TechForward Demo Day: 8 Deep Tech startups in the spotlight for this first edition

This article was first published on the edhec.edu website - 02/06/2025 

On May 14, the very first edition of the TechForward Demo Day was held at the heart of EDHEC Nice — a day dedicated to innovation at the intersection of technology and the major challenges of our time.

TechForward’s ambition? To support Deep Tech entrepreneurs who transform cutting-edge research into concrete solutions for tomorrow.

Launched at the end of 2022 in partnership with two leading institutions — EURECOM and the Institut Mines-Télécom — the incubator has already supported more than 30 startups across five cohorts.

This Demo Day shined a spotlight on 8 high-impact projects, led by brilliant and committed entrepreneurs:

💜 Melpomeni Dimopoulou – PEARCODE

💜 Benjamin Vignau – Cœur-Net

💜 Mohamed Taghouti – Deep IoTech

💜 Aïda Meghraoui – AMKbiotech

💜 Marwen Mokdad – POLYCHAETA

💜 Margot Michel (EDHEC International BBA, 1st year student)- Specgen

💜 Benoît Gouit & Ilia Khaliavin – #InRace #InRace (winner of the EDHEC GMBA Entrepreneurship track)

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🏆 Congratulations to Aïda Meghraoui, founder of AMKbiotech, winner of the Startup of the Year award!

→ A groundbreaking solution combining medical expertise, imaging technologies, and data processing to analyze biological tissues.
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💖 Jury’s Favorites :

Cœur-Net – Benjamin Vignau

PEARCODE – Melpomeni Dimopoulou

A big thank you to our jury members:

• Yohan Aimard – Rise Partners

• Patricia Lay – Fondation Sophia Antipolis

• Thomas Herlin – Les Angeles (Vianeo)
  
  

Other highlights of the evening included a sensorial demonstration by Raphaël Troncy, researcher and professor at EURECOM, who offered a unique olfactory experience combining AI, scents, and memory — a remarkable example of Deep Tech applied to the human experience.

The evening also featured an inspiring roundtable on “Deep Tech for All: Bridging Talents, Amplifying Impact”, moderated by Yasmine Machwate, Head of EDHEC Entrepreneurs Incubators, with:

• Paul-Guilhem Meunier – Institut Mines-Télécom

• Stéphanie Morales – Inria Startup Studio

• Raphaël Troncy – EURECOM

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A heartfelt thank you to all the startups, partners, experts, and ecosystem members who help bring this vision to life every day.

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👉 Learn more about our TechForward Incubator : ici.