Inria rewarded for its collaboration with Lemma at the 8th edition of the FIEEC Prize for Applied Research

A long-standing collaboration...

The prizewinners for the 8th edition were announced at the Rendez-vous Carnot 2018, a business convention held by the Carnot Institutes Network. Adrien Loseille, a researcher for the Gamma3 team at the Inria Saclay-Île-de-France research centre was awarded the FIEEC second Prize for Applied Research. Being granted this recognition was a reward for seven years spent collaborating with Lemma, an independent R&D, software editing, research and consulting company based in Sophia-Antipolis in France and Houston in the USA.

Charles Leca and Adrien Loseille first met back in 2011. After two years of research spent in Washington (USA), Adrien Loseille joined Lemma, where he would be responsible for solving meshing-related problems. A specialist in adaptive meshing , he proved himself capable of meeting the high demands of the company by creating a reliable and automatic adaptive meshing generation program . This will provide a crucial starting point for a range of complex applications (hydrodynamics, transonic flow, fluid-structure interaction, haemodynamics) of interest to clients in the oil and gas industry, the aeronautics industry, the shipbuilding industry and the food processing industry.

According to Adrien Loseille, over the course of the past 20 years, manufacturers have become increasingly interested in the work carried out by researchers in the field of digital simulation:

 

There have been so many developments. Conventional meshing methods are now often found not to be up to the task. In order to deal with these shortcomings and guarantee the requisite levels of reliability and automation for increasingly complex operations, it became necessary to develop a new class of adaptive meshing generation.

...with considerable economic impact

Working for a SME in such a cutting-edge field gave him the opportunity to tackle real problems and to put his research to the test: “It was and still is a real benefit for me. This isn’t just an academic pursuit; there are concrete, real-life applications. We can really see the impact we have on companies. ” Charles Leca is able to measure the results of this collaboration: “Without Adrien, there are certain markets that we would not have been able to go near. He has made a significant contribution to the growth of the company from a commercial point of view. As far as our image is concerned, this has enabled us to keep pace with and even move a step ahead of our competitors” . Today, 20% of the company’s turnover comes directly from the program developed by Adrien Loseille.

The two partners were present at the FIEEC awards ceremony held on 18th October. They feel that it is essential to promote the contribution made by scientists in the world of industry and to stress the impact made by researchers, whether it’s in creating jobs, generating growth or playing a vital role in the development of new technology.

They are also keen to stress the human aspect to this partnership and the way in which they have been able to find a rhythm compatible with their two different backgrounds:

 

For researchers like me, explains Adrien Loseille, what is really important is feeling that you’re supported and knowing that manufacturers have confidence in you. It’s also key that they leave us time for development, without imperilling their commercial imperatives.

 

 

This prize provides real encouragement to continue with the collaboration and to investigate further applications. The digital sector is constantly evolving, with more and more companies paying an interest in it as they seek increasingly complex applications and ever more innovative solutions . Both Adrien Loseille and Charles Leca are convinced that the dialogue between the world of industry and academia that they have helped to establish has a promising future ahead of it.

About the ‘Rendez-vous Carnot’

The ‘Rendez-vous Carnot’ is a business convention that was set up in 2008 by the Carnot institutes network with one clear objective: to enable companies, irrespective of their size, to find R&D support capable of meeting their innovation needs.

Held eight times so far, the Rendez-vous Carnot convention has established itself as a reference in France when it comes to business conventions for research partnerships geared towards companies and the wider economic fabric. This can be seen in the 9,200 meetings that took place between the 2,500 attendees at the 2015 edition, 94% of whom said that they had been able to identify potential new R&D partners.

The FIEEC and the FIEEC Prize for Applied Research

Since its creation in 2011, the goal of the FIEEC Prize for Applied Research has been to showcase successful collaborations between academic researchers and SMEs/intermediate companies and to demonstrate both their economic effectiveness and their potential for innovation and job creation. Several hundred jobs have been created as a result of the collaborations rewarded in previous years.