from the oyster connected to business aviation cameras, the selection of innovating companies

IThere are the fine speeches, the pious wishes, the incantations of “decarbonization” or “resilience” and then, suddenly, a delightful dive into the world of business, these little-known regions where we come across connected oysters, “regenerated” wine barrels for spirits and high-definition cameras popular with business aviation. Welcome to 18^e departmental edition of the Neo-Aquitaine Economy Prizes, Tuesday December 17, inventory at the Prévert which, invariably, offers an invigorating overview of the diversity of the Gironde economic fabric.

Six trophies were awarded in the evening, and these are all courses highlighted under the ceilings of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), at the Palais de la Bourse in Bordeaux. First lesson: sometimes a wise idea is born from an observation of failure. “I tried it in wine, it didn’t work,” whispers Jean-Luc Dutel, founding boss of Alter Oak, an SME based in Bouscat and specializing in the fine recycling of barrels for wineries. distilleries “around the world”. “I’m definitely not going to criticize the wine,” he apologizes. “We create wood aromas that allow spirits to become premium. And everything I learned was through wine. » The first entrepreneur to take the stage, he leaves with the Export Prize.

New direction

Specializing in plastronics, and incidentally the essential touch technology since the appearance of smartphones, Symbiose, installed in a new factory in Pugnac, has seen its turnover quadruple in two years to reach 11.5 million euros this year . Growth prize for its general director Jean-Pierre Estanol, busy developing the automation of its lines.

A technological niche does not prohibit great ambitions. So much for the “pitch” from Otonomy aviation, the world number 1 in high definition cameras for business aviation, based in Mérignac. “We realize the appetite for our products among major clients,” says Guillaume Daudon, the boss, without seeming to touch it. Commercial aviation, a new direction in sight? Innovation prize for the company.

From the sky to the bottom of the oyster ponds, there is only one step: the start-up Molluscan-Eye equips oysters or mussels to directly measure the quality of the water and its much-feared variations. A “mature”, “applicable in the field” technology, praises its scientific director Jean-Charles Massabuau, because it was developed “for seventeen years” in a laboratory of the CNRS and the University of Bordeaux. It earned the young company the aptly named Start-up Prize.

Well-shaped heads

And if there is one company that does not close like an oyster, it is Serma Technologies, which has been in the breach for thirty years. To tell the truth, the novice quickly loses his footing in front of the extent of the electronic technologies and materials developed by the Pessac company, but he listens when its president Philippe Berlié immediately announces that “AI [intelligence artificielle] is the new technological revolution. She’s going to change the world.” And Serma is preparing for it, he warns for all intents and purposes, Departmental Prize of Neo-Aquitaines under his arm.

Another dazzling demonstration of well-made heads, the lightning success of the start-up Treefrog Therapeutics, Public Prize 2024, also based in Pessac. At stake, nothing more and nothing less than a “disruptive technology for the mass production of cellular therapies” from which people suffering from Parkinson’s disease could benefit. Founded in 2018, the biotechnology company has already raised some 82 million euros. Budding beard, all smiles, Maxime Feyeux, one of its three co-founders, has the profile of these young and brilliant business leaders across the Atlantic promised to a bright future. Moreover, he slips, the trio considered settling in San Francisco or Singapore before opting for the Bordeaux area. “We weren’t from here, though. »Rejoicing, we tell you.