THE TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE LAUNCHES ITS “OCEAN & ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION CHALLENGE”

The Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie - Le Havre today wants to be more than an ocean race: it wants to invest in defending causes that are dear to it. After the "Cap pour elle" operation, which allowed 2 women to join the starting line on November 7, she is today launching a double challenge, aimed at students and start-ups, in order to develop solutions in the service of the ecological transition.

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A SUSTAINABLE COMMITMENT

 

Becoming a responsible event: this is the vocation of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie - Le Havre. After putting women in the spotlight through its “Cap pour elle” operation, it is today on the ecological aspect that the famous ocean race wants to act.

By organizing its “Ocean & Environment Innovation Challenge”, Transat wishes to promote projects committed to OceanTech and GreenTech, two themes which bring together many of the challenges of the ecological transition. Open to students but also to start-ups, and developed in partnership with French Tech Le Havre Normandy, hosted within the Digital City, the innovation platform of the Urban Community, the operation also intends to create a new economic and encourage new businesses to set up in Le Havre.

THEMES RESEARCHED


Among the themes targeted by this competition, we find different areas linked to sustainable development, such as renewable energies, the circular economy and the preservation of biodiversity. The projects presented must therefore take advantage of these concepts in order to apply them to the maritime world: use of renewable energies at sea, new means of propulsion, innovative materials, anti-collision devices for cetaceans, improvement of water quality, limitation of discharges at sea...

The organization has also defined two complementary themes which will allow the projects that integrate them to obtain particular attention: the exploitation and valorization of data, as well as citizen participation in innovation.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE ?

 

Do you have a project that meets the criteria for the “Ocean & Environment Innovation Challenge”? To register, go to the dedicated platform before July 18, 2021:

I REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE

 

The selection of projects will then be done in different stages:

  • a pre-selection will be announced on July 30, 2021, with 20 projects in total (10 among students, 10 among start-ups);
  • a first phase of support will then begin in the company of mentors;
  • a second vote will take place in October to designate the 5 student projects and the 5 start-up projects which will compete in the final;
  • the finalists will then have 3 weeks to prepare a 3-minute pitch to present to the jury during the final on November 4, 2021, which will take place at the Cité digitale in Le Havre.

THE INCUBATOR: A SPRINGBOARD

 

In order to reward the two winning projects of the “Ocean & Environment Innovation Challenge” (one among students, the other among start-ups), Transat is offering them an incubation period within French Tech Le Havre Normandy: accommodation at the Digital City, lasting 6 months for the student winner and one year for the start-up winner, supervised by mentoring, network or even promotion professionals in order to help them make grow their project.

This is therefore a unique opportunity to set up a business with responsible and sustainable objectives, while benefiting from expert advice in supporting and managing projects with future challenges. Future start-ups will thus be connected to the local innovation ecosystem, which will allow them to develop more easily.