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Research Associate |
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INNO
INNO-G
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Research Associate |
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VPIV
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Hervé Lebret
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Innogrants
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Manager
nationality: France
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office(s):
CE3305
phone(s): [+41 21 69] 37054
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MISSION
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As the manager of the INNOGRANTS, I help academic entrepreneurs to develop their initial start-up idea. I fund their project and help them in developing it through the rich innovation ecosystem around EPFL. I also organize events dedicated to innovation (ventureideas, forum de l'innovation).
Since 2005, more than 30 INNOGRANTS have been funded and more than 10 companies created including Aleva, Attolight, Enairys, Inocs,Lemoptix, Prediggo and routeRank.
The venture ideas conferences have been organized since 2005 and the Forum de l'Innovation since 2006. Some useful information can also be found in the section "ressources" of the Innogrants page.
During the year 2004, in my prior role at EPFL, I could also directly help in a start-up creation, NEXThink, which develops an EPFL technology.
In 2007, I published "Start-Up: what we may still learn from Silicon Valley" and you can follow my related blog "Start-up: The Book".
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BIOGRAPHY
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I graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France) in 1987, SupAero (Toulouse, France) in 1989 and obtained an MS from Stanford University in 1990. I worked for the French department of defense for two years and went back to academics to obtain my PhD in electrical engineering from Université de Rennes in 1994 (with one year spent at Stanford University again) I stayed in academics from 1994 to 1997 as dean of studies of the ENSTA (Paris, France) and at Onera (Palaiseau, France). In 1997, I left the academic world to begin a new career in venture capital with Index Ventures in Geneva, Switzerland. I left Index to work at EPFL in 2004 as a licensing office in the Technology Transfer Office. In mid-2005, I helped in launching and took charge of the INNOGRANTS.
My past venture capital activity
As a venture capitalist from 1997 to 2003 with Index Ventures, I have been studying the full spectrum on information and communications technologies, from semiconductor design to hardware and telecom components and systems as well as software tools, applications and services. I have invested mostly in early stage technology start-ups based in Europe, Israel and the United States. Here are a few examples of the companies I have been involved with and for a few with which I am still involved:
- Virata developed DSL chips, went public on Nasdaq in 1999 (and later merged with GlobeSpan and later Conexant). Based in Cambridge, UK.
- Numerical Technologies developed software for subwavelength design of semiconductors and went public on Nasdaq in 2000 (before being acquired by Synopsys in 2003). Based in San Jose, California.
- ArrayComm develops wireless telecom systems based on smart antennas. Based in San Jose, California.
- LaserComm developed optical components and failed after the telecom crisis in 2001-2002. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel and Plano, Texas.
- BeamExpress develops optical transceivers based on VCSEL technology. Spin-off from EPFL and based in Lausanne, Switzerland and Sunnyvale, California.
- Pulsic develops software for the design of semiconductors (EDA). Based in Bristol, UK.
- Kimotion Technologies develops software for the design of semiconductors (EDA). Based in Leuven, Belgium.
- Innovative Silicon develops semiconductor technologies. Spin-off from EPFL and based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
My past research activity
My research activity began in 1992 and finished in 1997. I focused on applications of convex optimization and in particular of interior point methods in engineering as shown by the list of my publications. I also taught at ENSTA between 1993 and 1997, mostly in system identification and control and published a book on the course I gave.
As you may notice from my publications, I owe many things to the following professors:
- Stephen Boyd from Stanford University
- Laurent El Ghaoui from UC Berkeley
- Lieven Vandenverghe from UCLA
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MAIN PUBLICATIONS
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Portfolio choice through convex optimization, P. Henrotte, H. Lebret, Proceedings of the 1995 Conference on Computational Intelligence for Financial Engineering (CIFEr), April 1995
Identification des systemes, H. Lebret, Editions ENSTA, 1996
Optimal Beamforming via Interior Point Methods, H. Lebret, The Journal VLSI Signal Processing, 14-1, October 1996
Robust solutions to least-squares problems with uncertain data, L. El Ghaoui, H. Lebret, SIAM J. Matrix Analysis & Appl, 18-4, October 1997
Antenna Array Pattern Synthesis via Convex Optimization, H. Lebret, S. P. Boyd, IEEE Trans. on Signal Processing, 45-3, March 1997
Robust Solutions to Uncertain Semidefinite Programs, F. Oustry, L. El Ghaoui, H. Lebret, SIAM J. Optimization, 9-1, 1998
Applications of second-order cone programming, M. S. Lobo, L. Vandenberghe, S. Boyd, H. Lebret, Linear Algebra and its Applications. Special Issue on Linear Algebra in Control, Signals and Image Processing, 284:193-228, November 1998
Quality start-ups will always find financing (in French: Les start-ups de qualité trouveront toujours du financement), G. Zocco and H. Lebret, AGEFI, supplément au numéro 198, 15 octobre 2001
Technology Transfer at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), A. Catana, H. Lebret, Europhysics News (2004) Vol. 35 No. 6
The EPFL approach to Innovation, Hervé Lebret, Jan-Anders Manson and Patrick Aebischer, in "The GLION Colloquium", Universities and Business: Partnering for the Knowledge Society - Chapter 11 - February 2006.
Capital-risque et universités : La composante humaine
, Hervé Lebret, denaris 1/2007
Ce qui manque vraiment aux start-ups européennes, Hervé Lebret, La Jaune et la Rouge - Mars 2007 - p.34-36
Start-Up : ce que nous pouvons encore apprendre de la Silicon Valley, Hervé Lebret, Amazon.com - Novembre 2007
Start-Up: what we may still learn from Silicon Valley, Hervé lebret, Amazon.com - November 2007
Start-Up: the book, Hervé Lebret, A blog in English and French
L'accompagnement, quelques leçons de la Silicon Valley, Hervé Lebret, L'Expansion Entrepreneuriat - Mai 2009
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| Skills |
| Support to Innovation, technology transfer, venture capital, information technology and also applied mathematics (optimization) applied to engineering. |
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