Demoday XUP#13: Fostering entrepreneurship and innovation at l’X

A biannual event marking the end of incubation at  École Polytechnique's Drahi-X Novation Center, the XUP Demoday gave an opportunity to eleven start-ups to pitch their projects to business angels, investment funds and potential partners.

These eleven high-tech start-ups cover a wide range of fields: industry 4.0, medtech and biotech, Greentech, energy, fintech, AI, agrotech and defense.

During his keynote speech, Eric Labaye, the President of the École Polytechnique and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), told the audience that innovation and entrepreneurship has been one of his top priorities since his arrival at the head of l’X in order to offer ever more opportunities to students, alumni and researchers.

"For the next five years, our ambition is to build with all IP Paris stakeholders a key ecosystem for entrepreneurship and technological innovation, both within our incubators, but also through strengthened links with companies and research centers," said Eric Labaye.

"LX's ambitions in innovation are speeding up with 110 projects or start-ups per year supported in IP Paris' three incubators," he added.

Building on the strength of its five founding institutions, École Polytechnique, ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris has established itself as a leading education and research institution in France and internationally.

Bruno Cattan, the Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at École Polytechnique, detailed the measures to further enhance innovation and entrepreneurship at l’X and IP Paris in 2022.

"In the incubation phase, technology startups need time. Time to go from idea to company. Time to validate their market, and eventually pivot. And time, above all, to move from scientific invention to innovation," said Bruno Cattan.

"That's why we will gradually increase the length of our incubation program. The next class, the 14th, will benefit from a nine-month incubation period instead of the current six months," he announced, adding that this should be seen as a first step towards developing a support program that is truly adapted to the challenges of Deeptech entrepreneurship.

"I also intend to boost partnerships. In particular, we are going to forge strong and close links with accelrators in France and abroad, with the aim of offering our startups a continuous path after the end of their incubation period," he added.

Bruno Cattan also recalled the scientific and economic diversity of the ecosystem of l’X, IP Paris, and the Saclay plateau, which ensures a unique positioning for the X incubator, X-UP mentionning the proximity to laboratories, the access to students, and the strength of the alumni network.

"I am confident that next year, we will have a Demoday open to startups from other incubators and institutions of IP Paris," concluded Bruno Cattan.