Grenoble TTO Wins Respected Deloitte Award

Floralis, University Joseph Fourier TTO and manager of Biotech Pipeline, is delighted to announce that it has won a place in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards, a respected programme that rewards the best performing national technology based companies.  This prestigious award, which is based upon financial growth over a five-year period (2004-2008), was given to Floralis as a result of a turnover increase of 833%.

Eric Morgain Associate Manager for the Fast 50 at Deloitte stated:"The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 has demonstrated once again that many French technology companies consistently over perform as a result of their highly innovative products or business models. We congratulate Floralis on their ranking  in this programme which can act as a real vector for growth and promotion and open up many opportunities in terms of networking and business"

Since the company's creation in 2004 as the technology transfer subsidiary of the Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France,  Floralis has proved its operational worth through the development of a business model  and an entrepreneurial culture that enables technologies to be "fast-tracked" to the market. The principal conduit for this technological process is Floralis's Business Unit model, one that ensures the rapid, but financially secure commercialisation of technologies emanating from the University Joseph Fourier's research laboratories. The business unit model is simple, but effective. Floralis first carries out evaluation studies to ensure that technical and market demands can be met. Once the commercial/technical viability of the project has been validated, Floralis will then build a business team supported by the company's own in-house, IP, Marketing, licensing, legal and communication experts: a strategy that leads both to the rapid commercialisation of the technology and the effective creation of an actual start-up (risks are minimised significantly, as the start-up will already have been operating effectively for a number of months or years).

In the five years since its inception, Floralis's "Business Unit Factory" has seen over 12 technologically-diverse projects roll onto its production line, in fields as diverse as the production of membrane proteins, laboratory robotics (to analyse genetic expression)  and gas analyser development and production.  The business unit model can therefore be seen as a very tangible response to the concept of "Open Innovation" and a true R&D company in its own right.

The result of this activity in financial terms equates to a turnover of 9m€ with Floralis's 130 employees currently commercialising technologies originating from 15 key patents as well as managing a patent portfolio of 150 patent families.

Eric Larrey,Managing Director of Floralis, stated: "We are absolutely delighted to be named in this important ranking which sees us placed as the top 36^th technological company in France in growth terms as well as the 205^th in the top 500 for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region " If Floralis is continuing to thrive in what can be considered to be hard times, it is a result both of our robust business model and of the quality of the UJF innovations that we work on.  But perhaps most importantly, it is due to the dedication and creativity of Floralis's staff who are truly passionate about their work.  The Deloitte ranking is a real endorsement of the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in Floralis and is one that will help us further promote and develop our company".