X-FAB, the prototyping space at École Polytechnique, opens up to bioengineering

The Drahi X Novation Center, the entrepreneurship and innovation center at École Polytechnique, is strengthening and diversifying its prototyping space, X-FAB, by hosting the LivingLab of the interdisciplinary Engineering for Health Center (E4H), a creative and collaborative space dedicated to prototyping projects in bioengineering.

Launched in July 2022, Engineering for Health (E4H) is the interdisciplinary center of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, of which École polytechnique is one of the five founding Engineering Schools alongside ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis. E4H aims to shape the future of the life and health sciences by leveraging IP Paris' strengths in the physical, mathematical and social sciences.

Equipped with state-of-the-art bioengineering prototyping facilities and workspaces, the E4H LivingLab is designed to help new projects emerge, accelerate existing projects, and initiate collaborations for the launch of startups and the deployment of new biotechnology solutions.

HealthTech, one of the Drahi-X's top priotities

"The arrival of the E4H LivingLab at the Drahi-X Novation Center is an important event for our center. The LivingLab enriches the promise of technological support for the startups we incubate, many of which are in the health sector," said Bruno Cattan, Director of Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at École Polytechnique.

The E4H LivingLab is part of the BERTIP Biomedical Engineering Training Program - whose partners are the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, École Polytechnique, Telecom Paris, Telecom SudParis, ENSTA Paris, CNRS, Inria, Inserm and the Groupe hospitalier Paris Saint-Joseph. It is funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) - École universitaire de recherche (EUR) as part of the France 2030 plan.

X-FAB is one of the major assets of the Drahi-X Novation Center in its strategy to promote entrepreneurship and innovation among students and researchers at École Polytechnique, allowing them to test and refine their entrepreneurial projects. It is also open to start-ups supported by the Drahi-X Novation Center as part of its X-Up seed program or its X-Tech incubator for more mature start-ups.

As a space with an educational focus and intended for students of École Polytechnique and IP Paris, X-FAB is also open to Drahi-X Novation Centrer start-ups as part of the construction of their first prototype before moving on to the industrialization phase. Offering a surface area of 1,000 square meters since its expansion during the second phase of construction of the Drahi X Novation Center building on the X campus in 2019, it has more than 50 machines ranging from 3D printing to laser cutting.

The Drahi-X Novation Center, which is open to entrepreneurial and innovative initiatives from within and outside the École Polytechnique’s ecosystem, focuses on four themes - Greentech, Healthtech, Industry 4.0 and New Mobilities - in line with the major research areas of IP Paris' interdisciplinary research centers.