Marseille, 28 October, Palais du Pharo. Alain Thibault, Chairman of Agriodor, receives the 1st Biomim'expo Awards 2025 in the Start-up category, alongside Sandra Rey, President of the Jury, and Alain Renaudin, President and Founder of Biomim'expo.

Agriodor enables farmers to protect their crops sustainably by replacing pesticides with natural, innovative solutions using biodiversity-friendly biocontrol techniques. To achieve this, Agriodor develops natural fragrances (kairomones / allomones) that modify the behaviour of insect pests - repelling or attracting them - to reduce crop damage. Using these olfactory signals, the start-up offers diffusers or traps that replace or complement traditional insecticides.

To find out more, click here: https://www.agriodor.com/

What if the photovoltaics of tomorrow became totally invisible, transforming glass into a source of green electricity? That's what Frédéric Sauvage, Director of Research at the CNRS, coordinator of the “Photo-electrochemistry and photovoltaic devices” theme at the Solids Reactivity and Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Picardy and co-founder of Crystal Energy, is proposing. This innovation is the result of 10 years of research to revolutionise glazing by making it an energy producer. This patented solution, similar to double glazing and based on the architecture and main principles of natural photosynthesis, incorporates photo-active pigments that are completely invisible to the naked eye. Its frugal technology is distinguished by the absence of critical and toxic materials, offering a sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternative.

To find out more, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crystalenergy-pv

Ehotil, chaired by Stéphane de Lacroix de Lavalette, an agricultural engineer, is a Marseille-based company whose aim is to produce a fertiliser with a low environmental impact, using an innovative process based on human urine. Urine is perceived as a waste product. Yet it is a rich and precious resource - a concentrate of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - that nature spontaneously recycles through the cycles of living organisms. Ehotil is supported by the Université Aix-Marseille, the Région Sud, the Impulse incubator, Novachim and Bpi France.

To find out more, click here: https://www.ehotil.com/
Contact: bonjour@ehotil.com

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The Spiky'Mune project aims to produce an edible cholera vaccine by genetically modifying the Opuntia ficus-indica cactus. Highly resistant to drought and growing rapidly, this cactus is found in areas heavily affected by cholera, such as Africa and South Asia. The aim of this project is to express the B subunit of cholera toxin (CtxB) in this cactus, capable of triggering protective mucosal immunity. This project addresses the limitations of current vaccines: cost, break in the cold chain and difficult access in hot regions.

Project team: Emma BUZENAC, Morgane INTHAVONG, Sacha LEVY, Agathe PORCHERON, Gabin VERDIER, Jeanne BOURGEOIS, Jehlysa ALBERT,
Julien DECODTS, Julien MERCY, Kenly LUJIEN, Leo PARIENTE, Lily Rose CHARNLEY, Manon PEREZ, Mathilde JOB, Nora DURAND, William POTIE, Manon CALAMEL, Matthieu CIMOLAI, Matthias FILLIOL.

SupBiotech, the biotechnology engineering school / project contact: igem.ionis2025@gmail.com

«Megaponera analis doesn't leave its wounded behind! This ant produces a special antimicrobial secretion that enables it to treat its fellow ants. These secretions have a bactericidal action on Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, a bacterium considered to be priority No. 1 by the WHO and for which it is necessary to find new antibiotic treatments. The Ant'Ibiotique project seeks to develop a new product that is effective against bacteria resistant to the antibiotics currently in use, including Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, using this ant as a model.

SupBiotech school, the biotechnology engineering school. Project team: Simon WAGUET, Margaux WEBER, Florentine CABOT-BURILLET, Clement ASTRUC-MLECZKO, Juliette TABOURET - Contact: simon.waguet@supbiotech.fr

Following the example of diatoms and kelp, the designers of Fikel have come up with a technology capable of reproducing nature's mechanisms for capturing and absorbing CO2. The Fikel system takes the form of a module integrated into the chimneys of ships, where it intercepts the combustion gases before they are released into the atmosphere. Its kelp-inspired blades capture the carbon and convert it into ethanol, acting as both a filter and an on-board chemical reactor.

University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour - France
Project contact : tomkast34@gmail.com

Doctoral student Gabriel Gattaux, supervised by Julien Serres, Antoine Wystrach at the Toulouse CRCA and Franck Ruffier at ENSTA-CNRS Brest. Equipe Biorobotique Institut des Sciences du Mouvement (ISM-UMR7287) under the supervision of Aix-Marseille University and the CNRS.

This project aims to develop autonomous robots inspired by the brains of insects. Antcar has designed navigation architectures capable of operating with less than 20 KB of memory and a power consumption of 500 mW. This approach has been successfully tested on several robotic platforms, including an autonomous car (Antcar). Their results show that frugal autonomy is possible, paving the way for a wide range of applications: precision agriculture, logistics, lightweight drones, space exploration and defence.

To find out more, click here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-62327-3

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What if the photovoltaics of tomorrow became totally invisible, transforming glass into a source of green electricity? That's what Frédéric Sauvage, Director of Research at the CNRS, coordinator of the “Photo-electrochemistry and photovoltaic devices” theme at the Solids Reactivity and Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Picardy and co-founder of Crystal Energy, is proposing. This innovation is the result of 10 years of research to revolutionise glazing by making it an energy producer. This patented solution, similar to double glazing and based on the architecture and main principles of natural photosynthesis, incorporates photo-active pigments that are completely invisible to the naked eye. Its frugal technology is distinguished by the absence of critical and toxic materials, offering a sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternative.

To find out more, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crystalenergy-pv

The members of the 2025* Jury have decided to encourage the SeaBlocks project by awarding a "Coup de Cœur" prize.

SeaBlocks, designed and developed by Olivier Meynard and Aurore Torrigiani, is a bio-inspired product, a collaborative service and a biomaterials research field, all aimed at restoring marine ecosystems. As part of an ethical and socially responsible approach, they design eco-designed artificial reefs, which are produced in a participatory manner during educational and team-building workshops. Inspired by biomorphism, their low-carbon concrete modules, rich in anfractuosities, recreate habitats conducive to marine biodiversity and adapt to different coastal underwater environments. The reefs are offered to ports that share their desire to implement solutions that promote biodiversity. A module was built by visitors (including children) during Biomim'expo 2025 at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille and will be immersed in the Port of l'Estaque.

To find out more, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seablocks