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Event. Ortho Access, WaltR, Avrio Medtech, Coldep, Les Flâneuses and Ecotrack make up the winners of the 43rd regional competition Les Inn'Ovals, whose prizes were awarded on October 8, 2024 at the Cité in Toulouse. A list of achievements that reflects the rise of societal and ecological concerns at the heart of the innovation ecosystem in Occitanie.
We know the list of companies winning the 43rd Les Inn'Ovals competition, which rewards the five most innovative projects in Occitanie every year. Organized by Ad'Occ, the regional economic development agency, this competition aims to promote project leaders and promote innovative products, processes or services offered by companies in the region. Endowed with 96,000€ in total, the competition is funded by the Occitanie Region and its partners: EDF, BNP Paribas, Enedis and the University Innovation Centers (PUI) in Toulouse and Montpellier. The awards ceremony took place at the end of the 2024 edition ofOccitanie Innov on October 8, 2024 at the Cité in Toulouse.
This year, 225 applications were submitted online, coming from the 13 departments of the region (including 75 from Hérault, 71 from Haute-Garonne and five from Tarn-et-Garonne). The new categories related tosocietal and ecological impact were particularly popular: together they represent more than 60% of the applications submitted. The prizes are in fact now awarded according to five categories : “products and services of the future”, “innovation and ecological impact”, “innovation and ecological impact”, “innovation and international”, “innovation and territories”, with the winning companies each receiving €18,000 reward. Two other prizes are also awarded: the Coup de Coeur, endowed with €1,000, and the Grand Prize, awarded to the best of the winners in the five categories, with an additional €5,000 in prize money.
Coldep, Grand Jury Prize
It's the business Coldep Who was awarded the Grand Jury Prize. She is also the winner of the Innovation & Ecological Impact Award. Founded in 2013 and based in Lattes, in Hérault, it has developed a revolutionary process for wastewater treatment. His solution, called Vacuum AirLift (VAL), treats water by vacuum flotation. In practice, compressed air microbubbles are sent into the column and coagulate the suspended matter (viruses, bacteria, organic matter, oils, etc.). The foam created in this way rises to the surface and falls into a dedicated receptacle. An innovation that interests aquaculture and shellfish farms.
“To date, a hundred sites around the world use our Val Aqua technology to biosecure seawater in their basins”, underscores Sébastien Latz, the managing director of Coldep. The company is now attacking the market for industrial effluents, with a new solution, called Val Inuds, which is already marketed to several agri-food and chemical groups. To support its growth, Coldep completed a fundraiser, in the amount of €2 MILLION. The company, which employs 11 people, is counting on a turnover
Another prize awarded for the first time on the occasion of this 2024 edition, the Innovation & Societal Impact Award Went to the Toulouse society E-hey brand owner Les Flâneuses. Founded in 2018, the company develops a range of seats that simplify Pedestrian mobility in all places frequented by the public. Solutions that are aimed at all those who end up exhausting walking, regardless of the level of autonomy. Made in the Hautes-Pyrénées and in the Saint-Étienne basin, these seats, Recognized medical device (class 1), can alternatively be used as armchairs, strollers for children, rollators or luggage carriers. In particular, Aéroports de Paris (ADP) acquired 85 of these seats. “Today, we equip a hundred establishments, not only airports, but also museums, health and social institutions and shopping malls”, details Yves Subarroque, the CEO of the company who estimates the weight of its market at €300 million worldwide.