Meet Alexandre Delorme

Who is Alexandre?

Alexandre loves mountain and unexpected things. He studied computer engineering in Grenoble before working a couple of years for HP. Then he followed his wife to the US, got a local contract at HP and discovered marketing and business development. Back in Grenoble Alexandre had the opportunity to work for Petlz as marketing director. He is now helping technological startups to grow and find a market at GATE 1*.

Alexandre speaks about his experience in France and in the US

Grenoble, July, Grenoble Institute of Technology, 02:00 p.m.

"In France, we try to standardize innovation"

There is many way of getting state aids for the early stages of a startup. And it’s easier if you are a technological startup. You have BPI France, the JEI status (Young Innovative Company) and a lot of contests at different levels (national, regional, local), etc. But the state tends to organize and plan innovation. For example, we start to create norms and codes for innovation as the ISO norms… But innovation is everything except a standardize process!

"We are really good for Research and Development, less for business"

Alexandre thinks France is really good for R&D: we have a lot of technological universities and we train many successful engineers. Moreover the state gives a lot of money to public research. But he thinks that Americans are more successful to turns innovations into businesses. He explained that point by the American funding system for startups. Thus, it’s easier to raise a lot of money in the US because the funding chain is clearly identified, a lot of money is constantly moving, and the system is more attractive for foreigners.

"Grenoble is a technological city"

In Grenoble Alexandre notices in his everyday professional life that there are a lot of technological innovations and startups. He explained it by the proximity between the universities and their research labs, public laboratories (CEA, CNRS, INRIA) and companies (Research centers of Schneider Electric, STMicroelectronics, Siemens, HP, etc).

*What is GATE 1?

GATE 1 means Grenoble Alpes Technology and Entrepreneurship and is a technology transfer company. It was created in June 2014 by the association of universities (Grenoble Institute of Technology, Pierre-Mendès-France University, Joseph Fourier University, Stendhal University, Université Savoie Mont Blanc), public laboratories (CEA, CNRS, INRIA), Grenoble University Hospital Center and two equipments of excellence (ILL and LHC). The company is divided into three parts, corresponding to the three steps of a startup life: Maturation (GRAVIT), Incubation (GRAIN), and Growth (PETALE).

#grenoble #innovation #startup