12/07/2010

The setting up of the Rennes Atalante Science & Technology Park was closely linked to the development of the Beaulieu science campus. Numerous companies were founded on the campus. This success is an example that can be used to strengthen the enterprising spirit, creativity and innovation in Brittany.
In this respect, our region has numerous advantages as regards business and innovation. With a high level of education, it has a well-qualified workforce and a large number of potential founders of companies.
Public R&D enjoys international recognition in its areas of excellence (ICT, the sea, agriculture and food-processing, biology and health, the environment etc.) and is well known for its good results in the filing of patents with the European Patents Office.
The system of support for innovation and company start-ups is spread throughout the region and marked by a well-established, strong, mobilising “network”, in particular through the action of Bretagne Valorisation and the science and technology parks.
Increasing awareness of starting a business and the need for training in the corresponding skills both require a commitment on the part of universities and colleges to play a key role in terms of educational and scientific innovation.
Educational innovation: numerous institutions have developed curricula focussing on business skills. Subjects covered include technological and social enterprise, solidarity, sustainable development etc. The digital working environment and the sharing of the Moodle cooperative platform are both advantages. Multi-disciplinary teams of students with different educational backgrounds are another strength.
Scientific innovation: university research laboratories play a part in developing the management of innovation and enterprise. There has, for example, been innovative work on the uses of ICTs to encourage links between the Humanities, the Sciences and Technology.
The development of student enterprise within universities and colleges requires the involvement of all possible networks (science & technology parks, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, networks of corporate managers, financial institutions etc.) The dynamic exists and is making progress – a dynamic based on greater acceptance of all levels of training for the socio-economic and corporate world. 

David Alis
Vice-président de l’Université de Rennes 1

12/07/2010

The Goëmar Group, which specialises in the development of ecological products for plant nutrition and protection, will be moving to premises in the Atalante Saint-Malo Science & Technology Park in December 2010. The first stage of the new building will cover 2,700 sq. metres and will be extended by 600 sq. metres at a later stage, on a plot of 1.3 hectares. This investment is expected to be accompanied by the creation of 5 to 7 new jobs in a company that currently has a workforce of 67. The industrial project is part of the company’s strategy to double its capacity for the processing of marine algae and the production of innovative natural plant products that are environmentally and human-friendly. The products are used in forestry, wine growing, market gardening and large-scale cropping.
Goëmar announced, at the same time, that it would be selling its Plant Health division to BeCapital, an investment company from Luxembourg interested in companies with high environmental added value. The takeover will include the entire equity capital of the company from Saint-Malo and its two American subsidiaries, GIC and Agrimar. The aim of the sale is to give Goëmar the resources it requires to continue its growth strategy based on innovation and external, targeted growth. The Bertaud family, who have been Goëmar shareholders since 1983, still own the Green Technologies start-up specialising in food safety.
Present in 45 countries, Goëmar achieved turnover of 20 million euros in 2009, 50% of it on the international market. 
www.goemar.com

Contact : Marie-Hélène Netange - Tel : +33(0)2 99 21 53 70

12/07/2010

In September, Technicolor is launching the construction of an 18,000 sq. metre technology campus on the extension to the Champs Blancs site belonging to Rennes Atalante. It will transfer the work of its largest R&D centre in the world, already present on Rennes Atalante Beaulieu, to the new premises. Its researchers develop new technologies for the creation and management of, and access to, contents in the communications, media and entertainment sectors.
The campus, scheduled for completion by the end of 2012, was designed by the Parisian firm of architects, Christian Devillers, and it will be built by Ouest Tertiaire (Legendre Group). The buildings are modern in design and meet a twofold requirement – to stimulate team creativity and to comply with the HQE BBC standard (high environmental quality and low energy consumption building). By launching this project, Technicolor is strengthening its attachment to Rennes and confirming its determination to increase cooperation with the world of higher education.
www.technicolor.com

Contact : Jean-Pierre Guillou - Tel. +33 (0)2 99 27 30 00

12/07/2010

Saveur, a supplier of intermediate food products, recently invested one million euros in a new production plant on its site in Bréal-sous-Montfort. With an annual output of 200 tonnes, it will enable the company to develop its own range of aromatic extracts for the first time. The extracts, in seven flavours, are made from top-quality raw materials such as beef, poultry or fish fillets. Processing is covered by a patent and is strictly physical in nature, complying with traditional culinary techniques and producing tastes that are typical of the raw materials used. There are many different uses for the extracts e.g. sauces (white, gravies), soups, ready-made vegetable, meat or fish meals, stuffing and potted seafood or fish. Saveur also develops innovative culinary products for food-processing industrialists, creating a wide range of food products that combine taste, texture and practicality.
Set up more than 20 years ago, Saveur, a subsidiary of the Savena Group, now has 55 employees, 12 of them in research & development. It has two R&D laboratories in Denmark and France as well as commercial offices. 
www.saveur.fr

Contact : Eric Terré – Tel. +33 (0)2 99 60 07 60

12/07/2010

The “Cantine numérique” project launched in 2008 will result, in September, to the opening of an area for digital innovation in what was once the shop in Les Champs Libres in Rennes. The project, managed by the Cantine Numérique Rennaise Association includes 9 structures from the worlds of economics, associations, universities and the Arts sector i.e. the Imaging & Networks competitiveness cluster, Web2Rennes, Bug, Rennes Atalante, Meito, Granit, ESC Rennes (business school), the Marsouin economic interest group and Saga. Its aim is to run a cooperative networking area from which ideas will emerge, ideas that draw on the economic, social and cultural worlds. It aims to bring together worlds that usually work at some distance from each other in order to pool the resources and skills provided by developers, business people, users, artists, researchers and students. It will also be a meeting place and a location for debate and discussion with the general public, enlightened amateurs and professionals.
This cooperative initiative has now been brought to fruition thanks to significant support from Rennes Métropole. In fact, the District Council is funding the redevelopment of the 188 sq. metres of space in the new centre and allocating an operating grant of 100,000 euros a year. The association is also seeking other partners to top up the funding.
Brittany Regional Council has been asked to provide 50,000 euros and several telcos are currently being contacted and asked to contribute to funding.

Contact : Bernard Marquet

12/07/2010

Set up in March 2009 in Rennes, the Regards company specialising in the creation of interactive fixed and mobile applications already has a staff of 20 in Rennes and 2 in its branch in Lyon which opened in March 2010. No less than eight people have been recruited since the start of the year and seven more jobs are currently vacant in Rennes (web and mobile development, project management, graphics, educational engineering and sales).
The company was created as a result of a meeting between Matthieu Beucher and Erwan Barbey-Chariou, the manager of 360 Ouest, a company specialising in spherical photographs. The two founders attracted technical expertise to their company, in areas such as contents production, web and mobile broadcasting platform engineering and transmedia project management (screenplay, storyboarding, interface ergonomics). The young SME, directed by Matthieu Beucher, invests extensively in R&D – three engineers are working on the future of interactive contents and mobile apps. The company’s clients are mainly SMEs but also include leading groups such as Orange, Veolia and PSA for which the company develops tools for training, communication and sales. It also produces and broadcasts multimedia reports, web-documentaries and serious games.
In Rennes, the company designed a virtual tour of Rennes’ cultural amenities for Les Champs Libres and an application highlighting the town’s architectural heritage for the town council.
With more than 50 clients, Regards expects to achieve turnover of 750,000 euros in 2010 and exceed the one million euros in 2011.
www.groupe-regards.com

Contact : Matthieu Beucher –  Tel. +33 (0)2 99 83 43 82

12/07/2010

Hassan Triqui, previously Sales Manager with Thales, Nextamp and Thomson, set up the Secure-IC company last January with the assistance of three researchers from Télécom ParisTech, Jean-Luc Danger, Laurent Sauvage and Sylvain Guilley, acting as scientific advisers. This spin-off from the Institut Télécom (Télécom ParisTech and Télécom Bretagne) designs electronic circuits to increase the security of information systems for use in the Defence and Civil Security sectors. The systems provide a means of combating the latest techniques in the extraction of confidential information. The methods used are unusual and protected by a number of patents filed by the Institut Télécom. The technologies improve the security and resistance of circuits, reduce their energy consumption and use less silicon. The company is also engaged in engineering and consultancy to facilitate the use of this technology. In the medium term, the team will be developing a new-generation smartcard for the identification market, i.e. an electronic ID.
Secure-IC currently has four members of staff and will soon be recruiting a further three for the technical and commercial departments. It intends to take on a total of twenty people over the next three years. The team is divided between Paris and Rennes where the company has its head office in the premises of Télécom Bretagne on the Rennes Atalante Beaulieu campus. The company’s founders were assisted by Rennes Atalante through the Emergys business incubator. Note that the company recently won an award in the competition organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research in the “creation-development” category.
www.secure-ic.com

Contact : Hassan Triqui – Tel. 06 71 45 47 46

12/07/2010

Michel Chenon worked in the production of medical devices but his passion for sailing led him to set up the Pontos-DFS (Design For Sailing) company in Saint-Malo in June 2009. He said, “Our task is to supply innovative, high-quality, technical solutions for deck manoeuvres, with security and comfort as their primary characteristics. Our clients in the leisure sailing and yacht racing sectors can then become leaders in their own markets.”
A team of four engineers is engaged in the design stage. Its first technological innovation won an award in June 2009 in the national competition providing assistance for innovative technology companies, organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Its development programme includes four innovations for which patent applications have been filed. Industrialisation will be complete in 2010 and the market launch is scheduled for November 2011. In the short term, the company founder hopes to become one of the top five equipment manufacturers in his sector. His business plan includes the production of components and assembly, both of which will lead to job creation in 2011-2012.
He is receiving assistance from Rennes Atalante through the Emergys business incubator to give him time to give reality to his company’s innovations. 

Contact : Michel Chenon – Tel. +33 (0)2 99 82 30 47

12/07/2010

The Ministry of Research recently gave awards to ten new Breton companies, five in the Emerging Businesses category and five in Start-Up and Development. Six of the ten are receiving assistance from Rennes Atalante and five operate from the Emergys regional business incubator. The grants awarded to winners are substantial – 160,000 euros in the Emerging Businesses category and 1.14 million euros in the Start-Up and Development category.
The three prizewinners from Rennes in the Emerging Businesses category are Pierre-Laurent LagaLaye’s Modae (software and assistance with the design of multiprocessor embedded systems), Cimtech run by Lionel Planquette (development of rollerless Venetian blinds for private housing) and Firmed set up by Hugues Tariel (fibre optic infrared chemical analysis system for medical diagnoses). The three companies share a total of 107,000 euros.
In the Start-Up and Development category, three of the five Breton winners are from Rennes - Secure-IC (design of a new generation of smartcards that withstand physical attack) directed by Hassan Triqui, Broadpeak set up by Jacques Le Mancq (video-on-demand distribution systems for pay TV operators) and Dynamixyz represented by Gaspard Breton (facial analysis and facial animation for virtual 3D figures) who was already a prizewinner last year in the Emerging Businesses category. The three companies from Rennes share a total of 910,000 euros.
The five projects that have received assistance through the regional business incubator are spin-offs from, or linked to, higher education and research institutions - Insa de Rennes, Supélec Rennes, Télécom Bretagne, Enib and Ensibs. 
www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr 

Contact : Jean-Marie Haussonne - Tel. +33 (0)2 99 87 43 13

12/07/2010

The Ministry of Research is increasing the grant to the Emergys incubator by 22,000 €. This 7.41% increase takes the annual budget to 319,000 €. The good news follows on from the national assessments conducted in 2009 which placed the incubator in Brittany high up on the national list, in particular for its economic impact, thanks to the number of new jobs per company (7.5 i.e. 2 points higher than the average for all business incubators accredited by the Ministry). The incubator’s results as regards the number of prizewinning projects in the national competition for assistance for innovative technology company start-ups were also deemed very satisfactory. In all, 66 projects assisted by Emergys have ben prizewinners since the competition was launched in 1999. The results for 2010 will be announced on 30th June.
Since the beginning of the year, 7 new projects have joined the Emergys incubator. Four of them lie within the information and communication technology sector; the other three are engineering science projects. At the same time, 7 new companies were set up.
These latest results take to 111 the number of projects incubated and to 81 the number of companies set up (71 of them are still operational). 
www.incubateur-emergys.fr

Contact : Sylvain Coquet – Tel. +33 (0)2 99 12 73 82

12/07/2010

Tanguy Rouxel, founder of Larmaur, a laboratory of applied mechanics, and Professor at the University of Rennes 1, has recently been awarded the Otto Schott Prize. This prestigious international distinction rewards research work of an exceptionally high quality in the glass sector. The prize brings with it the sum of 25,000 euros which will enable him to intensify his research into the mechanical properties and glass and vitreous materials. The scientist is highly respected internationally and he plays an active part in numerous scientific projects. He improved knowledge of the elastic properties, deformation mechanisms and mechanical damage of glass surfaces.
Behind this one man, there are fifteen researchers in Larmaur trying to improve the mechanical properties of glass for specific uses such as flat screens, abrasive micro-balls, optical fibres etc. The unusual nature of the laboratory lies in the fact that it is an international platform receiving glass from all over the world including metallic glass from Japan, nitrogen-based glass from Ireland, carbon glass from Germany and Italy etc.
www.larmaur.univ-rennes1.fr

Contact : Tanguy Rouxel - Tel. +33 (0)2 23 23 67 18

16/08/2010

TES Electronic Solutions is managing the cooperative research project called TMS (stabilised marine terminal)which has recently been accredited by the Sea Brittany and Imaging & Networks competitiveness clusters. The project aims to build a more competitively-priced system to provide access to wireless broadband for users sailing within coastal waters i.e. within ten nautical miles of the coast. Its partners are Thales Communications, responsible for the general specifications, Satimo (Plouzané) responsible for the design and production of antennae and Deti based in Brest responsible for the antenna stabilisation device. Teams from Alcatel-Lucent in Brest are focussing on the study and development of the intelligent routing system. Finally, Télécom Bretagne will be responsible for resolving the problem of wave propagation at sea. The target market is recreational sailors and maritime professionals. To validate the project, a users’ club has been set up, lead by Bolloré Télécom, Ifremer and the French Navy.
The engineering centre in Bruz near Rennes specialises in digital wireless communications systems. Forty engineers develop radiolocation and radio communication systems there as well as distress beacons, wireless telephony systems and equipment for satellite transmissions for clients in Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Australia and China. With Grenoble and Quimper, this is one of three design centres for the group in France; the head office and production plant (300 employees) are in Langon (Ille-et-Vilaine 35). All the centres offer a comprehensive service, from the design of a concept to the mass production of an industrial product, including the intermediate stages of design, development, debugging, industrialisation, testing and certification.
www.tesbv.com

Contact : Jean-Louis Guillet – Tel. +33 (0)2 99 00 94 52

16/08/2010

Valorex, which specialises in the extrusion of cereals for animal feeds, has recently invested 2.2 million euros in a new plant near its head office in Combourtillé (between Vitré and Fougères) to enable it to diversify into the human food sector. The new plant has been named Vaizgantho, after the god of linen and hemp in Lithuanian folklore. “The new unit will produce cereal-enriched flour for the flour milling market, pasta and breakfast cereals,” said Pierre Weill, President of Valorex. The company will also be able to bag the flour itself in packaging as small as 100 grams for the general retail market and in larger packaging for the food-processing industry. The plant will use mainly wheat and linen seeds, as well as products made with buckwheat, spelt, quinoa, hemp, camelina and even mustard. It will use the thermo-mechanical extrusion patented by its parent company for its particular ability to process linen seeds for their Omega 3 content.
The Valorex Group employs 80 people and achieved turnover of 55 million euros in 2009. With diversification, the company hopes to produce 300 tonnes of flour in 2010, generating turnover of between 1 and 1.5 million euros. Two people will be responsible for running the new production plant.
www.valorex.com

Contact : Stéphane Deleau - Tel. +33 (0)2 99 97 63 33