Skales signs his first contract

Promoting the production of scientific software from public laboratories for interested industrial partners, no longer via Licensing contracts, but in the form of customized web services: this is the originality of the approach developed by SKALES, an IncubAlliance startup created in January 2018. This ambitious approach is clearly appealing, as evidenced by the recent signing of its first contract with Dynfluid, a fluid mechanics laboratory at Arts et Métiers engineering school in Paris. Let's look back at the birth and development of this startup with Ewen Maréchal, its founder.

How did SKALES come about?

The creation of SKALES is closely linked to my personal journey. It all began at the end of my doctoral thesis, which I completed in 2015-16 at Safran Aircraft Engines, focusing on a fluid mechanics problem. As part of my research, I developed an algorithm to simulate icing in the fuel systems of jet engines, and I quickly realized, once my work was finished, that my code risked ending up gathering dust on a shelf, lacking adaptation for industrial users. This seemed like a waste, considering the time and resources invested in developing the tool. I therefore began to consider the issue of transforming scientific software into marketable products usable by industry. This is how the idea for SKALES was born.

What exactly do you propose?

Our approach consists of identifying algorithms in research laboratories that have reached advanced stages of scientific development and could generate industrial interest. We then propose to the laboratories that they commercialize their developments to make them usable by engineers in design offices, for example, not via The signing of an operating contract, as is generally the case, but in the form of customized web services. Specifically, we offer them the implementation of an online industrial application platform to leverage their research.

An offer that seems to be appealing, as evidenced by the signing of your 1^er CONTRACT…

We have just signed our first contract with the Dynfluid laboratory at Arts et Métiers in Paris, with whom we have been collaborating for several months on issues related to turbomachine design. Having previously limited itself to traditional methods of commercialization, this laboratory now wishes to go further and make its software commercially available. via a web-based approach. That is where we come in: to develop a suite of software tools in the field of turbomachinery.

What are your prospects for 2019?

Under this contract, we have given ourselves three months to launch our first product. The reason we can envision such a short development timeframe is that we now only need to focus on the business logic aspects of this development. Since January 2018, our strategy has been to work on developing everything that can be "refactored" into our solution: we have therefore already made significant progress on developing the platform component, which will eventually be the same for all our clients. We also plan to make the code for this platform available by the end of the year. And in the meantime, given the various requests we have received, we are very hopeful of signing other contracts!

What role did IncubAlliance play in your career path?

When you decide to start a business as a young PhD under 30, it's safe to say you don't exactly have the best profile to convince investors and potential partners to take risks with you! IncubAlliance's first contribution was therefore to lend credibility to my project. Another significant advantage was the ability to benefit from the strategic vision of IncubAlliance's various advisors, both during the Genesis Lab and afterward, once I entered the incubation program. Finally, from a practical standpoint, having office space within the incubator and access to the numerous players in the Paris-Saclay cluster network saved me invaluable time. It's thanks in part to IncubAlliance's support that I was able to win the French Tech Grant and hire my first employee!