A programme to power your idea
all the way to the Moon

A dual challenge
an innovative solution for and through the Moon
launch the Earth solution on the market at the end of the programme
Twofold assistance
CNES's technical experts
Partner incubators' business specialists

Four programme highlights

October – December

KICK

  • Qualify the design for the Moon
  • Explore the Earth business model
January – April

BUILD

  • Develop the Moon technology/prototype
  • Test the Earth business model and proof of concept
May – August

GAIN

  • Validate the “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) for the Moon
  • Initiate Earth business development
September

FIRE

  • Pitch to mentors, partners and investors
  • Launch on the Earth market and first funding round

Technical support

Immersion in the CNES technical teams and opportunity to join the
“SpaceShip France” co-working & prototyping area – a centre for expertise devoted to lunar exploration at the Toulouse Space Centre.

Human and financial support

360° support from your regional incubator
Creation of a business model
Formation of a business strategy
Establishment of a marketing and communication plan
Preparation for an initial funding round

Funding

of services to facilitate access to the market: defined by the hosting incubator

Training and workshops

on scientific and technological aspects related to the Moon, and on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Networking

with the innovation ecosystem and industry, supported by Connect by CNES.

Events

monthly networking meetings and quarterly conferences with a VIP speaker.

Co-working accommodation

at the Toulouse Space Centre and the incubator's facilities

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High-calibre mentoring

Rémi Alquier


President – ID&SENSE

Rémi worked in the European space industry for 25 years.

He now leads an SME, and is an international trade consultant and expert for the European Commission's European Innovation Council programme.

He has had many adventures in the space industry in telecoms, navigation, Earth observation and related services.

He has been in charge of sales, strategy, R&D and communication, working in both large groups and smaller structures.

He is now active in the digital, agriculture, water, sport and shipping sectors. A fan of the buzz you get when starting a business, he loves hunting in uncharted territory and shaping the entrepreneurial approach.

Clarisse Angelier


General Delegate – ANRT

Clarisse Angelier was a professor in the 1990s, before becoming General Secretary of the CNAM school's CACEMI centre and Industrial Science and Technology department (Paris). In 2000, along with the General Administrator, she helped set up the first public-private economic interest group involving the CNAM, PSA and Renault. Until 2007, she took part in the reorganization of CNAM and the Directorate General for Research. In 2007, she became head of the CIFRE department in charge of training through industrial research at the National Association for Research and Technology (ANRT) where among other things she developed internationalprogrammes with Brazil and Morocco. In 2011, she set up an annual competition to encourage CIFRE doctoral students to create their own companies. The competition was also held in Australia (2016, 2017) and India (2017). In 2016, she became the first woman to head the ANRT sinceit was founded in 1953.

Cédric Balty


VP, Innovation – Thales Alenia Space

Cédric Balty has held several positions that have taken him through the entire satellite project development process, from the bid phase through to the satellite launch. Vice President for Innovation and Strategic BusinessIntelligence since July 2014, Cédric Balty's remit is to develop the culture of innovation at Thales Alenia Space and help breakthrough ideas emerge and grow, leading to tomorrow's successes. He is also tasked with exploring the implementation of a process to transform the business in relation to sustainable development.

Bertrand Baratte


Space Market Director – Air Liquide

Since 2019, Bertrand Baratte has been Space Market Director of Air Liquide (world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health, and a key industrial partner of the Ariane programme for more than 50 years). He is responsible for defining the space strategy in collaboration with the different Group subsidiaries working in the space sector, from ground support to onboard gas & cryogenic technologies (for launchers, satellites and space exploration). Prior to that, Bertrand was Director of the Space Business Unit of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies for 4 years.

Yann Barbaux


Senior Vice President of Airbus and Chairman of Aerospace Valley

Yann Barbaux has been Chairman of the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster since September 2017.
From 2013 to 2017 he was Chief Innovation Officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft. During his career, he has held various positions in the field of quality, with expertise in metallic and thermostructural materials. He assisted with the creation of EADS and was vice-president and administrator of the EADS CCR economic interest group. In 2006, he created EADS Innovation Works, the Group's first integrated central research organization, which he developed internationally, establishing a presence in 11 countries. He has published and contributed to many technical publications in international scientific journals and holds a patenton "Structural concepts for a supersonic aircraft". He has been a member of various engineering and technology associations, as well as of NATO's Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD).

Christian Bec


Vice President – Syntony

Christian Bec began his career in 1988 in the design and engineering office of MATRA Space (now Airbus Defence and Space). In 1997, he joinedthe BTS Industrie Group (Toulouse), where he became Director of the Design Office in 1999 and then Head of the Sales Department in 2002. He bought out the group in 2004 and became its President, before selling it toNexeya (now Hemeria) in 2010.

Between 2010 and 2016 he was Vice President of Nexeya and General Manager of the Power Conversion business line. He is currently Vice President of Syntony, a game-changer in software-based navigation and location systems and GNSS receivers.

Founder member and Treasurer for six years of the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster, he is also President of Club Galaxie (which groupstogether major space business players in the Occitanie region), Co-founderand Vice President of Toulouse French Tech, and President of the ACTMP AeroClub. Lastly, he is also Chairman and majority shareholder of Twelve, which produces a unique single malt whisky, the result of the know-how of a group of passionate people and the exceptional Aubrac terroir.

Audrey BERTHIER


Executive Director – MEDES

Audrey Berthier is Executive Director of the MEDES Space Clinic. A biomedical engineer and graduate of the Telecom Physique Strasbourg engineering school, she joined MEDES in 2001 as a project manager. She
has coordinated and participated in numerous national and European projects on innovations or research between space and health, in the fields of space medicine, life support and telemedicine. In 2018, she was promoted to Director of Operations and became Executive Director of MEDES in June 2020.

Nicolas Capet


CEO – Anywaves

Nicolas Capet is a French doctoral engineer, an expert in electromagnetism and microwaves, who graduated from ENAC and the University of Toulouse. He began his career at CNES, the French space agency, as an antenna engineer. He also worked on various advanced projects for divisions such as Telecoms, Earth Observation and Navigation.Nicolas's passion for space and his genuine desire to contribute to the newFrench and European space boom then led him to establish his own start-up. In 2017, he created Anywaves, a CNES spin-off that develops revolutionary antennas for satellite constellations. Four years on, this start-up — devoted to the new generation of miniature, high-performance, high-quality antennas for space applications — has won numerous awards and has already created its own space legacy with five antennas in orbit.

Philippe Coste


Deputy Director Occitanie – Simplon

Philippe Coste is currently Deputy Director Occitanie of Simplon, a major French player in vocational training on digital technologies. Philippe beganhis career as an artificial intelligence engineer, before becoming an entrepreneur. He then joined the education sector as Director of the Epitech campus in Toulouse, where he joined the Epitech national board managing the innovation programmes and industrial partnerships of the 12 Epitech campuses in France. He co-directed the La Mêlée network and then led the French Tech initiative in Toulouse. He joined At Home, a community of 70 start-ups based in Toulouse and Paris, as Head of External Relations and led the "Toulouse is AI" programme.

Corinne D'Agrain


CEO – IRDI Capital Investissement

Corinne d'Agrain works in the field of private equity. She has been Head ofIRDI Capital Investissement since 2015 (€380 million in managed assets) and is particularly interested in regional private equity devoted to supporting companies at all stages of their development, from seed capitalto transmission, with a focus on the major economic and industrial sectors of Occitanie and Nouvelle Aquitaine.

Eric

De Saintignon


Operations Director – Actia Group

Eric de Saintignon is currently Operations Director of the Actia Group and has been involved in space activities for over 30 years. A graduate in applied physics, he joined Matra Espace in the 1990s and began his careeras AIT/AIV Manager for technological developments, including orbital laser communication (Silex).

Over the next few years, he headed the EEE Parts Competence Centre at Matra Marconi Space, until the creation of EADS in the early 2000s. Duringthis time, he helped establish and lead the optimization of certain newly created international organizations – Central AIT and Operational Management – and introduced the Lean approach to the space sector. He was also responsible for satellite AIT (for EADS-Astrium), as director of the Toulouse site. He contributed to various regional initiatives and maintained several mandates in the field of education.

In 2015, he left the main company to create and develop OneWeb Satellite, with a US partner, thus becoming a pioneer in satellite constellations. He is now setting up a new entrepreneurial project within the Actia Group.

Jérôme Dufour


Head of Division – French Air and Space Force

• Aeronautical engineer, military academy diploma, professional pilot, CNES/CDE space training, RI training
• 20 years of operational experience as a transport pilot, background in special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa (Mali, Niger, DRC, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania)
• Air Force Inspectorate, trained in auditing/inspection, member of the High Council for Aviation Safety
• Senior National Representative to the Netherlands in the European Air Transport Command (EATC)
• Head of the capabilities area within the CDE, Ministry of the Armed Forces space consistency officer, innovation manager, capability cooperation in several forums

Vincent Farret d’Asties


CEO – Zephalto

Vincent Farret d'Astiès dreamed of setting off into space as you would on ayacht. With a small team from the south of France, he designed a balloon capable of taking travellers up to contemplate the Earth's curvature from the inky darkness of space, with no carbon footprint. Entrepreneur at the head of Zephalto, a company that develops flights for tourism and science,he is an aeronautical engineer by training and an aircraft and balloon pilot.

Ariel Fuchs


Consultant

Ariel Fuchs has a doctorate in marine science and 35 years of field experience, and has been working as a science and technology consultant for the past 15 years. His work mainly focuses on developing and supporting projects to create new tools for more effective exploration of the marine environment, in order to promote greater knowledge and understanding. For several years he has been particularly interested in the"sea/space" link, as well as in space technologies and applications that canbe used to develop innovative marine technology projects. Ariel Fuchs has been a project manager at CNES for the past three years, where he is co-leading a strategy for technological support to the maritime sector within the Connect by CNES project, as part of the Innovation, Applications and Science Directorate.

Pierre-Alexis Joumel


Director for International & New Business in Space Systems – Airbus Group

Pierre-Alexis joined the Airbus Group in 2011 after graduating from aerospace engineering school and business school. He has held several positions such as Strategy Manager in France, R&T Manager in Canada, and Future Programmes Manager in Germany. After an intrapreneurial experience, he joined the Sales & Marketing Department as Director for International & New Business in Space Systems, with responsibility for the Asia and North America regions. In parallel with his activities, he obtained an Executive MBA from ESCP Business School in 2019.Since joining Airbus, Pierre-Alexis has lived and worked in several countries outside France, including Canada, Germany and Switzerland, andenjoys discovering and working with new cultures. Outside of work, he is heavily involved in international professional associations such as the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), and as a Mentor in the Techstars Starburst SpaceAccelerator and the MyJobGlasses network.

Catherine Lambert


Directrice - Cerfacs

Catherine Lambert graduated from the ENSEEIHT engineering school in 1986. She holds a PhD (1989) and an Authorisation to Supervise Research from INP Toulouse (2004). She was also an auditor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Science and Technology (IHEST, 2007-2008) and received the CPA diploma for business leaders from Toulouse Business School in 2013.

In 1989, Catherine Lambert joined CNES, the French space agency. She developed extensive expertise in embedded signal processing and more specifically in compression, and has been involved in several space projects (CLEMENTINE, IASI, PLEIADES, etc.). From 2004 to 2013, she was Head of the Technical Coordination and Preparation for the Future Department at the Toulouse Space Centre and together with her team took part in the creation of numerous pivotal projects in the region
(Aerospace Valley cluster, RTRA STAE, Toulouse Space Show, student space projects on nanosatellites, Nereus, Sirius Chair, etc.).

In October 2013, she became President of CERFACS, the European Centre for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computing. A shared research, development, transfer and training centre for simulation and high-performance computing, CERFACS designs, develops and offers innovative software methods and solutions that give priority to meeting the needs of its industrial and public partners in the fields of aeronautics, space, climate, environment and energy.

In 2014, Catherine participated in the creation of a local Toulouse group ofthe European Association Women in Aerospace, which she co-chaired for four years. She chaired the ENSEEIHT Engineers Association from 2016 to 2019 and has been the General Secretary of the N7 Développement endowment fund since 2020.
Catherine Lambert is a member of ESA's Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO) and of the EuroHPC Research and Innovation AdvisoryGroup (RIAG).

Hélène Lemonnier


Head of Sales UAS Solutions -Airbus Defence and Space

Hélène Lemonier is responsible for business growth in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at Airbus Defence and Space – Ottobrunn, Germany. She has over 20 years of experience in operational management positions witha demonstrated track record in acquiring businesses and providing value-added services and programmes in Earth observation and aerospace for defence, institutional and commercial markets. A customer-focused and people-oriented leader, Hélène Lemonier has a proven ability to drive performance and change in multidisciplinary fields and with multicultural teams. She knows how to connect people to obtain a positive impact on short- and long-term strategic goals.

Jérôme Monceaux


Founder and CEO – SPooN

Jérôme Monceaux is the founder and CEO of SPooN, which designs naturally interactive and empathetic characters that will become the interface between humans and data, robots or artificial intelligence.
A former founding team member and EVP CTO/CCO of Aldebaran Robotics (now Softbank Robotics), Jérôme was one of the main creators of the famous NAO and Pepper robots. With 10 years of experience in interactive robotics at Aldebaran, he founded SPooN in 2015 and developed a singularapproach to social robotics, whose key words are interactivity, emotions, ethics and collective design.

SPooN has ambitious goals: to bring animated characters "to life", allow usto interact with them, get them to react to our presence and take us on social adventures. Installed in collective living spaces (companies, cultural centres, hospitals, connected cities), SPooNies can help us discover the place, its services and its occupants.

Far from being an end in themselves, these SPooNy characters are
designed to promote communication in collective spaces and social links. Human-machine interactions must serve human relations on a collective scale and not only on an inter-individual one. Smart cities, autonomous vehicles, smart buildings, retail and museums are natural opportunities forthis approach.
SPooN aspires to introduce its characters in cities to serve the various communities, in public spaces, thereby "reterritorializing" the concept of digital service. By involving users as much as possible in the definition andappropriation of the services offered by SPooNy characters, SPooN is developing a truly collective design and ethos.

Benoit Moulas


President – AGORA industries – COMAT

A passion for technology, industrial and space companies. Proactive in creating and supporting companies in Occitanie. Convinced by the human values upheld by innovative, responsible and environmentally-aware companies.
Benoît Moulas trained as an engineer (ICAM 1980 and IFG 1990) and has 33 years of experience in creation and management of SMEs:
- In 1988, DIGITAL VISION, industrial vision, barcode readers and micro-cameras.
- In 1991, ARCK INGENERIE, mechanical and electronic engineering.
- In 2007, MIDISOLAIRE, solar energy.- Since 2008, President and founder of the AGORA Industries group, with SNL, MICROTEC, and COMAT, French leader in mechanical space equipment.

Also: Administrator and Treasurer of the Aerospace Valley cluster. Memberof GIFAS, Member of the NUBBO Committee. Administrator and former President of the ICAM engineering school. Honorary judge of the Commercial Court of Toulouse. Member of the Cercle d'Oc, Director of several companies...

Sarah Neumann


Founding President – Attitude Concept

With a degree in management and marketing from the University of Stuttgart in Germany, then in digital project management from ECEMA Lyon, this Franco-German woman put her management, communication and leadership skills to good use in the automotive and aerospace sectors,before devoting herself entirely to developing organizations as an entrepreneur. Passionate about collective intelligence, she now assists companies and organizations in implementing new approaches to change and governance, with the aim of building a desirable future together. The former top judoka is also committed to a fair place for women in tech, the economy and society in general, as an active member of Women in Aerospace Europe and co-founder of the Sororistas competition.

Philippe Nobile


Partner & Director – Boston Consulting Group

Philippe NOBILE has extensive experience in the consumer goods and distribution sectors, including 11 years with Unilever. After holding a number of general management, marketing and financial positions in Europe, Asia, USA and Latin America, he launched his consulting career in 2010. Managing Director of Javelin Group then Partner and Director at the Boston Consulting Group since 2016, he now leads the digital business andis responsible for client accounts in the Luxury and Retail sectors. He is recognised as an expert in market and disruption strategies. He is also a company director, business angel and teacher.

Lucien Rapp


Professor – Faculty of Law at the University of Toulouse-Capitole and HEC Paris

Lucien Rapp is a Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toulouse-Capitole and at HEC Paris. He teaches international business law and market law. Since 2013, he has directed a business chair at the University of Toulouse-Capitole called SIRIUS (Space Institute for Research on Innovative Uses of Satellites), which is supported by CNES, Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) and Thales Alenia Space (TAS).

Massis Sirapian


Head of the "Open Innovation" division of the Defence Innovation Agency (AID)Chief

Engineer of the French Army, graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he has been in charge of a significant portfolio of R&D contracts and industrial policy at the DGA. Seconded for 3 years to an industrial SME, he led the ministerial "Innovation" project in 2017, which led to the creation of the AID in 2018.

Jérôme Vila


Founder & leader – ArianeWorks - – CNES

Jerome Vila has been working for more than 20 years on space rocket projects, holding various positions ranging from design engineer on Ariane 5 in the 2000, to Head of the Future Launchers Department at CNES more recently. Two years ago he founded ArianeWorks, an “avant garde” unit with the backing of the French Space Agency and of ArianeGroup. Since then, he has been running this innovation team tasked with boosting and inspiring the Ariane roadmap.

Alexandre Abad


Decathlon SportsLAB R&D Director

Alexandre has been working with international sports product design teams for over 20 years.

This includes positions in distribution, engineering, marketing and production.

For the past 7 years, Alexandre has been managing the SportsLAB research center, a laboratory of expertise focused on the issues of comfort, safety and health of sportsmen and women in order to design innovative solutions.

Christian Clot


Explorer-researcher, CEO of the Human Adaptation Institute

Christian Clot is a French-Swiss explorer and researcher who has been involved in exploration and research for over twenty years. He has led research expeditions on all types of land and sea terrain and participated in missions in climatic and human crisis situations (tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.) and in confinement situations (hostages, caves, etc.). He is a specialist in human adaptation mechanisms when facing changes and the capacity of the human brain to understand present and future events. To carry out this work he created and is the CEO of the the Human Adaptation Institute, and with which he created the DEEP TIME mission of 40 days in a cave without access to the notion of time. He is the author of several books and films and VP of the French Explorer Society.

Emmanuel Custodero


Michelin Scientific Vice-President

Chemical engineer by training (CPE 1989), Doctor in Chemistry-Physics (UHA1992), I managed research teams in the field of raw materials (fillers, polymers, reinforcements) within the Michelin Group, and then a breakthrough innovation team in the field of polymer compositions and reinforcements, before becoming Vice-President of Compounding Research, and then Scientific Director of the Group. My favorite scientific fields are nanometric particulate solids, complex surfaces and adhesion, physical chemistry of polymers and formulation... and science in general!

Stéphane Dupré la Tour


Vice-President Advanced Innovation and Digital Technologies, EDF

He is the president of CCPN, French National Standardization Strategic Committee. Previously, he was head of Renewable Energy and Mobility division at the Corporate Strategy Department. And he was plant manager of EDF Cattenom’s Nuclear Power Plant (4 nuclear reactors of 1300MW in the east of France. 1500 workers). From 2000 to 2006, he was adviser of french President Jacques CHIRAC (on ecology, industry, innovation, environment, energy, postal services and telecommunications, transportation, space, tourism, and regional planning). He was the initiator of the national road safety project, of the Constitutional Charter for the Environment and of the main energy laws and projects in France at that time. He worked also as a civil servant, as main assistant of the General Director for Industry, Information, Technology and Postal Services (french Ministry of Industry) and as head of the Regional Industrial Environment Service in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (north of France). Stéphane DUPRE la TOUR is an alumni of french Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines.

 

 

Elodie Le Cadre Loret


Lead Scientific Officer at ENGIE Research

Doctor in Energy Economics with 13 years of experience in industry. She manages key international partnerships and is in charge of technology watch on emerging technologies that she promotes in and out ENGIE. After 4 years position in the Innovation Department of Sofiproteol, the main French investment fund in biofuel, Elodie joined ENGIE at strategy department in 2012. Then she had various positions at the ENGIE Lab CRIGEN from 2015 to 2019. She managed national and European R&D projects on digitalization of biogas units and biomass supply chain (MAPPED and WEBio). In 2019, she joined ENGIE corporate research department to be lead scientific advisor.

Elodie is expert in biogas and environmental economics. She is member of accreditation committee for the Capenergies cluster and Solar Impulse Fondation and she is teaching at IFP School (Master EET), ISARA and Chimie Paris.

Elodie Le Cadre Loret holds a PhD in Energy Economics from IFPEN, University Nanterre Paris La Défense and AgroParisTech. She is  also engineer specialized in public policies and agricultural economics and she is graduated from IFP School (promo 2007-2008).

Guillaume Payan


VP Startup outreach, Orange Silicon Valley

As the VP, Startup Outreach in charge of Orange Silicon Valley’s Business group, Guillaume Payan oversees all activities related to the identification and qualification of US startups supporting Orange and Orange’s enterprise customers' business imperatives. Guillaume holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering from National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France and a Master’s in strategy and management of international businesses from ESSEC Business School in Paris, France.

Jérôme Perrin


Renault Scientific Vice-President

He has originally been researcher then senior researcher at the CNRS (French Scientific National Research Center) in plasma physics and chemistry interacting with surfaces. In 1997 he joined the Balzers & Leybold group - now Oerlikon – for the development of plasma reactors for flat panel display and solar panel manufacturing. In 2001 he became R&D program director in the Air Liquid group, particularly on hydrogen and fuel cells. Then in 2007 he joined Renault as VP director of advanced engineering projects for the reduction of energy consumption and environmental impact of vehicles, towards the new electric mobility. For two years 2012-2014 he has created the VEDECOM Institute for carbon-free electric, automated and connected vehicles and eco-mobility. Eventually he has been scientific director in Renault until 2021. He is now member of the National Pilot Committee for Digital Ethics.

Jacques Rougerie


Architect

He is a world-renowned French visionary architect, academician, specializing in the field of marine habitats and littoral zones. Passionate about the sea and space, he has based his work and innovations on biomimetic, bioinspired resilient and sustainable architecture. With the agency and Rougerie Tangram Lab, he creates sea museums and aquatic centers and develops floating and underwater villages projects as well as Moon bases and a lunar village. His iconic project, “SeaOrbiter, like the ISS in space, is an international ocean station dedicated to scientific research, exploration, climate study and education.

In 2009, he founded the Jacques Rougerie Foundation hosted by the Institut de France. Through its annual “International Architecture Competition” dedicated to the future of the littoral, submarine and space habitats, the Foundation supports visionary architectural projects of young architects, engineers and designers, and assisting them in turning their projects into achievements.

He lectures worldwide on the future of architecture.

Philippe Roussel


Executive Officer French Federation of Robotics Clusters

After studying electronics, Philippe Roussel joined HP France and explored the functions of technical salesman, then went through the HP sales school and became a sales engineer in the emerging microcomputer sector of the 1990s. He then moved into marketing and management to become Business Manager France.

In 2003 he left HP and created a first company in the communication and graphic arts sector in Paris. In 2007 he moved to Toulouse and in 2011 he created a start-up in the service robotics sector; in parallel he created the Robotics Place cluster. In 2016, he took the initiative to regroup the French robotics clusters in the FFC Robotique and in 2018 he signed the creation of the Global Robot Cluster in South Korea with his American, Russian, South Korean, Malaysian and Singaporean colleagues, a worldwide cluster that now includes over 20 countries. In 2021, he was one of the founders of the Strategic Committee of the "Solutions for the Industry of the Future" sector.

Romain Troublé


General Manager of the Tara Expeditions Foundation

He has degrees in 2 different fields — a Master 2 in molecular biology from the Sorbonne, and a Master from HEC - Telecom Paris.  As a professional sailor, he participated in regattas at the highest level — twice in the America's Cup French challenges in 2000 and 2003 in Auckland, NZ. He worked from 2003 to 2006 for a company specialized in polar logistics, organizing sporting and scientific expeditions in the Arctic, Antarctica and Siberia, including the discovery of mammoths frozen in permafrost. Since 2004 he has been in charge of the operational management of Tara expeditions, and since 2009, executive director of the Tara Ocean Foundation.

Since 2017, Romain has also been president of the Ocean Climate Platform which brings together more than 96 institutions, foundations, companies, and associations working on advocacy for the ocean’s role in issues of climate and biodiversity.

Mathieu Weiss


Diplomatic Advisor and CNES Regional Representative based in India

Mathieu J. Weiss joined CNES, the French space agency in 1996, where he was tasked with negotiations with ESA on the integration of the European Astronaut Corps. In 2003, Mathieu Weiss joined the diplomatic service as French Advisor and Negotiator for Space Affairs at the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union in Brussels. From 2009 to 2013, he was head of the Science and Technology Department of the French Embassy in Germany. In 2013, Mathieu Weiss was asked to set up a permanent regional representation for CNES in Bangalore. He established the CNES liaison office for India, Australia and South Africa, under diplomatic status. He was instrumental in negotiating the Franco-Indian enhanced cooperation programme signed in 2015 at the Élysée Palace. He has contributed to the implementation of several joint satellite projects and space exploration missions between France and India, in particular the agreement for CNES participation in the Gaganyaan crewed space capsule programme.

coworking session visuel

Co-working session

CNES Toulouse’s SpaceShip co-working space hosts incubated start-ups while they develop their prototypes.

The analysis of their offer’s commercial value is refined and consolidated with the local incubator.

Spaceship, Photo credits © CNES/Rafael Diaz, 2020 / © CNES/GODEFROY Sébastien, 2018