Innovation is born from emerging ideas that build on each other, growing on complementary know-how. This is what we call brainstorming. That was the focus of this event, whose theme
focused on “Med Vallée: a meeting of excellence sectors, competitiveness cluster vision, and cross-fertilization examples involving health, food, and the environment.”
Held on December 13 at the Agropolis International campus in Montpellier on the initiative of the Eurobiomed competitiveness cluster, the meeting featured
two of Med Vallée’s three founders:
Montpellier Métropole – instigator of the concept – represented by Hind Emad, MMM Vice President in charge of Economic and Digital Development; and the
Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, represented by Jalil Benabdillah, Vice President in charge of the Economy, Employment, Innovation, and Reindustrialization; along with Marie-Thérèse Mercier, Occitanie Regional Councilor. Also present were several competitiveness clusters –
Eurobiomed,
Agri Sud-Ouest Innovation,
Derbi, and
Aqua-Valley – as well as University of Montpellier’s
Muse I-Site and several innovative companies who came to share their experience,
Phycobiotech,
Syrius Solar Industry,
Ecofilae, and
Sys2Diag. With this event, partner organizations entered into a new phase of discussion and coordination on the topics covered by Med Vallée.
That’s what Med Vallée is all about.
The initiative creates conditions that foster innovation through cross-fertilization and creating collective and shared momentum by bringing together competitiveness cluster ecosystems, higher education, research, and businesses alongside Med Vallée founders. Franck Molina, CEO and founder of Sys2Diag confirms this key point.
In his joint laboratory, which associates CNRS with two companies in the ALCEN Group, the choice was made to establish teams that are “
interdisciplinary and pluricultural.”
We never work alone, but rather with specialists in the fields we are targeting,” he says.
This emulation leads to innovation.
Aqua Valley takes the same approach.
“We develop transversal projects that include specialists involved with cities and territories, agriculture, health, energy, digital technologies, and space,” details the competitiveness cluster’s president.
Innovation often emerges from these projects, such as
SmartFertiReuse. The main objective of this collaborative project led by Aqua Valley and Agri Sud-Ouest Innovation is to design a complete, innovative service to assist local authorities and players in the agricultural world with their management of treated residual water and fertilizers: ferti-irrigation.
There is also
Rur’eaux, a cross-sector project in the circular economy led by Ecofilae and co-funded by the Rhône Méditerranée Corsica Water Agency.
“In the beginning, everyone told us that it would never work. But we successfully mobilized various technologies developed by local companies in order to produce ecological tomatoes, grown under completely safe health conditions using re-treated shower water,” observes Nicolas Condom, the company’s CEO.
By creating synergy with all these talents, Med Vallée will play its role as a facilitator. Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole brings together all the right assets. “Montpellier Métropole has huge academic strengths,” highlights Didier Fontenille, research director at IRD, and director of the
RIVOC initiative and Muse I-Site RIVE Key Initiative. Those strengths are enhanced by those of local companies, whose expertise will be highlighted and promoted.
“The purpose is to provide visibility for all those involved in order to bring about cross-sector projects focusing on disruptive innovations,” says Hind Emad.
“The Region fully supports this strategic project for Montpellier Métropole, as it fits in perfectly with regional priorities,” concludes Jalil Benabdillah.
Med Vallée, an innovation accelerator.
