Nancy : three innovations reach the final of the Canopée competition

The La Canopée competition has just crowned three innovative projects in Nancy. Under the High Patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Canopée is the first national competition 100% dedicated to those who innovate for the forest and wood. On March 4, 2020, at the Centre Prouvé, nine candidates had five minutes to convince and defend their innovations before a jury of experts. Three of them won their places in the final, which will take place on 15 April at the Grand Palais in Paris.

La Canopée : a new competition format for wood-forest projects

Out of 141 applications, each representing an innovation for the forest-based sector, 36 were selected to participate in the selection stages in Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes and Nancy. In Nancy, nine project leaders had to convince a jury of professionals from the sector as well as from the investment world, institutions, professors and business incubators in 5 minutes (Elevator Pitch) yesterday, March 4, 2020.

The 9-storey project in Nice, presented by Jean-Luc Sandoz, the head of the CBS-Lifteam group, won the regional competition in the "Grand Prix Entreprise" category and qualified for the Grand Finale in Paris on April 15.

A specialist in large spans and large wooden structures, CBS-Lifteam built the R+9 Tower, the tallest office building in France made of 90% local wood from the Vosges, designed by Architecture Studio.
"Less material, less energy, for more engineering and more work," summarizes Jean-Luc Sandoz, CEO of CBS-Lifteam. "Scientific soil is a fertilizer for continuous innovation," he adds about the competition.

[Source : La Canopée Competition]

La Canopée is the first national innovation competition rewarding innovative solutions in the forest-based sector. At the origin of the Canopée, the Forinvest association brings together investors and puts them in contact with entrepreneurs in the forest-wood sector wishing to raise capital. To launch La Canopée, Forinvest was quickly joined by the ESB (Ecole Supérieure du Bois), which trains wood engineers in Nantes. Together, Forinvest and ESB have mobilised a network of partners and investors (France Bois Forêt, Codifab, Fransylva, Crédit Agricole, Archimbaud, Piveteau, SIAT, Monnet-Seve, Xylofutur) wishing to be associated with the success of the future nuggets of the sector. (www.concourslacanopee.fr)

Des Hommes et Des Arbres, les racines de demain (People and Trees, Tomorrow's Roots) is a territorial project based on a novel alliance of some 100 public and private players from southern Lorraine and the northern Vosges. It has the shared ambition of transforming the region over a 10-year period, through innovative actions that develop and highlight the role of trees in the well-being of populations, environmental preservation, the resilience and prosperity of the region in resonance with societal expectations, future climate change and a reasoned development of local resources. Des Hommes et Des Arbres, les racines de demain (People and Trees, Tomorrow's Roots) was labelled "Territoire d'Innovation" (Territory of Innovation) by the Prime Minister on 13 September 2019.

[Source : La Canopée contest]