Bruno Cattan appointed Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IP Paris
Bruno Cattan, X 1993 and a 1998 graduate of Télécom Paris, was promoted to Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Institut Polytechnique de Paris on May 1, 2024. Since 2021, he has held this position at École polytechnique, one of the five founding schools of the Institut, along with ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis, and has been in charge of the IP Paris Innovation Committee. He will retain these two responsibilities.
Bruno Cattan, X 1993 and a 1998 graduate of Télécom Paris, was promoted to Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Institut Polytechnique de Paris on May 1, 2024. Since 2021, he has held this position at École polytechnique, one of the five founding schools of the Institut, along with ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis, and has been in charge of the IP Paris Innovation Committee. He will retain these two responsibilities.
Bruno Cattan's appointment is in line with the mission letter sent in November 2023 to Thierry Coulhon, acting Chairman of IP Paris, by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Bruno Le Maire. "(...) While respecting the history and specificity of the schools (...), this integration must be very thorough in certain dimensions, including research and innovation."
"For Institut Polytechnique de Paris, innovation is a key area of development. We need to help meet the major challenges facing France and Europe, whether in greentech, healthcare or digital technologies. Our laboratories have a lot to contribute to meeting these challenges," says Thierry Coulhon.
More than 100 deeptech startups supported every year
Bruno Cattan adds : "Our ambition is to accelerate the development of innovation within IP Paris and make a significant contribution to the success of France 2030 and the Deeptech plan. In this context, my mission is to deploy and manage innovation support programs for all our students, researchers and incubator startups, and to develop the necessary synergies between IP Paris member schools".
Innovation at IP Paris is first and foremost the impact of its students and the success of its alumni in creating innovative companies."We are very proud to count 14 scale-ups founded, run by an alumnus or incubated in one of our three incubators, in the 2024 Next 40 index", says Bruno Cattan, "as well as 10 of the 33 French unicorns", start-ups valued at over one billion dollars.
In the edition of BPIfrance's Observatoire Deeptech des Universités published at the beginning of June, which lists the number of deeptech startups created by alumni, Institut Polytechnique de Paris came second with over 200.
Innovation also includes three incubators that support over 100 deeptech startups a year: X-UP in Palaiseau on École polytechnique campus, Incubateur Télécom Paris in Paris and Station F, and IMT-Starter on Télécom SudParis campus in Evry.
"These incubators address specific issues and are an essential link in the IP Paris innovation system. Through them, entrepreneurs from all horizons gain access to the excellence of the IP Paris ecosystem," he adds.
Innovation at IP Paris also means deeptech innovation from the laboratories. "Every year, we finance or support between 10 and 15 early-stage projects, to take them from invention to proof of concept," says Bruno Cattan.
Against this backdrop, the IP3 University Innovation Cluster will be officially launched on July 8, with IP Paris as lead partner and co-founder, along with CNRS, Inria and SATT Paris-Saclay, and five local partners (Pôles Systematic Paris-Région, Cap Digital, Medicen Paris-Région, EPA Paris-Saclay and Région Île-de-France).
IP3 is part of the France 2030 program, with funding of €5.7 million.
IP3 aims to increase the number of laboratory-based innovations and technology transfers, and to stimulate and support Deeptech entrepreneurship.
Bruno Cattan's appointment is part of this dynamic, which signals the growing power of IP Paris in the field of innovation.