Ora-ïto INPI 2016 Innovation Trophy

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Each of the INPI 2016 Innovation Trophy winners received the following Ora-ïto designed trophy: 

Reference

Ora-ito

https://www.ora-ito.com/en/  

INPI 2016 Innovation trophies – The winners!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The winners of the 2016 INPI Innovation trophies in the four categories of Trademark, Patents, Research and Design, are the following:

• Obut®, a pétanque ball company in the Trademark category.  
• Wandercraft, a firm designing robotic exoskeletons for wheelchair users, striving to create ordinary lives for extraordinary people, in the Patent category. 
• LAPHIA (Laser and Photonics in Aquitaine) an interdisciplinary cluster of research, operating with funds from the University of Bordeaux, bringing together multidisciplinary teams focused on laser and high energy physics, photonics and materials, and innovative imaging, in the Research category.
• Procédés Chénel, a firm creating interior design solutions made of paper, with a more than 100-year old history, dating back to 1896, in the Design category.

The lucky winners not only received an Ora-ïto designed trophy. They were also treated to 25 years of macaron dessert creations, celebrating the 25th annual award of the INPI Innovation Trophies, offered by the master pastry-chef and President of the Jury Pierre Hermé.

As for the People’s Choice Trophy, where you might have cast a vote, results remain undisclosed.👠

References

INPI 2016 Innovation Trophy Awards
https:/ww.inpi.fr/fr/trophees-inpi-2016

Pierre Hermé

http://www.pierreherme.com/

Ora-ïto

https://www.ora-ito.com/en/

Obut

https://www.obut.com/

Wandercraft

http://www.wandercraft.eu/

LAPHIA

http://laphia.labex.u-bordeaux.fr/en/

Procédés Chénel
https://chenel.com/

Oh, patents! People’s choice - 2016 INPI Innovation awards !

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Below is your chance to vote for your favorite five inventions, among a selection of 40 historical French inventions!  Just click, and validate your 5 selections…

Actually, this is not as easy as it sounds… considering the significance of the nominated inventions! You will be choosing among such transformative, and enduring, innovations as:  

•  pressure cookers (la cocotte minute, invented in 1952)
•  seamless hosiery (les collants DIM sans coutures, invented in1956)
• "Rosi” skis (invented in 1942 by Abel Rossignol)
•  Pleyel pianos (invented in 1844 by Ignace Pleyel)
•  Michelin radial tires (invented in 1946)
•  food mills (le moulin à légumes, invented in 1932 by the star inventor Jean Mantelet)
• non-stick cooking pans (invented in 1955, and marketed under the brand name Tefal)
•  the Eiffel Tower (invented by Gustave Eiffel, in 1884)
•  parachutes (co-invented by a woman called Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse in 1802!)
•  autonomous underwater diving suits (le scaphandre autonome invented in 1864)
•  the “godillot” (shoes) (invented in 1862 by Alexis Godillot)
•  tracing paper (invented in 1802 by Canson)
•  shopping carts (le caddie, invented in 1957 by Raymond Joseph)
•  airplanes (invented in 1890 by Clément Ader)
•  high speed trains (le TGV, invented in 1981 by engineers at the SNCF)

... plus many more that you will surely recognize.

Do go ahead though, and try to choose, even if you might find it a bit difficult … Just perusing the list of historical nominees is immensely illuminating! It will also familiarize you with some of France’s greatest contributions to better, easier, more enjoyable and safer  lives.

The results of the People’s choice of five, all-time, favorite inventions will be posted along with the six INPI Innovation awards, conferred on December 14, 2016, on the occasion of the 25th Annual INPI Innovation awards ceremony.

Click here to vote, and to wander through France’s history of great inventions! 👠   

*INPI - Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (France's national patent office)  
INPI People's Choice Awards - INPI Innovation
http://innovation.inpi.fr/

UNFCCC COP21 – 2015 INPI environmental trophy nominations

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The following eight contenders for the French patent office INPI Innovation Trophies were nominated for a 2015 environmental innovation award in one of the four trophy categories:  patents,  trademarks, design and research. The Trophies were awarded to the winners on December 7, 2015, during the 21st session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC COP21, held  in Paris from Nov. 30th to December 11, 2015.

Fermentalg (nominated in the patent category) – a cutting-edge clean-tech company that seeks to use the exceptional properties of microalgae in view of producing compounds such as Omega 3 fatty acids, coloring agents, antioxidants and biopolymers for use in various everyday life products. Patented technology also enables to produce hydrocarbons using microalgae for everyday life products, thus bypassing traditional fish-based and petroleum-based methods. Applications are already in production for human nutrition, animal feed, 

green chemistry, cosmetics and green energy.

NA! - Nature Addicts (nominated in the trademark category) – A company that produces 100 % natural food snacks, with no preservatives and only the sugar derived from fruit. The snacks are bite-sized and come in a re-sealable zip lock pouch.  As low-fat, low sugar treats in an attractive white packaging, Na! is very successful in France, five years after its inception. For a country that prides itself on no-snacking… the tide appears to be 

changing… as long as it’s healthy…

LSCE – Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l’environnement (nominated in the research category) – Nine researchers and professors affiliated with the LSCE participated in the IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, co-recipient with Al Gore of the 2007 Nobel Peace for having alerted the world to problems of climate change. This laboratory works in collaboration with major research institutions such as the French national center for scientific research (CNRS – Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques), the French alternative energies and atomic commission (CEA- Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique) and French academic institutions. The lab’s research agenda covers climate and environmental change, both natural and human-induced, as well as the connections with carbon and carbon dioxide cycles.

LACTIPS (nominated in the patent category) – a start-up company based in Lyon with patented technology for the production of plastic granules using casein, a protein found in cow’s milk.  LACTIPS’ patented technology thus produces biodegradable, water-soluble, compostable  and sweet plastic, ultimately designed as edible packaging, such as for example tea bags.  However, one is left a bit chilled, without information on whether the process through which the casein is harvested, is cruelty-free...

Greenpriz (nominated in the design category) – a company that markets an energy management and optimization solution in both real and delayed time. The company produces connected devices designed to monitor and analyze the use of electricity in large service-oriented buildings, such as schools and other public institutions or businesses. The devices are easily installed, without wiring, and connected to free and proprietary software that analyzes current uses and offers solutions to reduce costs. Results are quantified into approximately 43% savings on average.

ESITC Caen – Ecole supérieure des ingénieurs des travaux de construction (nominated in the research category) – The materials development laboratory at l’ESITC, France’s Elite School for construction engineers, patented a concrete pavement tile using seashells. The advantages of these pavement tiles are twofold. First, they are designed to resolve the issue of recycling 250 million tons of sea shells discarded by the food industry once the pulp is removed. And secondly, the seashell pavement tiles are designed to absorb water, thus reducing the risks of flooding on low traffic surfaces such as parking lots and sidewalks.

Castalie  (nominated in the design category) – a company that markets high flow rate, tap water filtration and carbonation machines for hotels, restaurants, cafés and other business venues. The idea is to replace bottled water (both carbonated and still), which is both costly for consumers and costly for the environment. Bottled water travels on average 900 kms in France and there are 6 billion liters of bottled water consumed per year, 80% of which comes in plastic bottles, only half of which ever gets recycled. The Castelie high flow rate tap water machines are designed to filter, adjust the temperature and the size of the carbonation bubbles!

Canibal (nominated in the trademark category) –The term “canibal” corresponds to the contraction of two French words “canette” (meaning soda can) and “mise en balle” (the bailing compacting process used in recycling).  Accordingly, Canibal is a start-up company that offers a connected trash collecting and recycling solution at the intersection of bin, trash compactor and gaming machine. The Canibal machine sorts, identifies, compacts and quantifies three sorts of recyclable trash (soda cans, plastic bottles and both plastic and paper cups). And, because the machines work interactively like a game, they are also designed to educate users. Each ton of recycled trash means 3 tons less of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere.

References

COP21 - Paris, France

http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/

Al Gore and IPCC – 2007 Noble Peace Prize

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/

CEA – Commissariat à l’énergie atomique

http://portail.cea.fr/

CNRS – Centre National de Recherche Scientifiques

www.cnrs.fr

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Cimate Change) Statement on the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/nobel/Nobel_statement_final.pdf

Fermentalg

http://www.fermentalg.com/en/ 

Nature Addicts

http://www.na-natureaddicts.com/en/fruit-sticks-products

LSCE – Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l’environnement

http://www.lsce.ipsl.fr/en/

LACTIPS

http://www.20minutes.fr/lyon/1446903-20140921-start-up-lyonnaise-utilise-lait-vache-fabriquer-plastique  

Greenpriz

http://www.greenpriz.com/  

ESITC – Ecole supérieure d’ingégnieurs des Travaux de la Construction Caen

http://www.esitc-caen.fr/

Castalie 

http://www.castalie.com/

Canibal

http://www.canibal.fr/en/

Winners of the 2015 INPI Innovation Trophies awarded on Dec. 7, 2015

http://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2015/12/unfccc-cop21-inpi-2015-environmental.html  

UNFCCC COP21 – INPI 2015 environmental trophy winners

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

During the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris from November 30th to Dec.11th 2015, the French Patent Office (INPI - Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle) awarded its 2015 Innovation Trophies in a partnership with the civil society hosting the COP21 conference. 

Accordingly, this year’s INPI Innovation Trophies, in the four categories of patents, design, trademark and research, were awarded on December 7, 2015 to small French businesses and research centers, each active in bringing innovative answers and breakthrough solutions to environmental issues. 

The 2015 INPI Innovation Trophies were awarded to the following 4 contenders:

Blablacar (Trademark Trophy) – an online leader in ridesharing (for a fee) with 20 million subscribers in 19 countries. The company initially called Comuto, founded in 2006, chose the tradename Blablacar based on the user profile question “Are you bla, blabla or blablaba?” designed to prompt subscribers at evaluating how talkative they are when commuting! The rest is French history…!

Le Prieuré (Design Trophy) – a company that designs green or living roofs, both for aesthetic and environmental purposes. The company, founded in 1992, now produces about 1 million square meters of living roofs per year, manufacturing and installing patented all-in-one HYDROPACK, and more recent connected HYDROVENTIV, packs. 

DEEP - Déchets, Eaux, Environnement, Pollutions (Research Trophy) - a research laboratory affiliated with the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France (INSA – Institut National des Sciences Appliquées). DEEP’s research agenda has focused on the design of patented solutions addressing various environmental issues such as the detection of silicon in biofuel, quantification and qualification rain water diverted to watersheds, and production of biofuel using biomass. 

PAT - Plant Advanced Technologies (Patent Trophy) - a start-up company connected to the French National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine and the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA – Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique). PAT has responded to the issue of sourcing chemical compounds from plants which usually destroys plants and biodiversity, resulting in extremely expensive extracts at equally high costs for the environment. The company thus developed two patented technologies: “PAT Plant milking®” and “PAT Friday®”, respectively enabling to extract and produce plant-based active ingredients for therapeutic or cosmetic purposes without destroying plants and biodiversity. 

References
Blablacar
https://www.blablacar.fr/
Le Prieuré
http://www.vegetalid.fr/
Laboratoire DEEP
http://deep.insa-lyon.fr/
PAT – Plant Advanced Technologies
http://www.plantadvanced.com/
INPI
www.inpi.fr 

Trophées INPI 2015
http://innovation.inpi.fr/trophees/
INSA – Institut national des sciences appliquées
https://www.insa-lyon.fr/en
INRA – Institut national de la recherche agronomique
http://institut.inra.fr/

Oh, patents! Perugia superstar, FR utility patents

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Below, you will find a hyperlinked list of the patents that Perugia filed with patenting authorities at the French Ministries of Commerce and Industry, or Commerce and Energy, depending on the Administration in place, and now all stored at the INPI – Institut de la Propriété Industrielle in France -- just in case you had doubts about this shoe genius and how prolific an inventor in the domain of shoewear and shoe manufacture!

Just as a reminder, each of these 50 French inventions was filed and examined, and then judged patentable according to the three criteria of patentability: novelty, inventive step (no pun here) and usefulness (meaning with industrial application in Europe). Thus, each invention was not only a new improvement, product or process, it was also one that was non-obvious to those skilled in the art. Indeed, what is perhaps most extraordinary is that all of these previously non-obvious inventions were designed and commissioned for the comfort, beauty and glamour of women's feet, exclusively!

Perugia's Fish Shoe
in honor of Georges Bracques
 exhibited in NYC in 1955

For a single individual, it is otherwise really quite uncommon to have invented so many new shoe manufacturing processes, materials and designs, in such a relatively short period of time, with a horrific interruption during World War II, which engulfed most of Europe from 1944 to 1948. 

As for Patents on the soles of your shoes… What a catch!

[Please, click on the patent number for access to original French patent document at the INPI, then be patient for the document to load.]

France Utility patents

FR1169315 -  Perfectionnements apportés aux chaussures féminines dites pieds nus - Dec. 12, 1958 – Perugia.

FR1163665 – Nouvelle matière première notamment pour la confection de bouts durs, contreforts et renforts de chaussures – Sept. 30, 1958 – Perugia.

FR1142810 – Perfectionnement apporté aux chaussures, notamment celles comportant un quartier court ou un quartier ouvert – Sept. 23, 1957 – Perugia.

FR1142809 – Chaussure à talon interchangeable - Sept. 23, 1957 – Perugia.

FR1118264 – Perfectionnement apporté aux chaussures, notamment aux chaussures sans quartier – June 4, 1956 – Perugia.

FR1112645 - Procédé de montage de chaussures, et chaussures obtenues par ce procédé – March 16, 1956 - Perugia.

FR1064458 – Chaussure de dame à quartier amovible – May 13, 1954 – Perugia.

FR1036098 – Nouveau procédé de montage de la tige dans les chaussures comportant une « première »   de montage – Sept 3, 1953 – Perugia.

FR1030496 – Talon  « habillé »  et procédé de fabrication de son habillage – June 15, 1953 – Perugia.

FR1024750 – Nouveau mode de montage de chaussures – April 7, 1953 – Perugia.

FR981071 – Nouvelle chaussure feminine découverte – May 22, 1951 – Perugia.

FR974391 - Chaussure à quartier fermé – Feb. 21, 1951 – Perugia.

FR892618 – Montage de chaussure à semelle de bois avec première en matière rigide ou semi rigide perfectionnée – May 15 1944 – Perugia.

FR892437 – Procédé d’armage des semelles bois, liège et analogues – April 6 1944 – Perugia.

FR884864 – Perfectionnement apporté aux chaussures à semelles de bois articulées – Aug. 30, 1943 – Perugia.

FR882037 – Chaussure à semelle en matière rigide perfectionnée – May 14, 1943 – Perugia.

FR882036 – Nouveau quartier pour chaussures – May 14, 1943 – Pergugia.

FR873454 – Semelle de chaussure en fibres végétales – July 9, 1942 – Perugia.

FR872823 – Nouveau montage de chaussures – June 19, 1942 – Perugia.

FR871763 – Procédé de fabrication de chaussures à semelle de bois et produit industriel en résultant – May 9, 1942 – Perugia.

FR857534 – Procédé de farication de chaussures et produits en résutlant – Sept. 17, 1940 – Perugia.

FR832534 – Peausserie composée, extensible élastiquement suivant une seule direction et applicable à la fabrication de chaussures – Sept, 28, 1938 – Perugia.

FR813134 – Montage de chaussure et produit industriel en résultant – May 26, 1937 – Perugia

FR769952 -  Procédé de fabrication de chaussure – Sept. 5, 1934 – Perugia.

FR769914 – Gaine formant quartier d’empeigne et enveloppe de talon pour chaussure – Sept 4, 1934 – Perugia.

FR739916 – Dispositif de serrage pour souliers – Jan 19, 1933 – Perugia.

FR719851 – Procédé de protection temporaire des peaux, cuirs, étoffes, etc.. pendant la confection d’articles fabriqués avec ces matières - Feb. 12, 1932 – Perugia.

FR719850 – Perfectionnements aux sabots à semelle rigide articulée – Feb. 10, 1932 – Perugia.

FR703295 – Procédé de fabracation de parois imitant un tressé de plusieurs lanières – April 28, 1931 – Perugia.

FR695509 – Perfectionnements aux sandales à semelles rigides – Dec. 17, 1930 – Perugia.

FR680710 – Perfectionnements à la fabrication des chaussures – May 5, 1930 – Perugia.

FR653470 – Perfectionnement apporté dans l’établissement de semelles de socques ou autres – March 21, 1929 – Perugia.

FR652607 – Procédé de fabrication de parois au moyen de lanières de cuir et produits industriels en résultant – March 11, 1929 – Perugia.

FR630415 – Monture de sac – Dec. 2, 1929 – Perugia.

FR630414 -  Monture de sac – Dec. 2, 1929 – Perugia.

FR630413 -  Monture de sac – Dec. 2, 1929 – Perugia.

FR625731 – Chaussure à talon ou semelle à musique – Aug. 8, 1927 – Perugia.

FR608988 – Perfectionnements apportés aux talons de chaussures – Aug. 6, 1926 – Perugia.

FR595482 – Talon pour chaussure et son mode de fabrication – Oct. 3, 1925 – Perugia.

FR530356 – Peinture à l’émail sur cuir noir verni pour chaussures – Dec. 21, 1921 - Perugia.

FR1218920 – Perfectionnements apportés aux chaussures – May 13, 1960 – Perugia. 

FR1236520 - Perfectionnements apportés aux chaussures – July 22, 1960 – Perugia.

FR69780 (E) - Perfectionnements apportés aux chaussures, notamment aux chaussures sans quartier – Dec.30, 1958 – Perugia.

FR63894 (E) – Nouveau procédé de montage de la tige, dans les chaussures comportant une « première » de montage – Oct. 13 1955 – Perugia.

FR36507 (E) – Perfectionnement apporté dans l’établissemenet de semelles de socques ou autres – June 28, 1930 – Perugia.

FR35272 (E) -  Procédé de fabrication de parois au moyen de lanières de cuir et produits industriels en résultant – Dec. 31, 1929 – Perugia.

FR1522438 – Perfectionnement aux souliers – April 26, 1968 – Perugia.

FR1522437 – Perfectionnement aux formes de souliers – April 26, 1968 – Perugia.