Two X alumni take the spotlight at the 2023 Ivy Award for best young tech executive

Nicolas Cruaud (X2016), co-founder of Néolithe, won the Ivy 2023 prize, and David Henri (X2013), co-founder of Extrotrail, was one of the finalists. Two distinctions that underline Ecole Polytechnique's dynamism in entrepreneurship and innovation.

18 Oct. 2023

Entrepreneurship

Two X alumni were honored at the Ivy 2023 award ceremony for the best young tech executive, held on October 17th.

Nicolas Cruaud (X2016), co-founder of Néolithe, won the prize for the creation and development of this start-up, incubated in 2019 at the Drahi-X Novation Center, Ecole polytechnique's center for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Néolithe is developing a technology for transforming non-recyclable household waste, such as fabrics, plastics or food scraps, into mineral aggregates that can be used in the building and public works sector, notably in road underlay and concrete. Naturally environmentally-friendly, this patented process, which relies on the fossilization of waste, avoids incineration and landfill. Néolithe, which has raised three rounds of financing totalling 23 million euros, employs 180 people.

David Henri (X2013), founder of Exotrail, also hosted at the Drahi-X Novation Centrer in 2017, was among the finalists for the2023 prize. Exotrail offers miniaturized electric propulsion systems for small satellites.

These two distinctions illustrate École polytechnique's strong entrepreneurial drive in technological innovation. The École Polytechnique topped a recent Figaro ranking of engineering schools that have trained the leaders of promising French Tech start-ups.

On September 28th, École Polytechnique hosted the seminar for the first class of French Tech 2030, bringing together the program's institutional partners and the 125 winning start-ups, 16 of them from the École Polytechnique innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

École Polytechnique, and more broadly the Institut Polytechnique de Paris of which it is a founding member, is a major player in innovation in France and internationally: 1/3 of unicorns and 35% of the Next 40 are founded or run by alumni or come from its ecosystem. Start-ups from X and IP Paris are widely represented at major innovation events such as VivaTech, Spring and the Consumer Electronic Shows.

Launched by headhunting firm Ivy Executive Search in 2001, the Ivy Tech Prize is awarded each year to an outstanding candidate under 30 in the technology sector whose company has raised at least €10 million in capital and has a finalized product or service with significant sales growth.

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