Bpifrance Innovation Competition: HEC Paris Startups in the Spotlight
On October 14, 2025, at La Seine Musicale in Boulogne-Billancourt, France celebrated its future tech champions during the 2025 Innovation Competition awards ceremony. Driven by France 2030 and operated by Bpifrance and ADEME, this competition is one of the most powerful deeptech startup catalysts in Europe.
This year, 147 winners stood out across the program’s three complementary tracks — i-PhD, i-Lab and i-Nov — reflecting the dynamism of a French research ecosystem undergoing major transformation and its ability to generate industrial, sustainable and sovereign innovations. At the heart of this momentum, the HEC Paris ecosystem stands out in particular, with several startups supported by the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute among the award recipients, including multiple Grand Prix winners.
France 2030 programme: A Lever to Transform Research into Innovation
Launched in 2021, France 2030 is a French government investment plan designed to transform the country’s economy over the next decade by funding breakthrough innovation, accelerating industrial decarbonization, and strengthening technological sovereignty.
Created in 1999, the Innovation Competitions have already recognized nearly 5,000 winners. They have become a strategic milestone for researchers, entrepreneurs and SMEs engaged in the ecological, energy, digital and industrial transitions.
Their objectives:
- i-PhD Competition: supporting young researchers preparing to launch their deeptech startup.
- i-Lab Competition: supporting the creation of innovative technology companies.
- i-Nov Competition: funding ambitious projects led by high-potential startups and SMEs with strong industrial impact.
The 2025 edition reflects a clear national ambition aligned with the France 2030 programme: to accelerate technological sovereignty, decarbonize the economy and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
147 Winners, €74 Million in Funding
The 2025 ceremony celebrated the diversity and excellence of French innovation projects with:
- 40 i-PhD winners, including 10 Grand Prizes
- 62 i-Lab winners, including 9 Grand Prizes
- 45 i-Nov winners, representing over €51 million in funding
The themes highlighted this year reflect national sovereignty priorities: better living, better production, better healthcare and better control of digital technologies.
The HEC Paris Ecosystem Strongly Represented
The HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute once again confirms its pivotal role in structuring the French deeptech ecosystem. Programs such as CDL-Paris, HEC Challenge+, LuminEdge, as well as support from the Deep Tech Center, helped initiate, accelerate or strengthen several award-winning projects.
Among the nominees and winners, 21 startups come from the HEC Paris ecosystem, including 13 from the HEC Challenge+ program, 7 from the CDL-Paris program, and one from the LuminEdge program.
i-Lab Grand Prize Winners
Two early-stage startups from the HEC Paris ecosystem received the highest distinction of the competition. Congratulations to them on this outstanding recognition!
Isentroniq
Isentroniq develops an innovative wiring technology designed to overcome qubit limitations in quantum computing.
Founders: Paul Magnard & Théodore Amar
HEC Program: CDL-Paris – Next Gen Computing
Zebramed
Zebramed designs next-generation biomedical innovations enabling faster and more reliable diagnostics — a major milestone in healthcare.
Founder: Valerio Laghi
HEC Program: LuminEdge
i-Lab Awardees
The startups awarded in the i-Lab track stand out for the scientific and industrial robustness of their projects.
LumiSync patented the world’s first 100% photonic oscillator, a key component in most integrated circuits, 1,000 times faster and 1,000 times more energy-efficient than current electronic oscillators.
Founders: Alexis Jonville, Giuseppe Modica and Rémy Braive
HEC Programs: HEC Challenge+ and CDL-Paris Next Gen Computing
Myriad4Sensing, a CEA-List spin-off, develops and commercializes high-sensitivity fiber optic sensing solutions for the most demanding environments.
Founder: Romain Cotillard
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
UNVEIL, a spin-off from the Institut d’Optique, develops an optical instrument that enables rapid measurement of the charge, size and concentration of nanovectors used for biomedicines.
Founders: Alexis Auchère, Matthieu Greffet, Jean-Jacques Greffet
HEC Program: LuminEdge
Meddenovo uses AI to design innovative cyclic peptides and accelerate the discovery of new drugs.
Founders: Ilke Ugur Marion and Antoine Marion
HEC Program: CDL-Paris – AI
- Pronoe develops CO₂ capture solutions based on the natural absorption capacity of oceans via systems installed on coastal industrial sites.
Founders: Juan Buceta and Nicolas Sdez
HEC Program: CDL-Paris – Climate
- Flatlight designs active metasurfaces that control and redirect light without mechanics, with unprecedented precision and speed.
Founders: Renato Juliano Martins and Emil Marinov
HEC Program: CDL-Paris – Next Gen Computing
- PlasChem (future Plaskimia spin-off planned for early 2026) develops a plasma chemistry technology to produce fine chemicals faster, cleaner and with reduced energy consumption.
Founders: Michael Tatoulian and Laurent Boitard
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
- Smartery 25 (Smartery project) develops the first endoprosthesis for emergency treatment of aortic arch dissections.
Founder: Benoît Cosset
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
i-Nov Awardees
The i-Nov track supports high-impact innovation projects led by startups and SMEs with the potential to become global leaders in their field.
Here are the i-Nov winners from the HEC ecosystem this year:
- Papkot develops plastic-free packaging using an intelligent coating technology that turns paper into a sustainable alternative to plastic.
Founder: Manuel Milliery
HEC Program: CDL-Paris – Climate
- Snowpack, a European spin-off of the CEA, develops a patented cybersecurity technology that makes systems and data invisible to hackers via a Virtual Invisible Private Network (VIPN).
Founders: Frédéric Laurent, Baptiste Polvé and Sébastien Groyer
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
- HuntX Pharma develops new therapeutic approaches to treat diseases caused by axonal transport defects, starting with Huntington’s disease.
Founders: Laure Jamot and Frédéric Saudou
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
i-PhD Awardee
SupervHyse optimizes hydrogen system maintenance through real-time monitoring and predictive software.
Founder: Gaultier Gibey
HEC Program: HEC Challenge+
Other Nominated Startups
We would also like to highlight several promising projects from the HEC Paris ecosystem selected as nominees for the quality of their work:
- DOORS Photonics, founded by Arnaud Rigny, who participated in the CDL-Paris – Next Gen Computing program.
The following startups also participated in the HEC Challenge+ program:
- Lutèce Dynamics (Olivier Thouvenin)
- Phigi (Rémy Tribout)
- Scanorhize (William Arditi)
- Missia (Sébastien Gilabert)
- Letsee (Ombeline de La Rochefoucauld)
- Phonix Care (Islam El-Boudi)
HEC Paris: A Key Ecosystem for Scaling French Deeptech
With its innovation hub, flagship programs, academic and industrial partnerships, and international entrepreneurial network, HEC Paris stands out as a major player in accelerating breakthrough technologies in France.
The results of the 2025 Bpifrance Innovation Competition confirm this position:
- Startups supported by the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute are among the most promising projects in the French tech landscape.
- They represent a new generation of entrepreneurs able to transform research into concrete industrial and societal impact.
- Their presence across all categories (i-Lab, i-Nov and i-PhD) highlights the diversity of profiles and levels of maturity supported by the HEC ecosystem.
Discover the 2025 Deep Tech Observatory Ranking
About the Deep Tech Center
Within the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, the Deep Tech Center strengthens the commercial skills of scientific entrepreneurs, supports strategic decision-making for startups, and accelerates go-to-market strategies for corporate R&D initiatives. Its programs are designed to ensure a smooth transition from innovation to commercial success.
About the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute
The Institute supports entrepreneurs from all backgrounds. Through our Incubation & Acceleration, Deep Tech and Social Entrepreneurship centers, we support students with innovative ideas, emerging startups, fast-scaling companies, SMEs on a growth track and large corporations undergoing transformation, as well as social and environmental entrepreneurs — helping them scale effectively and with impact. This is where the entire HEC Paris entrepreneurial ecosystem comes together to help you “Make it Happen, Make it Big.”