The Entrepreneurship Award
Since its creation in 2015, this award has embodied the vitality of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Mines Paris – PSL, highlighting some of the gems of French entrepreneurship, including Expliseat, Toucan, Yespark Group, Lifen, Pigment, and Legalstart. The award has recognized more than fifteen students and graduates, encouraging young engineers to take initiative. By supporting risk-taking and start-up projects among pupils, students, and graduates of Mines Paris-PSL, the Mines Paris-PSL Entrepreneurship Award promotes entrepreneurship as a career path.
At the 2025 ceremony, two prizes were awarded:
- The “Young Business Emergence Prize”, awarded to a student or graduate who has created a business in recent years;
- The “Honorary Prize”, awarded to an entrepreneur honored for creating and growing a business that has had a particularly remarkable impact in a specific field or for society as a whole.
For a decade, this award has embodied the vitality of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Mines Paris – PSL. It highlights bold projects and encourages the spirit of initiative among young engineers. By supporting risk-taking and start-up projects among students and graduates of Mines Paris-PSL, the Mines Paris-PSL Entrepreneurship Award promotes business creation as a career path, with the support of the institution, the Foundation, and the alumni network.
Philippe Mustar, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mines Paris – PSL
The Emergence Prize
This year, the “Emergence Prize” was awarded to Ariane VARALE (IC 17) for SmartBack. A socially responsible company, SmartBack creates tech and logistics solutions to guarantee a second life for bulky products in France and Belgium. An expert in reverse logistics, it offers a solution for managing e-commerce returns, taking back old furniture, and reconditioning for furniture sellers. The winner of the Emerging Award received a check for €10,000 to support the development of her entrepreneurial project.
The two other finalists were Sebastian PARTARRIEU for Kairos, which is developing a probabilistic prediction engine using artificial intelligence capable of anticipating complex sporting events in real time, and Titouan PALOMINO for Quasimodo, a company committed to fighting food waste while promoting more sustainable food practices.
The Honorary Prize
The “Honorary Prize” was awarded to Jean-Baptiste BOUZIGE (IC 01) and Paul SEGUINEAU (IC 03) for Ekimetrics. These two Polytechnique students, who joined Mines Paris – PSL in the specialized Eco-Industrial program, are the co-founders of Ekimetrics, founded in late 2006, which specializes in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) applied to business issues.
The winners of the Honorary Prize leave with magnificent collectible minerals.
From left to right: Marc Fossier – President of the Mines Paris Foundation, Philippe Mustar – Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Paul Seguineau, Jean-Baptiste Bouzige, Godefroy Beauvallet – Director General of Mines Paris – PSL, Ariane Varale, Olivier Baujard – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transvalor, Anne Laurent – Deputy Director of Mines Paris – PSL, Titouan Palomino, Sebastian Partarrieu.
Since its creation, the prize has been awarded to Ben Saada for Expliseat, Sylvain Gariel and Xavier Godron for DNA Script, Kilian Bazin for Toucan, Thibaut Chary for Yespark Group, Mathias Griffe and William Meunier for Bigblue, Camille Delamar for Écotable, Arthur Verrez and Paul Garnier for Flaneer, Théophile Bousquet and Federico Fortis for Kleep AI, and Julie CREMIEUX in 2024 for NeoFarm.
Franck le Ouay for Lifen, Renaud Heitz for Exotec, Éléonore Crespo and Romain Niccoli for Pigment, and Timothée Rambaud for Legalstart were winners of the Honorary Award (created in 2021).
A look back in pictures:
