Aquitaine Science Transfer

What they do

Created in 2012 under the French government's "Programme des Investissements d'Avenir" (PIA), AST serves 11 public research institutions in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (including the University of Bordeaux, CNRS, and INSERM). The firm acts as the crucial bridge between public research laboratories and the socio-economic market. They identify promising academic inventions, fund their maturation to reach a proof of concept, protect intellectual property, and incubate resulting deeptech startups via their "chrysa-link" incubator. AST is highly regarded in the French deeptech ecosystem for absorbing early-stage technological risk and turning lab discoveries into commercial successes.

What they look for

AST's mission is to accelerate and simplify the transition from public research to the market. They act as the first link in the innovation chain, taking a financial bet on breakthrough technologies to demonstrate their future economic benefits. They exclusively look for deeptech projects and startups that are based on (or require) technology and know-how from an Aquitaine-based public research laboratory. They seek disruptive innovations with high-potential markets, strong societal/economic impact, and a clear need for technological maturation to reach a pre-industrial proof of concept.

Stage

Pre-seed, Seed

Sectors

Healthcare, Climate, Deeptech, SaaS

Based

Talence, FR