Entering the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Three alumni from ENS Paris-Saclay, three startups, three ways to innovate with artificial intelligence in three different sectors: healthcare, energy, and organizational management.

Pierre Manceron, Nicolas Mahler, and Victor Parpoil share several commonalities. Firstly, all three are graduates of ENS Paris-Saclay, specializing in applied mathematics (2017), machine learning (2012), and materials mechanics (2012), respectively. Driven by a passion for technology, these three individuals with dynamic minds dedicate their skills to digital transformation and enhancing their clients' professions.

Healthcare 

"We apply a new generation of AI technology that, instead of solving a single very specific problem exceptionally well, tackles a spectrum of related issues," says Pierre, co-founder and leader of RAIDIUM, in collaboration with radiologist Paul Hérent. "Ambitiously, we're developing what could be called the GPT-4[1] of radiology. Radiology is evolving towards precision medicine, requiring the radiologist in oncology to identify a subtype of liver cancer, in neurology to quantify the progression of multiple sclerosis, as well as to diagnose a shoulder fracture." The technical challenges of creating an ultra-intelligent, multi-tasking tool are complex, demanding extensive research and engineering. "I can't say we've succeeded, but we're making progress," he smiles.

Energy 

Nicolas founded DATAPRED in 2014, offering SaaS software for industrial energy buyers. "We assist them in making the best decisions based on various factors: energy market trends and the company's specific goals such as sustainability, production schedules, risk management, etc. – things not easily combined in an Excel spreadsheet!" This solution simplifies daily reporting for buyers. Initially targeting large energy-consuming industries, DATAPRED gradually expanded its clientele to smaller enterprises, consulting firms, and energy brokers. "Our solution also applies to managing energy-intensive industrial assets, such as cogeneration plants or electric vehicle charging stations."

Organizational Management 

Seven years ago, Victor, along with two other founders, established ALLO HOUSTON. "We assist companies in creating their digital tools to simplify their operations, streamline processes, and develop new services. What sets us apart from other digital service firms is our 'integrated consulting' approach, allowing us to maintain leaner teams," he explains. In other words, their teams consist solely of consultant-developers who collaboratively build project specifications with clients using Design Thinking methodologies. They independently craft platforms tailored to specific needs, handling tasks such as data processing, reporting, automation, and calculations. An example includes the end-to-end development of a platform for Renault, managing the international delivery reporting of factory-produced automobiles. Victor humorously reflects, 'Every professional has experienced the consultant juggling multiple contacts and the developer avoiding interaction at least once in their career!' Hence, our startup's name: 'Allo,' as companies call us to solve their problems, and 'Houston,' signifying our mission to bring digital projects, often orbiting, back to Earth’.

1 Idea + 1 Tech = 1 Startup

The three entrepreneurs unanimously acknowledge that the scientific and technical excellence of their education at ENS Paris-Saclay equipped them with exceptional skills, which they now leverage for the benefit of their clients. Pierre states, 'The school truly instilled in us the ability to solve problems and develop technology in a complex, open, and exciting environment.' He adds that the school considers them so capable that it grants them considerable autonomy during their training. However, Pierre is forthright in admitting that this alone isn't sufficient to tackle a professional sector. Consequently, all three alumni supplemented their initial education. 'Creating a startup always involves assembling an idea and technology,' asserts the founder of RAIDIUM, currently in the final internship phase at Owkin, a medical research company. Despite completing his Master 2 in Mathematics at ENS Paris-Saclay, he contemplates entering the field of robotics, hesitating to pursue a Ph.D. 'This company provided me with medical expertise and, ultimately, transformed my desire to venture into entrepreneurship into conviction. It also facilitated the crucial meeting with my business partner.'

Nicolas confirms, 'My thesis, supervised by Nicolas Vayatis and Stéphan Clémençon, defended in 2012 at the Borelli Center, provided me with a high-level, technically demanding training. I continued developing my algorithms until I found a splendid technical solution convincing enough to embark on the entrepreneurial adventure,' he recalls. Acknowledging a certain naivety, he highlights the discovery that technology alone doesn't precisely shape the product when establishing a startup. Victor, during his engineering studies at ENS Paris-Saclay in Materials and Structures Mechanics, realized that research didn't align with his temperament. He opted to enhance his education with an MBA at the Collège des ingénieurs in Paris, working in Research & Development at Areva in a work-study program for a year. After three years in a startup, he decided to create his own venture with three former MBA peers.

Revolutionizing the Professional World

Victor exclaims, 'We wanted to revolutionize how digital projects are conducted and how they are sold too!' He fondly recalls that period filled with enthusiasm, friendship, and freedom. ‘Right from the start, we disrupted the norms of Digital Services Companies (ESN). To avoid value losses between the developer and the user, the same team intervenes throughout the entire process. In contrast to industry practices, we offer fixed-price packages: when you reach the end of the planned budget, there's no need to add more to complete the mission," attests the founder of ALLO HOUSTON.

While Victor develops his tools progressively, assembling a library of technological building blocks 'like Legos,' Pierre remains closely tied to R&D (especially in the use of supercomputers like Jean Zay) to refine his product and live up to RAIDIUM's ambition to be among the world's best in machine learning technologies applied to health. According to him, this public-private hybridization is a European specificity. 'An American might tend to consolidate everything into a single private, somewhat secretive company with substantial funding and recruitment. We, on the other hand, tend to operate in a research ecosystem while remaining a company connected to the world. For instance, we have a close collaboration with ENS-Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupelec and its 21st incubator, Paris Biotech health incubator at Cochin Hospital, CNRS's supercomputer Jean Zay, the Cardiological Center of the North, and Beaujon Hospital,' he explains. The same goes for Nicolas, who proudly asserts that DATAPRED has a 'very tech' DNA. 'Our second co-founder, Thomas Oriol, heads our office in Lausanne and benefits from the innovative environment of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),' he adds.

Showing the Way for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 

Nicolas explains that DATAPRED's product is now well-packaged, supported by a team of around fifteen individuals focusing on marketing efforts. "Our ambition is to initially sell it in continental Europe before expanding globally," he states. "The crucial point is to ensure the best product-market fit," confirms Pierre. Victor, meanwhile, has two objectives: acquiring new clients and expanding the team to have an increasingly significant impact on their clients.

Do they intend to recruit from ENS Paris-Saclay? "Certainly!" they respond in unison. "We're looking for individuals with an excellent academic background capable of understanding real-world problems. But that's not all; a bit of passion is also necessary. The profiles of ENS Paris-Saclay graduates certainly fit the bill." From their perspective, the three entrepreneurs highly appreciate alumni meetings and the recent strengthening of ENS partnerships with industry.

What advice do they have for future ENS Paris-Saclay students tempted by entrepreneurial ventures? "It's fantastic to make a living from your passion," says Nicolas, admitting to being impressed by the audacity of young ENS graduates who embark on entrepreneurship right after leaving school. The next generation is already making its mark.

[1] GPT-4 is a multimodal language model, a pre-trained generative transformer capable of processing both text and image, developed by OpenAI and released on March 14, 2023, succeeding GPT-3.

[2] Product-market fit is the ideal alignment between a product and its target market.