers (sister city with Austin)

French Tech Community in the USA Magazine

Lea Catanzano, speaker at the Houston Rodeo Tech

What are the opportunities in the texas triangle?

hOW DOES THE FRENCH TECH SUPPORT INNOVATION?

How can I protect my business and my idea?

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Christophe Vuillez began his career in 1988 at SNECMA (now Safran Aircraft Engines), where he led an R&D team specialized in aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). He joined TotalEnergies in 1994 and helped build the Leuna refinery in Germany as Operations Manager. In 2000, he moved to Louis Dreyfus to help develop its telecommunications business (Louis Dreyfus Communications, subsequently Neuf Telecom and Neuf Cegetel).

In 2006, Christophe Vuillez rejoined TotalEnergies where he held a number of positions in the Refining & Marketing business, including Project Director for an upgrader, based in Calgary, Canada; General Manager, Major Developments in Strategy; then Vice President, Refining Development Asia-Pacific, based in Beijing. In 2012, he was appointed Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions in the Strategy, Development & Research Division of the Company’s Refining & Chemicals business, and became in 2016 Senior Vice President, Strategy, Development & Research and joins R&C's Management Committee.

In September 2021, he became Senior Vice President, Refining & Petrochemicals Americas, and Country Chair for TotalEnergies in the U.S.

Christophe Vuillez is a graduate of the French engineering schools Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace.

Innovation & Intellectual Property

6 questions to Mark Tidwell

Partner at Haynes and Boone

Mark A Tidwell is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Houston office He focuses his practice on prosecution, acquisition, licensing, divestiture and enforcement of patent rights, trademark rights, trade secrets and copyrights. Mark has filed and prosecuted hundreds of patent, trademark and copyright applications

He was honored in Intellectual Asset Magazine's (IAM) Patent 1000: The World's Leading Patent Practitioners, Globe White Page Ltd, 2014, 2016-2021 for patent prosecution and IP transaction work

Mark guest lectures at the Texas A&M Mays School of Business on Intellectual Property.

What have you enjoyed the most about your time at Haynes and Boone and what makes it stand out for you?

My entire 28+ year career as an IP attorney has been spent at large, general practice firms I particularly enjoy this environment because of the broad range of IP work such a firm offers I may be working with our corporate attorneys one day providing IP due diligence and transactional advice on a complex merger or acquisition, while the next day I might be plotting and executing a patent filing strategy for a particular client’s goals In this vein, IP issues exist across most practice areas, of which Haynes Boone has many. Our labor and employment attorneys may need IP help with employment-related agreements; our bankruptcy attorneys may have clients who want to know more about IP assets before a bid, or our litigators may need assistance in formulating discovery related to a technology or IP rights

While Haynes Boone is a full practice firm with great attorneys across many practice areas, this is particularly true of our IP group. We have over 100 registered patent attorneys and agents in over a dozen offices nationally with backgrounds as engineers, biologists, computer programmers, doctors, and physicists In addition, our growing trademark practice now has more than 30 Haynes Boone lawyers nationwide who handle trademarks as an aspect of their practice Thus, within the firm generally, but also within our IP practice group, we can always find just the right person for any given client’s needs

Mark Tidwell Partner Intellectual Property

What key differences have you observed working with international companies in comparison to how the U.S. enforces various IP laws?

Companies don’t often fully appreciate that, while certain aspects of IP law may be similar to their home countries, in other ways U S IP laws are very different Broadly, in the U S , the general categories of IP protection are patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. A good IP strategy may employ more than one of these For example, patents may protect a particular technological idea, while copyrights and trade secrets may protect the schematics and design details of the commercial manifestation of the patented technology. Likewise, marketing materials such as a website may be protected under both trademarks and copyrights In any event, we stay current with and rely on the decisions of U S courts to ferret out nuances and weave these various IP laws together. Therefore, a foreign company entering the U S should not expect that certain basic aspects of U S IP laws will necessarily be the same as in the company’s home country

Specifically, what guidance would you give to French companies looking to introduce their products and technology into U.S. markets, and what are some common misconceptions?

A foreign company bringing technology into the U S market may want to consider conducting some IP diligence upfront to better understand the landscape in their technology area. This can help set expectations about the U S market, both in protecting one’s own IP and avoiding the IP of others Likewise, this is a good time to conduct an internal IP audit Oftentimes, companies may be missing out on opportunities to protect an additional IP that may be more relevant in different geographies I have heard many times over my career, “Oh, we didn’t think we could get a patent on that ” Most U S patents are incremental improvements. It’s a good idea to educate employees of technology companies on what types of developments are patentable and what they should be on the lookout for, and to have a plan for capturing ideas and pushing them up to management and counsel for consideration.

What are some early considerations that foreign companies should focus on to effectively protect their intellectual property?

Look to see if there are opportunities to protect the IP in the U.S. that might not exist in the home country One particularly patent-friendly rule we have in the U S is our one-year grace period In many foreign countries, under a rule called “absolute novelty,” an invention must not have been sold or publicly disclosed anywhere in the world before a patent application is filed for the invention On the other hand, in the U S , an applicant is given a one-year grace period from the earliest date of public disclosure of their invention to file a U.S. patent application for the invention Thus, a foreign company may be barred from filing in its home country, but may still have an opportunity for a patent in the U.S. Along these lines, the U.S. permits the filing of provisional patent applications A provisional patent application is a patent application that can be used by a patent applicant to secure a preliminary filing date while avoiding some of the costs associated with the filing and prosecution of a fullblown patent application These are particularly useful where the commercial development is ongoing but has reached a stage where an important development has been achieved. Upon filing a provisional patent application, an applicant has one year from the filing date of the provisional patent application to file a nonprovisional patent application while claiming the benefit of the earlier provisional patent application filing date.

Finally, U S patent examination is typically not as exacting in certain regards as in certain foreign patent offices Specifically, what is disclosed in a patent application tends to be given a wider range of interpretation is not only prosecuting the patent application but also enforcing a subsequently issued patent

What elements of IP laws in the U.S. are or can be most beneficial to foreign companies?

One particularly unique aspect of U S patent law is a procedure in the U S Patent Office that can result in the allowance of a full patent in less than 12 months While a patent application typically may take 24-36 months from the date of filing to the date a patent examiner initiates an examination, under this fast track procedure, an application may be taken up for examination within several months of filing with expedited prosecution. I have had patents issue for clients in as few as four months This can be a very useful tool, whether it’s ensuring that your technology is fully protected early on as it is rolled out, or establishing the credibility of a technology. In this regard, some companies, particularly startups, use this procedure to secure patents quickly in order to attract investment Whatever the reason, foreign companies may want to consider this fast-track procedure when developing their patent strategy in the U.S.

Any final thoughts?

Yes While technology companies spend a lot of time thinking about inventions and patents, don’t overlook other types of IPs that might be valuable to your company This goes for technology and non-technology companies alike Almost every company has at least one trademark, which is their company name. They may also use other words or phrases in promoting their goods or services. Similarly, companies may spend significant resources developing things like software, books, manuals, drawings, marketing and packaging, websites, or other written materials Make sure you leverage copyright laws to fully protect those types of materials Finally, even if you don’t have technology that is patentable, you may have trade secrets related to the technology, so it’s important to understand how to protect trade secrets and other confidential information since laws differ between jurisdictions.

Bridging thriving ECOSYSTEMS

by Georges Hostache CCEF Representant

French Tech Ambassador MedTech Juror

French & US Innovation Ecosystems

are doing well

The number and the quality of the companies that participated in the Business Award show that both ecosystems are doing quite well.

Houston continues its exponential growth as explored in a preceding article. It is now possible to raise millions of dollars in Houston. For example, Houston-based Solugen, a startup that specializes in combating carbon dioxide, just raised today $357 million. These dollars may come from Houston investors but also from investors outside of Texas. It seems to me that the HX Fund of Fund has succeeded in attracting investors from other States. Projects are now a reality, the Ion is open, TMC3 has started its construction, Greentown Labs has opened an office in Houston, The Cannon is developing very actively its incubators…

Not only that but the Houston Triangle plays a more and more important role as a very sizable market. If it were a country it will be number 15th with a GDP of $1.3 trillion in 2018. Combining the complementary strengths of Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio. The Texas Triangle is then quite a competitor even to the famous Bay Area. The projected bullet train will of course reinforce that Texas Triangle.

The French Ecosystem is also doing quite well. The French Tech label recognized cities all other the world for the quality of their innovation ecosystem. Houston and Austin have been granted that label along with only 5 other cities in the USA. The French Tech team dynamizes the French system with financial aid and mentoring support. As a result for the first 6 months of 2021 VC funding was $5.4 billion. That is 70% of the $ 7.7 billion for the whole 2020 year.

The Grenoble Innovation Ecosystem is being presented in another article, but you will see that it is also doing quite well. Note that Grenoble is part of the AURA (Auvergne Rhone Alpes) region which is the second-largest region by GDP after Paris. Lyon, heading the AURA, is only 60 miles from Grenoble. Tighter than the Texas Triangle!

Georges Hostache has been living in Houston for over 40 years, and has been witnessing the ecosystem transformation. Georges is French, born and raised in Grenoble (French Alps region), and he is very involved in the French Tech community as well as in his role as Conseiller economique du commerce exterieur.

Artificial Intelligence

The majority of the Business Award companies are using AI. AI, a combination of algorithms, fast computer processing, and statistics, is the technology of the day still in its infancy but already quite powerful. In 2017 AlphaZero has beaten the world’s best chessplaying computer program, having taught itself how to play using AI in under four hours. As usual, the Bay Area is leading but Austin, even if far behind, is in the game. In its study on AI this month, the Brookings even states that “AI is increasingly viewed as one of the next great general purposes technology.” That may mean that a Google of AI will emerge and get almost all the market!

Perception and way forward

If you go to Grenoble or Houston you can meet startups that will impress you, But when entrepreneurs and investors explore going to France or to the USA, only Paris, the East coast, and the West coast come to their mind. In spite of many efforts by Houston and Grenoble, I am very sad to say that these perceptions have not changed much in the 40 years, I have been in Houston.

As a way to fight these perceptions, a possibility is to build on reality and foster meetings between investors and startups, live or online as Covid taught us. A kind of HX Fund of Fund approach. Change might come faster than we think as illustrated by the development of the Covid vaccine in less than one year while the fastest vaccine so far — the mumps vaccine — took 4 years to develop. Note also that telemedicine, telework was also made in a year. Progress was expected to take several years.

The Texas French Team

French entities in Texas working in silos in the past are now working as a team sharing data and coordinating actions. Some members are in competition but they collaborate, in a Covid development type, to create together bigger pies instead of fighting for a bigger slice of a fixed pie.

As a result, FT Houston is collaborating with FT Austin. The FACC of Houston is now the FACC of Texas. And that team collaborates with French Tech Grenoble (you guessed it) and many other French Tech in France.

Innovation activist, Céline has contributed to the French Tech Austin and initiated the French Tech Houston while living in Texas. Back in France, she is now in charge of supporting the growth of cutting-edge tech startups for the CEA - a prestigious research institution based in Grenoble, France.

Startup Program Manager at CEA Grenoble

French Tech Ambassador

Born in the late 1970s, I grew up in the North of France at the border of Belgium and Luxembourg, in a small city that has historically been an industrial center of the Lorraine iron mining district. My grandparents were Italian emigrants from the second diaspora, right after the end of World War II. With the successive closure of plants and mines in the 1970s and 1980s, the town was forced to restructure its economy and reclaim vast tracts of derelict land. New light industries, services, and educational facilities moved to the area, and new types of jobs have been created. This is how my family became entrepreneurs, and also how my passion and curiosity about innovation started!

Copyright CEA023110-BD AUBERT/CEA

As a child, spending all my school vacation and time off in my father's graphic design plants, sneaking around, and being bored, developed my innovative and creative mindset. That drove my experiences through high school and college where I decided to become an engineer I am passionate about innovation: Technology is a matchless tool in the service of the Human Such is my deep conviction. It is a tremendous lever to improve our lives. But it is also an entrepreneurial challenge of size. A technology needs to solve a business problem. It is necessary to orchestrate its meeting with its market. It has nothing harmless.

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is dedicated to connecting the worlds of research and industry. It is one of the most prominent players in research and innovation in France and throughout the world. Through fundamental research in biology, physics and chemistry, the basic research division (DRF or CEA Sciences) strongly contributes to all of CEA research programs in many fields of expertise, from renewable and nuclear energy, to health, lasers, micro and nanotechnology The research carried out at CEA Sciences will continue to be at the core of the solutions to move past the major challenges of the 21st century They contribute to the development of very large research infrastructures, high performance computing, and also take part in theoretical physics investigation at the highest level internationally

This work of tightrope walkers is my everyday life. A precarious challenge. So that an innovation leaks out on a market, it necessary to perceive things in their global nature: solve human and technological problems as well as identify weakness and key points that knock on and open doors.

According to my education, my professional opportunities, and the great human meetings which marked out my route, I learned to create some value by technology. Working first of all for a Silicon Valley startup, acquired by Siemens, then for a French Startup and I launched my own Startup in Texas a few years ago. Early 2021, I decided to move back to France, in Grenoble in order to be in charge of deep-tech startups for the CEA. Working at this innovation center and promoting entrepreneurial mindset and startups is my mission today. This role particularly means a lot to me. It is a challenge, it is certain. But also an immense pleasure.

The importance of the ecosystem: Being an entrepreneur is a journey. It takes years of learning, of failing, and of making mistake after mistake. An ecosystem completely shortcuts the amount of time you spend looking around for ways to solve business problems. By leveraging the French Tech ecosystem in the Alps, in Houston and in Austin, we offer to our startups an extended network and an insider’s guide to the top thing to do and see and stop spending ages wandering around aimlessly.

I seek to genuinely help innovative entrepreneurs successfully navigate the challenging journey of building a successful business by providing a true partnership with startup organizations and ecosystems that empower startups to succeed.

Bridging FT Houston, Austin, and FT in the Alps is for me a no-brainer. We have to create strong synergies

As a French Tech Ambassador, Céline met recently with Cedric O, French Secretary of State of the Digital Economy (left), and Romain Gentil, President of La French Tech in the Alps

HOW IS YOUR TECH THE MOST disruptive technology?

WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY TO PENETRATE THE U.S MARKET?

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO RAISE?

SHOWCASE the most innovative projects and initiatives, companies, and executives in Texas

Give the PULSE of major industries & highlight French Tech companies

IDENTIFY American & French Startups to set up their business in France & Texas

ATTRACT & HIGHLIGHT talents

Give VISIBILITY to key players through media cover

NAVIGATE THROUGH THE BEST OF INNOVATION

FRENCH TECH HOUSTON - AUSTIN

PRESENTING THE AWARD FINALISTS IN THE CLEAN TECH, MED TECH, AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

2021

CARBON CAPTURE

THE CARBON HUB ACHIEVING A ZERO EMISSION FUTURE

The Carbon Hub is an institute that brings together industry, academia, and non-profit organizations to work in unison as non-competitive partners. Inaugurated with a $10 million commitment from Shell, the Carbon Hub is accelerating the transition to reliable and affordable clean energy through the sustainable use of hydrocarbons.

The Carbon Hub, led by Rice University, is changing fundamentally how the world uses hydrocarbons.

Don’t Burn Hydrocarbons – Split Them

Instead of burning hydrocarbons and releasing carbon dioxide, split them into valuable solid carbon materials and clean-burning hydrogen fuel Simultaneously harvest clean zero-emission hydrogen and create strong, flexible and versatile carbon materials to be used in everything from cars and clothing to buildings and soil additives.

Research and technological advances in the past two decades have unlocked a portfolio of technologies for making carbon materials that can compete with metals and other emissionsintensive materials used in construction and manufacturing, thus providing the pathway for carbon materials applications at the massive scale of energy systems

4 KEY OBJECTIVES

Informed by Industry Needs

Marie-Nathalie Contou Carrere Interim Executive Director, Carbon Hub

A Collaborative Champion To Overcome Barriers

To enable the paradigm shift to a world where hydrocarbons supply valuable solid carbon products and zero-emission fuel, the Carbon Hub is the focal point where research, development, and policymaking come together to help establish new value, manufacturing, and supply chains.

With a research ecosystem that includes over 80 researchers across 20 universities, federal labs, and research institutes, the Carbon Hub funds and directs research to quickly identify scalable technologies. The Carbon Hub will convene whole supply chains to accelerate market adoption of transformative energy innovations.

Partnering with the Carbon

Hub

The Carbon Hub is a top resource for all sectors supporting the energy transition. The Carbon Hub seeks to engage with organizations who want to spearhead the energy transition.

carbonhub@rice.edu

carbonhub.rice.edu

A Multi-Faceted Sustainability Impact

As a responsible steward of valuable resources, the Carbon Hub is focused on delivering game-changing solutions to the interconnected climate change challenges, aligning itself with the Sustainability Development Goals established by the United Nations.

CARBON CAPTURE, WATER & AIR

Pierre graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, France and received a PhD from INP- Grenoble. He worked at CEA-LETI in different technical, managerial and business development positions in the field of miniaturized analytical systems for biology and chemistry Since 2009, he managed the development of a system for gas mixtures analysis based on micro/nano-technologies from CEALETI and Caltech

Eric graduated from INSA-Lyon France and received a PhD from SUPELEC Paris and a HDR from INPGRENOBLE From 2005-2010, he worked at CEA-LETI in the field of control theory, signal processing and IC design for NEMS application. From 2010 and 2012, he was a visiting scientist at Caltech in Michael Roukes group where he worked on NEMS array for gas sensing application

APIX ANALYTICS

The first universal gas analyzer for all renewable gases

2014 I Grenoble, France I 20 - 30 people

The goal: reinventing gas chromatography through miniaturization via a transportable and plug-n-play system. After 8 years of collaboration between the CEA and Caltech, Apix is focused on the development of highly miniaturized multi-gas analyzer systems based on integration on silicon of traditional analytical chains: sampling, injection of gases, separation of complex gas mixtures to enhance specificity, and then detection, identification, and quantification of each mixture compound.

Funding: Apix raised $5 million euros in 2020. Serie B.

Apix is present in 3 countries and has strong industrial partners such as Engie, Air Liquide, and Total Energies. The company won many tech prices, including the French Fab, Clean Tech Booster, or France Relance.

Why the USA?

The biogas, hydrogen fuel, and biomethane markets will represent over $86 billion in 2027, and we observe a growing demand for on-site and portable analytical systems.

Pierre Puget & Eric Colinet Co-Founders

Moji Karimi

CEO & Co-Founder

M o j i i s a m u l t i - d i s c i p l i n a r y e n t r e p r e n e u r a n d e n g i n e e r f l u e n t i n c r e a t i n g , d e v e l o p i n g , a n d c o m m e r c i a l i z i n g b r e a k t h r o u g h t e c h n o l o g y W i t h a p r o v e n t r a c k r e c o r d o f t a k i n g i d e a s t o m a r k e t , b o t h a t b i g c o m p a n i e s a n d s t a r t u p s , h i s e x p e r i e n c e s r a n g e f r o m d e v e l o p i n g a d v a n c e d d e e p w a t e r

d r i l l i n g m e t h o d s t o n o v e l b i o t e c h n o l o g i e s w i t h a p p l i c a t i o n s

i n t h e e n e r g y a n d s p a c e i n d u s t r i e s I n h i s p r e v i o u s e n d e a v o r , M o j i j o i n e d B i o t a T e c h n o l o g y , a 3p e r s o n c o m p a n y a t t h e t i m e , t o s t a r t t h e H o u s t o n o f f i c e a n d

c o m m e r c i a l i z e D N A S e q u e n c i n g i n

t h e e n e r g y i n d u s t r y I n t w o s h o r t

y e a r s , h e g r e w B i o t a ’ s b u s i n e s s t o

m i l l i o n s o f d o l l a r s i n r e v e n u e

M o j i h o l d s B S a n d M S d e g r e e s i n

d r i l l i n g a n d p e t r o l e u m

e n g i n e e r i n g , r e s p e c t i v e l y .

CEMVITA FACTORY

Converts CO2 into valuable chemicals

2017 I Houston, TX I 20 - 49 people

Cemvita applies synthetic biology to reverse climate change It does that by engineering microbes to use carbon dioxide or methane as a feedstock for the production of carbon-negative industrial chemicals. Cemvita clients are oil and gas, chemical, mining, and aerospace companies that strive to apply nature-inspired technologies for reducing their carbon footprint while creating new revenue streams.

Cemvita has a synthetic biology platform with applications in petrochemicals, oil & gas, and mining. Its target is carbon capture and utilization.

Cemvita has a strong patent portfolio both for its engineered microbes and also for process engineering methods that are enabled by synthetic biology.

Funding: Cemvita raised $1.8M seed round and $15M Series A in progress.

It is a diverse and multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers on a mission to change the world, with a proven track record and decades of experience in chemical and process technology, synthetic biology and biotechnology, and business and entrepreneurship.

Why France?

Many of its future customers are French companies such as Total, Energies Air Liquide, Schlumberger...

ECOMESURE

Manage your air quality data anywhere anytime with connected, compact, easy-to-use, and efficient solutions.

1993 I Saclay, France I 5 - 19 people

Ecomesure develops pioneering solutions that leverage digital technologies to redefine the quality of the air we breathe. It designs and manufactures compact, easy-to-use connected systems where reliability and performance meet.

Ecomesure's tools give their customers the insights they need to make smart decisions regarding air quality management and energy savings.

Ecomesure is well-known and recognized in the French cleantech ecosystem for its cross-industry solutions (environment, smart cities, industrial hygiene, research, emission...).

Industrie 4.0: Ecomesure's universal IoT gateway (EcomBox) allows them to easily connect any kind of instruments or sensors to the i-comesure web platform for remotely controlling the devices and managing the data from anywhere and anytime.

Smart grids & Smart Buildings: Ecomesure's Indoor Air Quality monitoring devices (EcomZen 2 – EcomLite 2) can intelligently control ventilation systems, air conditioners or air handling plants depending on the indoor and outdoor air quality in order to save energy and for the well-being of the occupants.

Why Texas?

With over 200 projects around the world, the U.S. market is still the most crucial for the company. Therefore, it created a new subsidiary there in March. Through its new company, it aims to further strengthen its growing presence in the US market and support our US business partners. Despite the pandemic, its business has continued to develop in the US, above all with one of its partners who won a significant tender to deploy thousands of air quality monitors in schools.

"ECOMESURE's mission is to become the leader of environmental data provision and export 70% of our turnover by 2024 We focus our R&D efforts on the development of IoT systems and SaaS platform to improve the efficiency and quality of data collection We are proud to say that we are 100% dedicated to our customers, 100% innovators, 100% agile, and 100% independent."

Damien Pelletier CEO

FERMENTALG

A disruptive solution based on algae photosynthesis to capture and valorize CO2

2010 I Libourne, France I 5 - 19 people

Algae photosynthesis is the most efficient of the biosphere. All vegetal photosynthesis is derived from it. Oceans are still responsible for >50% of the carbon cycle in the biosphere.

Fermentalg's novel photobioreactor allows the capture of large quantities of industrial CO2 and the conversion of this CO2 by photosynthesis into valuable food/feed/fine chemicals

Fermentalg offers innovative products in the global market and aims to become the leader in the production of micro-algae for the agri-food, healthcare, and energy markets.

Fermentalg recently signed a strategic partnership with Groupe SUEZ (a large French utility firm) to commercialize this novel type of industrial carbon sink.

Funding: Over the years Fermentalg has raised over 60M€

Why Texas?

The largest market for CO2 emissions.

P h i l i p p e L a v i e l l e i s a v e t e r a n o f t h e i n d u s t r i a l b i o t e c h s e c t o r

B e f o r e j o i n i n g V i r d i a a s C E O i n e a r l y 2 0 1 1 , h e w a s a m e m b e r o f t h e m a n a g e m e n t t e a m a t

G e n e n c o r a $ 1 b i l l i o n w o r l d l e a d e r i n i n d u s t r i a l e n z y m e s

r e c e n t l y a c q u i r e d b y D u P o n t

P h i l i p p e p l a y e d a n a c t i v e r o l e i n e s t a b l i s h i n g G e n e n c o r i n E u r o p e d u r i n g t h e 1 9 9 0 s .

A f t e r a s u c c e s s f u l i n t e r n a t i o n a l

c a r e e r w i t h r e n o w n e d b i o t e c h

c o m p a n i e s i n E u r o p e a n d

C a l i f o r n i a , P h i l i p p e n o w b r i n g s

h i s e x t e n s i v e k n o w l e d g e o f t h e

s e c t o r , h i s m a n a g e m e n t s k i l l s

a n d b u s i n e s s a c u m e n t o l e a d

F e r m e n t a l g t o s u c c e s s

Philippe Lavielle CEO & Chairman

SMART GRIDS

SMART GRIDS & SMART BUILDINGS

Jean-Jacques Carrillo CEO

Edison Ways

The real sustainable and intelligent Power and Data Grid

2014 I Montoban, France I 1 - 4 people

To preserve the planet and make sustainable development necessary, EDISON WAYS has created a new architecture for electrical installation that is sustainable, safer, and more intelligent for the building industry.

EDISON WAYS aims for 2022 to develop this technology in the fields of road transportation, the railway, the naval industry, aeronautics, and space.

Funding: €1.5 mi, 5 rounds of fundraising with friends only

EDISON has filed many patents in different countries (France, USA, Germany, England, Spain, Italy...) of which 3 are based on the definition of the architecture.

Why the USA?

Because this market is more flexible and responsive.

Joe Scanlin CEO & Founder

Joe co-founded Scanalytics, the leading Internet of Things company focused on sensor-fusion for physical environments that pioneered the smart-flooring sensor

Prior to Scanalytics, Joe studied a range of subjects from Organizational Behavior to Applied Neuroscience and is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps He sits on the board of multiple tech companies in the computer vision, AI, and medical device fields

Joe has contributed to and authored books, papers, and patents in the fields of spatial science, sensor design, and natural language processing

He organized and assisted the launch of a project that is using computational linguistics to help identify and attenuate mental health deterioration.

Joe helped create “Atmos” which is a Chicago-based spatial science consortium focused on promoting urban intelligence through the adoption of smart buildings.

Scanalytics

Creating intelligent spaces through smart flooring sensors & software

2014 I Chicago, US I 5 - 19 people

Energy consumption has tripled since 1965. In the US alone, about 40% of the energy and close to 70% of the electricity produced are consumed by buildings.

Most of these buildings use static controls for building facilities such as HVAC and lighting systems which leads to considerable energy waste in conditioning unoccupied or underoccupied spaces.

Precise awareness of occupancy information can help HVAC and lighting systems in commercial buildings adaptively run and thus reduce energy consumption.

Provide the most future-proof system to deliver this critical data and help buildings waste considerably less energy

Funding: we raised ~ $5 million over 3 rounds.

Why Texas?

Texas is a great spot for us to demonstrate energy technology and get access to more manufacturing partners that will help it scale its technology and expand into larger facilities for research and development.

Pasqal

High-Performance Quantum Computing

2019 |Palaiseau, France| 20 - 49 people

Pasqal develops, builds, and markets Quantum Processing Units that have the potential to address complex computing issues, from fundamental science to real-world grand challenges

The neutral atom technology, operating at room temperature, on which Pasqal's QPU is built has great potential in terms of scalability

Pasqal has been developing the full computing stack from applications to the atomic qubits control, to software tools such as Pulser for efficient operation and incorporation into major 3rd party programming environments

EDF and Crédit Agricole are exploring quantum computing applications in partnership with Pasqal

Most recently, Atos joined forces with start-up Pasqal to accelerate High-Performance Computing using quantum neutral atom technology

Why Texas?

The American quantum ecosystem is highly dynamic and offers multiple opportunities.

G e o r g e s - O l i v i e r R e y m o n d , c r e a t e d s c a l a b l e q u a n t u m p r o c e s s o r s u s i n g l i g h t a n d c o l d a t o m s

H e i s a n e x p e r i e n c e d s e n i o r e n g i n e e r w i t h a p r o v e n

t r a c k r e c o r d i n d e v e l o p i n g h i g h - t e c h p r o d u c t s u s i n g l i g h t a n d o p t i c s

H e i s s k i l l e d i n c o l d a t o m m a n i p u l a t i o n a n d t r a p p i n g , q u a n t u m m e c h a n i c s , l a s e r p h y s i c s , i n t e r f e r o m e t r y , i m a g i n g , a n d o p t i c a l d e t e c t i o n .

H e h o l d s a P h . D . f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f P a r i s S u d

Georges-Olivier Reymond CEO & Founder

Persee

A digital solution made of simulation, supervision, and optimization web services, dedicated to helping build and operate hydrogen refueling station and network.

2013 I Lyon, France I 5 -19 people

Hydrogen is a fuel that is all the more promising as car OEMs are multiplying fuel cell vehicles introduction. However, existing hydrogen refueling networks are currently riffle by low reliability and demand uncertainty. This is essentially due to the difficulty of planning and operating stations, which are not yet mature, to address an incertain and evolving demand. The value proposition lies in targeted and expert web services to accompany the main stakeholders of hydrogen mobility plans and operate their refueling infrastructure.

Its market is firstly Europe where 750 hydrogen refueling stations are expected by 2025. Its competitors are generic oil and gas data management solutions that imperfectly address the specific challenges hydrogen refueling stations owner and developers are facing.

PERSEE blends expertise around hydrogen refueling technologies together with digital mastery and mathematical optimization. Its processes are articulated around the agile method.

Funding: PERSEE has raised 70k€ Love Money and 2 loans from BPI of 120k€.

Why Europe?

Europe is where the stringent directives are being promulgated (AFID->AFIR) and where 7 countries have recently released B€ national plans on hydrogen specifying mobility as a key investment sector. This makes Europe an ideal place for us at the moment.

Laurence Grand-Clément CEO & Founder

Persee is the unique company in Europe combining deep hydrogen knowledge together with digital mastery; it positions itself as the operational decision specialist for hydrogen projects and infrastructure Leveraging a unique mathematical representation of the hydrogen economy and comprehensive databases, the company delivers innovative digital solutions targeted at every step of a hydrogen project

PRODUCTION, STORAGE & DISTRIBUTION

"My business partner Vincent Lome and I are passionate about innovation and the energies of tomorrow. During a scientific collaboration Vincent had the opportunity to collaborate with a research team that had accidentally discovered a new liquid used to transport hydrogen Convinced that this breakthrough technology would play a major role in the deployment of more environmentally friendly solutions, we decided to create HySiLabs to bring this liquid hydrogen carrier breakthrough technology to the market " EDF Pulse Awards, Smart city winner, 2018

Pierre-Emmanuel has a Bachelor of Science and a Master's degree in Biotechnology, and he graduated from IAE (France) and NCSU (USA) with a Master of Global Innovation Management.

In his early career he was a study coordinator on ophthalmic clinical trial Then, worked in the Marketing department in the med tech sector as Junior Product Manager

HySiLabs

The alternative hydrogen supply

2015 I Aix-en-Provence, France I 5 - 19 people

In the course of reducing emissions to comply with the goals fixed by the European Union, hydrogen is foreseen to be a key player in a future low-carbon economy, especially in the industry and mobility sectors. Nevertheless, the existing barriers on storage, delivery, and safety have to be overcome beforehand.

HySiLabs’ breakthrough innovation has the potential to remove all those barriers hindering the deployment of hydrogen solutions by tackling safety, regulations, and supply chain issues. HySiLabs’ high degree of novelty is characterized by the fact that hydrogen can be easily transported in liquid form, HydroSil can be carried everywhere without any specific restrictions and stored for long periods of time, just like conventional fuel. Furthermore, due to its high density, one truckload of HydroSil transports seven times more hydrogen than by high-pressure transportation, which reduces the OPEX for transportation and the emissions related to hydrogen transportation.

Funding: HySiLabs has raised around 6M€

Before going global, HySiLabs needs to ensure and strengthen its domestic market. As a French company, the European market presents a lot of possibilities for deploying its solutions.

Pierre-Emmanuel Casanova Co-Founder & Chairman

Raul Bravo President & Co-Founder

E n t r e p r e n e u r w i t h e x t e n s i v e

b a c k g r o u n d i n b o o t s t r a p p i n g , s h a p i n g a n d g u i d i n g

o r g a n i z a t i o n a l s u c c e s s i n

r o b o t i c s & t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

i n d u s t r i e s

N a m e d a s o n e o f t h e m o s t

i n n o v a t i v e e n t r e p r e n e u r s u n d e r

3 5 b y t h e M I T T e c h n o l o g y

R e v i e w , I n n o v a t o r s u n d e r 3 5 ,

F r a n c e

O u t s i g h t h a s a l r e a d y a t t r a c t e d

t h e l a r g e s t o r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d

e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r s i n

t h e a u t o m o t i v e , a e r o n a u t i c s

a n d s e c u r i t y - s u r v e i l l a n c e

m a r k e t s , i n c l u d i n g F a u r e c i a a n d

S a f r a n

Outsight

The easiest way to use LiDAR

2019 I France, Finland, USA, I 50 - 249 people

Outsight develops real-time 3D LiDAR perception solutions.

Its aim is to make LiDAR-based Spatial Intelligence become Plug & Play, so it can be used by application developers and integrators in any market. Using any LiDAR with our pre-processing capabilities allows Smart Machines and Smart Cities to achieve an unprecedented level of situational awareness.

It believes that accelerating the adoption of LiDAR technology with easy-to-use and scalable preprocessing will highly contribute to creating transformative solutions and products that will make a Smarter and Safer World.

Outsight is currently targeting three industries: vehicles and robotics, smart infrastructures, and industrial applications.

Outsight is the only AI solution that doesn’t require any data labeling or training, meaning that it works for many use cases where the customer doesn’t have large amounts of data (which is usually the case).

Funding: Outsight has raised €20 million in seed, making it one of the biggest seed rounds in Europe. The company also has an additional €5 million from debt.

Why Texas?

As Texas and the U.S. is home to some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world, Outsight sees an attractive opportunity to market our leading LiDAR processing technology to these industry leaders.

WATER HORIZON

The new generation of renewable heat and cold distribution 2017 I France I 5 - 19 people

Water Horizon develops an innovative thermal storage technology that solves lots of energy losses in industrial processes The process makes it possible to recover heating and/or cooling resources off-site and between production facilities.

The battery developed by Water Horizon recovers waste heat and stores it Once the battery is charged, it is transported to distribute the stored energy to a distant consumer as renewable heat, cold, or both.

Water Horizon offers a circular economy solution around industrial waste heat, that allows a continuous availability of green energy, and allows heat suppliers to reduce their carbon taxes and improve their green image

Consumers using this technology save up to 95% in GHG emissions compared to traditional gas heating with a competitive energy cost.

The 2 registered patents have been extended internationally: Europe, USA, China, Middle East, Australia, to protect the innovation on an international scale. In addition, an exploitability study has been carried out by Water Horizon.

Pre-seed fund-raising: 50k€ from IRDINOV

Development strategy: France is the first market for Water Horizon, for its technical development and the sale of its first units.

In order to scale up its sales development and reach a significant market share of renewable energy distribution, Water Horizon needs to sell large quantities at once. Water Horizon is already discussing with multisite large companies in order to match waste heat providers and consumers not in a single project but over several locations.

CHEMICAL & WASTE

Chemical, Sustainable material & Waste

The next generation of polymers

2011 I Rennes, France I 5 - 19 people

Demeta is a Green Chemistry company specializing in the development of new generation catalysts for the production of high-performance materials and chemicals.

With its first technology platform, Demeta develops and markets NexTene™, a family of highperformance and low-carbon footprint materials adapted for extreme conditions, serving various markets, from offshore oil & gas, to composite materials and other industrial applications. With GreenCARE, its second technology platform, Demeta develops specialty bio-based molecules, such as cosmetic ingredients, flavors & fragrances, pigments, and surfactants.

Funding to accelerate its industrial deployment

Demeta announced this summer the renewal for the third consecutive year of the CITEPH funding program, through a consortium made up of TotalEnergies and key players from the value chain, with Saipem, Subsea 7, TechnipFMC, and Vallourec, for work to develop its NexTene™ resins for offshore and subsea applications.

Why Texas?

Texas is the capital of the energy world. Texas comprises many headquarters and every segment are represented from exploration, production, transmission, marketing, supply, and technology.

P r i o r t o t a k i n g h i s f u n c t i o n s

a s t h e C E O o f D e m e t a i n

2 0 1 7 , P a t r i c k w o r k e d 9 y e a r s f o r A R D t h e n B i o A m b e r I n c

a s V i c e - P r e s i d e n t M a r k e t i n g

a n d B u s i n e s s D e v e l o p m e n t , p i o n e e r i n g t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e f i r s t l a r g e - s c a l e b i o -

b a s e d s u c c i n i c a c i d f a c i l i t y . I n h i s r o l e , P a t r i c k l e d b u s i n e s s

d e v e l o p m e n t , s a l e s a n d m a r k e t i n g a c t i v i t i e s , a s w e l l

a s s t r a t e g i c p a r t n e r s h i p s a n d

a l l i a n c e s H e a l s o w o r k e d 1 0

y e a r s i n v a r i o u s s a l e s a n d

p u r c h a s i n g p o s i t i o n s a t

R h ô n e - P o u l e n c , A v e n t i s a n d

B a y e r

P a t r i c k h o l d s a M a s t e r o f

S c i e n c e i n A g r o n o m y

Lee is the CEO and Founder of Enexor BioEnergy since 2017

He has 30+ years of entrepreneurial, operating, and senior management experience at private and public companies.

He has been involved in the energy sector for over 30 years

Lee has an Engineering Degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley

Enexor

BIOENERGY

Renewable onsite bioenergy from organic waste to power facilities

2016 I USA, I 20 - 49 people

Enexor has developed a bioenergy system that will help solve today's organic and plastic waste problems. By simultaneously providing immediate energy and waste disposal cost savings, coupled with significant reductions in harmful greenhouse gas production.

Its onsite combined heating and power technology converts almost any organic or plastic waste into reliable, renewable power and thermal energy.

Modular and easily transportable, the plug-and-play design of this powerful system allows for quick deployment and onsite mobilization in most places around the world. With 24/7 continuous renewable power, our systems are ideally suited for microgrids.

Early 2021, Enexor has been selected as one of three companies to participate in the Halliburton Labs’ clean technology accelerator program in Houston where entrepreneurs, academics, and investors come together in a collaborative environment to advance cleaner, affordable energy.

Funding: ENEXOR has raised $12M to date from leading business executives from around the world who see the value of its technology for their industry/businesses and for the environment more generally.

Strategic development:

With a significant customer interest in both US and European markets, EXENOR would be potentially willing to open additional manufacturing facilities.

L e e J e s t i n g s

C E O & F o u n d e r

J e a n - P h i l i p p e G i b a u d c r e a t e d

G e o l i t h i n 2 0 1 6 t o d e v e l o p

i n n o v a t i v e l i t h i u m p r o d u c t i o n

p r o c e s s e s .

A g r a d u a t e d E n g i n e e r f r o m t h e

I n s t i t u t N a t i o n a l P o l y t e c h n i q u e

o f G r e n o b l e , h e h a s n o t a b l y

w o r k e d w i t h i n t h e G D F S u e z a n d

S c h l u m b e r g e r g r o u p s

T h r o u g h o u t h i s c a r e e r , h e h a s

s o l d a n d m a n a g e d l a r g e

i n d u s t r i a l p r o j e c t s i n t h e w a t e r

t r e a t m e n t , g e o t h e r m a l , m i n i n g ,

a n d o i l s e c t o r s I n p a r t i c u l a r ,

J e a n - P h i l i p p e m a n a g e d a

c o m p a n y t h a t o w n s t h e m o s t

g e o t h e r m a l w e l l s i n F r a n c e . T h i s

i s h o w h i s i d e a o f e x t r a c t i n g

l i t h i u m f r o m g e o t h e r m a l b r i n e s

s t a r t e d t o g r o w

Geolith

Technological Enabler for Sustainable Lithium extraction from brines.

2016 I France, I 5 - 19 people

Geolith develops a technology to extract and valorize the lithium contained in brines such as O&G production waters, geothermal or salar brine. Based on a patented selective extractive media, it packages them as "Lithium Filters" It can extract lithium selectively, included from low concentrations (down to less than 300 ppm) with high efficiency and competitive costs.

With its clean, simple, and innovative technologies, Geolith unblocks access to new lithium resources and aims at being a leading actor of the Energy Transition with a new model of underground resources valorization, respectful of the Environment.

In 2019, Geolith obtained the support of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency for its Li-Capt R&D program in collaboration with MinesParisTech.

Funding: In august 2021, Geolith raises equity and joins forces with Eurodia.

Fundraising of 1.2 million euros completed by their historical Business Angels, up to 315k euros. Thanks to this round of financing, Geolith aims to establish itself as a reference on the international lithium market alongside Eurodia.

Why Texas?

Adress the O&G market willing to diversify to lithium with their brines, which it believes may become a game-changer to the lithium industry

Jean-Philippe Gibaud CEO & Founder

TechnoCarbon

Low-carbon material to replace steel and concrete

2018 I Paris, France I 5 - 19 people

TechnoCarbon Technologies France is developing new material systems to achieve CO2-negative growth.

Thanks to its innovative CarbonFibreStone (CFS) technology, TechnoCarbon has developed and patented a family of highperformance materials. Solutions are designed to offer a credible alternative to traditional materials that limit greenhouse gas emissions, protect the climate, biodiversity, and natural resources.

TechnoCarbon is a technology integrator enabling the large-scale production of everlasting, high-performance, sustainable materials.

Its first product, CFS, is a multi-layered composite made of stone and carbon fiber.

TechnoCarbon’s truly innovative and ambitious team executing a thorough R&D plan for product and IP development as well as carbon footprint enhancement, filing new patents every year.

TechnoCarbon Net-Zero deal.

Funding: Raised $500k in the seed round.

Why Texas?

The US is the largest market and several of the founders are US citizens or have worked/studied in NY (Cornell) or TX (UT Austin)

Key performances

5x more durable & resilient than steel and concrete

4x more resistant to stress than aluminum and concrete

3x lighter than steel

2x less energy required than traditional materials

"Protect the climate, biodiversity and natural resources, while meeting the needs of industrial players involved in the environmental impact of their activity "

This is the objective of TechnoCarbon France and its product, CarbonFibreStone (CFS)

Stephan Savarese CEO

MED TECH

MED TECH

Guillaume Simon CEO

IT'S BRAIN

2019 I Orsay, France I 5 - 19 people

Mental health assessment tools did not follow neurosciences' leap forward. Assessments are long and are not reliable; in some cases, no test is recognized as reliable (ADHD - Attention disorders / Hyperactivity disorders).

Guillaume graduated in Maths and Engineering from prestigious Ecole Polytechnique (Paris/ Palaiseau) and MinesParisTech (PSL University).

He has an international experience in automotive and high-tech technology operations and project management, and as entrepreneur in renewable energy

He is directly in charge of the operational, commercial, and international development of IT’S BRAIN, as well as finance He is a regular runner and enjoys a dive in the sea in all seasons

He is also a family caregiver and motivated by improving support to people suffering from neurological and psychological pathologies.

The IT'S BRAIN patent request describes a new process that extracts the decision time from perceptive-motor times, providing much better correlations to pathologies.

IT'S BRAIN starts clinical studies to demonstrate the impact of our test for strokes, long Covid, HIV, depression and aim to provide support for the diagnosis of ADHD and early detection of degenerative pathologies, with the help of AI. We sell only to clinicians with degrees in

Funding: IT'S BRAIN raised 92 k€ by the partners, 60 k€ financed by royalties

IT'S BRAIN works with several partners such as Wilco, France biotech, Inclub Alliance, La Handtech, La French Tech.

Why the USA?

IT'S BRAIN has identified opportunities with a highly recognized neuroscience lab.

Innovative digital neurocognitve tests made for precision diagnostic in mental health

Kondree

Regulating patients' oxidative stress imbalance to reduce pathology impact.

2021 I Montpellier, France I 1 - 4 people

In the absence of curative solutions for FSH Myopathy, Sarcopenia, COPD, Alzheimer's,

KONDREE will offer a prescription aid medical software capable of slowing the progression of symptoms of the disease by acting not on the disease but a common denominator: oxidative stress.

This oxidative stress is at the origin of the development of certain degenerative pathologies or aggravating factors of pathologies already installed.

KONDREE will offer two products to regulate oxidative stress thanks to this new treatment path:

PERSPECTYV medical prescription assistance software, which calculates for the hospital practitioner the correct dosage of all the antioxidant molecules to be prescribed to the patient. A range of micro-dosed antioxidant molecules under the OGYNUTRITION brand.

This B2C product is aimed at patients, through an e-commerce site.

KONDREE development plan for this pathology is primarily European and International: USA, Japan, Australia… to provide access to this oxidative stress care pathway to the greatest number of patients with FSH Myopathy.

Why France?

The first pathology supported by PERSPECTYV is FSH Myopathy.

France has 5000 patients while Europe has around 52000 patients.

There is no curative solution to this pathology, all advances that make it possible to delay its progression is valuable for patients, which is why the deployment of the solution in Europe will be done simultaneously in France as soon as the CE marking is obtained.

KONDREE company is integrated into two markets: The e-health market and more specifically within the field of Medtech, the world market will represent in 2023 nearly 234 5 billion dollars with a growth of over 160% compared to 2019 and The food supplements market, which weighs 2 billion euros in France in 2020

Claire Lefranc CEO

Matthieu Le Prado CEO & Co-Founder

MAG4HEALTH

Democratize the use of MEG to efficiently detect brain disorders and improve brain therapies

2021 I Grenoble, France I 250+ people

M a t t h i e u g r a d u a t e d f r o m

G r e n o b l e - I N P e n g i n n e r i n g d e g r e e a n d H E C C h a l l e n g e + p r o g r a m

H e h a s l e d t h e C E A l a b w h e r e t h e f i r s t h e l i u m s e n s o r s w e r e a p p l i e d t o b r a i n

H e i s u s e d t o m a n a g e l a r g e t e a m s o f p e o p l e a n d t o t h i n k i n a s t r a t e g i c w a y . H e q u i c k l y b e c a m e t h e n a t u r a l l e a d e r o f

M a g 4 h e a l t h .

H e w a s t h e F o u n d e r o f

H E L P I N G - P O N G f o r 2 y e a r s

MagnetoEncephaloGraphs (MEGs) are the most accurate instruments for recording neuronal activity. However, there are only 150 of these devices worldwide due to their high price and binding use. Both disadvantages result from the use of SQUID sensors that require cryogenic cooling to -269°C.

Quantum sensors developed by CEA, namely helium-based optically pumped magnetometers (He-OPM), do not suffer from these limitations and pave the way for a new era of MEG and the democratization of their use.

Mag4health, a startup currently incubated by the CEA, prepares the industrialization, production, and sale of these MEGs.

Funding: Mag4health raised 210 k€ of Seed in July 2021, from 1 entrepreneur, 2 expert accountants, and 1 radiologist.

Recognitions & clinical trials

The preliminary multi-channel MEG device is currently being used by several teams for clinical trials.

In 2017, Mag4health was awarded the best earlystage innovation among H2020 projects by a board of investors.

In 2020, their startup project was awarded the French national innovation prize i-Lab 2020.

Democratizing AI in radiology to facilitate better diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological disorders.

2015 I La Tronche, France I 5 - 19 people

Radiology is central to modern healthcare delivery, and as such, radiologists are confronted with a 10% yearon-year increase in workload, with increasing amounts of images to interpret, historical data with which to compare, and demands for faster interpretation.

The key question is how can radiologists maintain accuracy in the face of increasing volume and complexity of datasets, with their current inadequate tools?

Pixyl is dedicated to improving patient care, by placing the most advanced AI tech in the hands of radiologists and clinicians. Its powerful Zero-Click solution automatically analyses medical images, highlights anomalies, and extracts clinically relevant measurements for improved insight and decisionmaking in patient diagnosis and treatment. All in less than 5 minutes

Funding: At the end of 2020, Thirty-two radiologists and clinicians, as well as Elaia, Bpifrance, and Holnest, led a round of financing to provide Pixyl with 2.2 million euros.

Why Texas?

Pixyl is really interested in starting evaluation projects in Texas as it is a great place for Medtech business but also a way for them to test on very large institutions such as TMC to validate the scalability of our solutions

AEROSPACE

Dr. Alexandre Mangeot is a French aerospace engineer. He got his engineering master degree from ParisTech Arts et Métiers university. He was hired by CNES (French space agency) for a 3-years research grant to obtain his Ph.D. Hybrid Propulsion for Space engines was the topic of the study with both experimental and numerical approaches.

He worked for one and a half years for Expliseat, a start-up to design the lightest aircraft economical seat of the market. He was mainly in charge of the design of the seat accessories. Lately, he concluded a postdoc position during which he completed his numerical approach on a hybrid rocket.

HYBRID PROPULSION FOR SPACE

An innovative space propulsion technology dividing by 2 the costs of access to space compared to liquid propulsion.

2019 I Bordeaux, France I 5 - 19 people

Currently, there are two main space propulsion technologies: solid and liquid. Solid propulsion is highly explosive, has low propulsive performance, and cannot be throttled. Liquid propulsion is very expensive to design and produce due to its complexity.

Hybrid Propulsion for Space developed an innovation that lifts this technological barrier. This allows having a hybrid rocket engine with a propulsive performance similar to a liquid propulsion engine, but with all the advantages of hybrid propulsion.

Funding: the company raised 45k€ of love money, 90k€ of subsidy from local government and European Space Agency, as well as a 90k€ with an R&D contract with french MoD.

Why the USA?

Texas and the US are great ecosystems for aerospace innovation. Hybrid propulsion expects to meet experts who are used to the technical and financial requirements which are specific to R&D and innovation in the defense and aerospace domain.

Alexandre Mangeot, CEO

SHARE MY SPACE

Orbital data services to a safer space ecosystem

2017 I Paris, France I 5 - 19 people

Damien Giolito CEO & Co-Founder

D a m i e n i s a c i v i l E n g i n e e r , a

p r o f e s s i o n a l p i l o t , a n i n v e n t o r

a n d e n t r e p r e n e u r .

H e s p e n t 1 5 y e a r s a s h e a d

m a n a g e r o n b u i l d i n g

c o n s t r u c t i o n s i t e s b e f o r e

b e c o m i n g t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e

a e r i a l s u r v e y c o m p a n y I M A O

f o r 1 0 y e a r s .

H e i n v e n t e d t h e l a r g e s t a e r i a l

d i g i t a l c a m e r a i n t h e w o r l d .

H e i s d e e p l y i n v o l v e d i n

e n v i r o n m e n t a l i s s u e s a n d

d r i v e s t h e v i s i o n o f S h a r e M y

S p a c e .

The value of Space Situational Awareness services is mainly based on the quantity and quality of data about space objects (satellites and debris). This data is difficult to obtain and catalogs difficult to maintain. Actors capable of providing data on space objects will necessarily have a privileged place in the space, SSA, and STM market.

To this end, Share my Space innovates on the whole SSA value chain:

data acquisition: it is developing its own infrastructure of telescope stations to track objects data fusion: it uses machine learning to correct systematic errors in orbital parameters, in order to propagate trajectories with an unmatched precision data computation to calculate orbital collision risks in real-time flight dynamics services

Funding: Share my Space performed a soft closing of 800k euros in July 2021 from private investors

Partnerships

Share my Space work closely with CNES, EUSST, NATO, Thales, Telespazio, Seradata among others.

Strato Space System

Develops a range of launchers called SIRIUS, designed specifically for small satellites with a mass of less than 500 kg

2020 I France I 29 - 40 people

Strato Space System is part of the GreenSpace and European NewSpace era. They develop sustainable solutions to access space.

They propose SIRIUS a range of European launchers designed to deliver payloads into orbit from 1 kg to 330 kg in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 700 km.

SIRIUS will allow SmallSats operators to benefit from the same launch services as those offered to heavy satellite operators.

The SIRIUS launcher has four main characteristics: it is durable, reliable, affordable, and designed with the cutting edge technologies

Strato Space System have the support of : CNES, ESA, ONERA, Air Liquide, Incub Alliance, Paris Saclay, ASTech Paris Region, Wilco, Territoires d'Industrie...

Why Texas?

The US is a mature market for SmallSats.

22 FINALISTS

1,100+ ONLINE VOTES all categories

Claire Lefranc CEO

BR

2021

Thank you merci

TO ALL OUR SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Peter Hebert CEO Corys

Guillaume Hennion VP of Software Architecture and Development at Globalgig

Marc Garbey President French Tech Houston CEO of ORintelligence Conseiller ScientifiqueGeorge Washington University

Constance Bost Executive Director FACC Texas

Georges Hostache Founder Osta Consulting Conseiller Commerce Extérieur & Mentor

Celine Tranquillin Startup Program Manager CEA Grenoble

Marie-Helene Ben Samoun Partner and managing Director Boston Consulting Group

Jean Maynier Co-founder & CTO Kpler

Michel Izygon CEO Tietronix

Aurore Ladeveze Project & Business Manager FACC Texas

Lea Catanzano Project & Business Manager FACC Texas

Liz Wiley General Counsel Hub, Head of North America Operations, Business Attorney, International Advisory Services for U S Market entry, Honorary Consul of France in Austin

Eric Venditti Principal Engineer Uhnder President of the French American Council of Austin

Brigitte Benquet International CFO Controller Unified Finance Organization

Alexis Aimard Sr Manager, Regulatory Solutions Expedia Group

Alex Raguet Venture Capital Manager Energy Impact Partners President French Tech Austin

F O O D , W I N E & D E L I G H T S

F O O D , W I N E & D E L I G H T S

N O V 1 8 T H , 2 0 2 1 N O V 1 8 T H , 2 0 2 1

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