WHAT Y.SPOT IS
Y.SPOT is the CEA’s open innovation center
Y.SPOT is where research and business come together. It is uniquely designed to support open, collaborative innovation.
Y.SPOT is staffed by innovation experts that use proven methods to help companies of all types and sizes from startups and SMEs to major corporations innovate from the minute they step into our dedicated innovation spaces.
70000
patents filed by the CEA each year
21000
CEA start-ups founded to date
100000
industrial partnerships per year
WHAT Y.SPOT IS
An original and practical approach to innovation
Y.Spot provides an original and practical approach to innovation that covers all stages from the initial idea to marketable product :
- An inspiring setting designed for tech-intensive innovation projects.
- Talented people from a wide range of disciplines and a shared vision of innovation, one that simultaneously addresses profits, the planet, and people.
- Short cycles to bring new innovations to market in a timely manner and provide our partner.
- Un tempo accéléré pour que les innovations atteignent le marché dans les temps et donnent à l’entreprise un avantage concurrentiel décisif.
WHAT Y.SPOT IS
Senior industrial R&D partnership managers
Y.SPOT’s innovation experts have experience managing tech-intensive projects. They also know how to build meaningful connections between our partner companies and CEA labs.
The Y.SPOT team includes product designers, ergonomists, user-driven design experts, sociologists, mechatronics engineers, marketers, and visual and graphic facilitators. Their diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences position them to design our partners’ future products and services.
This team is coordinated by an innovation leader with a special gift for getting this eclectic set of individuals to work together in harmony. As needed, the innovation leader can also make connections with design, business, and engineering schools.
THE TEAM
Diverse and multidisciplinary
To structure and guide your innovation project
« What do I do for a living? I ask the right questions! I also find the experts we need, provide insights into the best path to take, and, more generally, help see the innovation projects we create with and for our partners through to completion. »
Sophie LEPARLIER
Innovation project manager
« I am a graphic facilitator. I use extended reality to help our staff and our partners bring new ideas, concepts, and visions to life through visual representations. The idea is to experience—virtually—tomorrow’s world! »
Stéphane SEGARD
XR Software Engineer
« The bulk of my job is coming up with solutions, mainly in the form of objects, but not always! I also deal in user interfaces and immersive experiences. Whatever the solution, it has to be user-driven. That’s the most important thing. »
Bruno TRUONG
Industrial Designer
« I am a mechatronics engineer. My research focuses on integrating technologies developed by CEA labs into complete systems. »
Charles-Elie GOUJON
Mechatronics
« I run the prototyping workshop. We have a complete range of equipment CEA staff and CEA partner startups can use to build prototypes. My job is helping people transform their innovations into physical prototypes. I work with them, show them how to use the equipment, and make sure all equipment is properly maintained. »
Hubert TEYSSEDRE
Workshop
« My job is to communicate the CEA’s scientific excellence to our future partners. I work very closely with the CEA institutes to promote their technological advances in our showrooms through technically-accurate, innovative, and—above all—accessible communication. »
Gilles SIMON
Showroom
« I run HUB3D and System Lab, which capitalize on two decades of CEA research and innovation. At Y.SPOT I am always learning something new. Working here has really broadened my CEA technical background. »
Sandra TOCHON
Hubs
« I am the social sciences resource person at Y.SPOT. My job is to make sure that users’—and society’—values and expectations are part of the technological innovation process. »
Lara MARITON
Uses
« My job is to coordinate the seventeen-member Ideas Laboratory partner community. We run exploratory projects and events on a wide range of topics to gain insights into the future and identify opportunities to innovate. »
Frédérique DESCOMBES
Ideas Lab
« Building bridges between dramatically different worlds is a great way to stay in touch with major and emerging trends and pick up weak signals. In addition to helping you see the big picture, looking at issues from different viewpoints also helps reduce uncertainty so you can move forward with greater confidence. »
Timothée SILVESTRE
Prospective
« More than anything else, innovation is about people. My job is to build teams around our partners’ projects and help our partners determine the best possible approach for their needs to get their projects started and keep them moving. You have to create the right energy.»
Philippe CAILLOL
Head of Innovation
More :
An entire team assigned to your projects
PARTNERSHIPS
Together we can push back the horizon
« The people at Y.SPOT understood exactly what we needed and exceeded our expectations. In addition to “getting” our needs and challenges, the Y.SPOT team took a deep dive into our ecosystem and did not stop until they had gathered the vital information they needed to draw the outlines of our project. Their energy kept the project moving even when things got tough and they stepped up when we needed to change course, coming up with relevant recommendations. All of these qualities resulted in deliverables that surpassed our expectations in every way. It was a great experience. »
« A broad ecosystem built on advanced technologies, brainpower, and relationships between non-competing verticals is crucial to helping us create the next generation of packaging for our consumers. An innovation partnership at Y.SPOT is a great example of how research and industry can work together to solve the long-term challenges we are facing. »