I-Lab 2024: Six X alumni start-ups among the winners

Six start-ups created or run by École Polytechique alumni or supported by École Polytechnique’s incubator were honored at the 26th edition of the I-Lab innovation competition, financed by the Future Investment Program and operated by BpiFrance.

Launched by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation to foster the entrepreneurial spirit, strengthen support for the creation of innovative technology companies and favor the development of Deep tech start-ups, the I-Lab competition rewarded 177 winners in its three sections.

The i-PhD program is at the first step of the challenge and is aimed at young researchers. The i-Lab program promotes the results of public research through the creation of innovative technology companies. The i-Nov challenge supports innovation projects with particularly strong potential for the French economy, carried out by start-ups and SMEs, with the aim of fostering the emergence of companies that are leaders in their field and can aspire to global status.

The i-Lab competition selected 74 winners from 440 applications in 2024, particularly in the fields of healthcare, digital and software technologies, electronics, chemistry and the environment.

École Polytechique's six prizewinners illustrate the entrepreneurial dynamism of the School's researchers and graduates, the diversity of the fields in which they develop their innovative technological projects, and the School's now well-established multi-curricular character.

Indeed, the prizewinners come from the Cycle Ingénieur polytechnicien program as well as Masters and PhD programs.

Two École Polytechique's start-ups are among the Grand Prix winners of the I-Lab 2024 competition: Kumulus Water and Orakl Technology.

The first, co-founded and directed by Iheb Triki (X2005), transforms humidity in the air into drinking water, thanks to its patented technology able to produce high-quality drinking water from ambient air and efficiently covering the needs of 10 to 200 people. The Kumulus Water device collects the water droplets produced by air cooling, using electricity from a connection, solar panel or mains supply. They are then filtered, mineralized and stored in a reservoir: the water produced is then ready to drink. The air is then released back into the ecosystem.

Orakl Technology, headed by Fanny Jaulin and co-founded by Diane Laure Pagès (X2014), is a techbio platform that, for the first time, connects drugs in development with cancer patients to ensure their clinical success. The company is a pioneer in clinical trial outcome prediction. Orakl Oncology raised over €3 million from French and European investors after its creation in 2023.

The other four X start-ups honored as national winners are AlphaBrain, Byorna, Manitty and SenseBioTek Health Care.

Co-founded by David Sabbagh (M2005), AlphaBrain is developing a software solution for real-time monitoring of brain function during surgery.

Byorna, co-founded and headed by Pascal Viguié (X1993), aims to improve the quality and efficiciency of therapeutic messenger RNAs, through the bioproduction of long mRNAs in yeast. Its technology, the fruit of French research, is protected by a patent issued in both Europe and the United States.

SenseBioTek is developing a medical electronic nose, SenseNose, for non-invasive and instantaneous early detection of cancerous diseases, using body smell.

The Resolve project (Resolve: ExtRacellular voEsicle Signature fOr LiVer disEases) led by Louise Biquard (D2016) is one of the 36 winners of the i-PhD competition. The result of a technology transfer from Inserm, Resolve is developing biomarkers carried by circulating extracellular vesicles to predict the progression of cirrhosis and enable early detection of the most at-risk cases. Resolve won the Lopez-Loreta Foundation prize.

Of the 67 winners of the I-Nov competition, 6 involve X alumni or have been supported by the School's incubator: Altaroad, Corsica Sole, Enginn Technology, Jalon Therapeutics, Kardinal, Pathway and Pili.

Altaroad, co-founded in 2017 by Bérengère Lebental (X2023), is an i-Nov winner for its innovative solution for the traceability of materials and waste from the construction industry, in response to the need for companies in this sector to reduce their environmental impact.

Corsica Sole, founded by Michael Coudyser (X2001) is an independent solar power producer, specialist in island areas and leader in energy storage in Europe. Growing rapidly, the company now has over 100 MWp of photovoltaic power plants and over 150 MWh of power plants with energy storage in operation, and is developing a project portfolio of over 1.5 GW.

Enginn Technologies, co-founded by Yann Hourdel (D2015), develops text-to-speech applications for creators of voice-activated content. The R&D project submitted for the competition aim at designing a real-time text-to-speech chain: a system that can synthesize text on the fly.

Jalon Therapeutics, co-founded by Hervé Dombret (X1972) who is the company's scientific advisor, develops new therapeutic approaches in oncology based on the inactivation of the AAC11 signaling pathway. This hitherto little-explored pathway is essential for the survival of cancer cells. Jalon Tx has developed a platform of peptides capable of blocking this pathway.

Kardinal, co-founded by Cédric Hervet (D2014), specializes in the transport sector, offering a SaaS solution for real-time route optimization. It exploits both data from the history of deliveries made to local areas and can combine them with future data.

Pathway (ex-Navalgo), founded by Zuzanna Stamirowska (M 2013), and incubated at École Polytechique from 2020 to 2023 offers a solution based on artificial intelligence, machine learning and graph theory to meet flow optimization challenges, particularly for logistics and transport.

Pili, co-founded in 2015 by Guillaume Boissonnat-Wu (X2009) develops eco-friendly colors derived from French non-food biomass to provide an ecological alternative to highly polluting fossil dyes and pigments.

X = Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program, M= Master, D = PhD