Hervé Lebret

Co-director of Inria Startup Studio
Hervé Lebret
© Inria / Photo Raphaël de Bengy

Deeptech is a term used to cover cutting edge technology that takes a long time to mature, but in the digital field, fluidity and rapid development are essential. What’s more, there is always the risk of having to evolve or to pivot at short notice. The coexistence of these 2 dimensions necessitates a support structure that is substantially different from that of traditional deeptech, with longer maturation times and significant resources.

It is vital that both the business aspect and the speed at which technology develops are taken into account right from the outset!

[Vidéo] As an aside with Hervé Lebret

Interview with Hervé Lebret, co-director of Inria Startup Studio (in French)

His career

A graduate of École polytechnique and École nationale supérieure de l’aéronautique et de l’espace (ENSAE), Hervé Lebret also has a PhD.

After starting his career as a researcher in applied mathematics at ONERA, Hervé Lebret was Investment Officer at the Geneva-based Index Futures venture capital fund, and until his arrival at Inria was director of the acceleration and support programme for start-ups at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

A specialist in start-up culture and entrepreneurship, Lebret works as a professor and researcher at the EPFL’s college of technology management. In 2009, Hervé Lebret became one of the first members of Inria’s committee for overseeing technology transfer initiatives (CSATT - Comité de suivi des actions de transfert technologique). He is also the author of a book, titled Start-up, what we will still learn from Silicon Valley (www.startup-book.com).