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ELYOT
AND HIGH-TECH STANDS FOR DOGS
The Seyne
company has developed a completely new concept of dog dirt station. An
innovative system already adopted by several communes.
Dog dirt, an interesting niche. The market exists. Michel Nicoaieff, from
Toulon, is convinced and, in December 2001, created a completely new system:
the Elyot toilet station. The concept is simple yet efficient, as stated
by the creator, head of the company Elyot Environnement at La Seyne-sur-Mer.
Cost, hygiene
and security
"In Paris, no less than a thousand people are injured each year because
they slip on dog dirt. All over France, the situation is the same. Dog
dirt is a real nuisance in terms of hygiene and security without forgetting
the cost for our towns and communities. This is why we decided to create
a station, connected to a source of water and connected directly to the
drains".
For the rest, nothing was so simple. With a simple button press, the owner
of the animal starts the cleaning system. "A plate with blades, fixed
on the ground turns through 180° so as to be cleaned and disinfected,
explained the inventer. The station has an attractant for dogs and was
studied in a laboratory with the help of a vet. For the moment, we are
the only ones to propose such a station".
Eleven stations are already installed
Michel Nicoaieff has been working for more than five years on this project.
Today, he can at last see the end of the tunnel and intends to be known
by all the local authorities. A gamble already partly won because in just
a few months, several local councils have adopted the procedure. If Toulon
already has two, La Garde one and Carqueiranne one, it is without doubt
the local council of Plessis-Trévise, in the Val-de-Marne, that
is a real partner with seven stations already installed.
"The problem of dog dirt costs a lot of money, underlined Michel
Nicoaieff. Dog toilettes are always dirty and require a disagreeable maintenance.
We are at present six times cheaper than path sweeping motorcycles and
nine times cheaper than voluntary cleaning that requires a considerable
number of plastic sacks that are often stolen".
Millions of euros wasted each year
Planning to propose the cheapest procedure on the market, with a toilette
station at 6900 euros, fitting included, Michel Nicoaieff and his employee
Sébastien Fratellia-Guiol, head of communication, are convinced
that they have the key to change. Their concept will even be "of
public importance".
"Millions of euros are wasted in the collection of dog dirt. In Paris,
each year, nearly 12.2 Meuro are put into the treatment of some 6 tonnes
per day. Furthermore, this only represents 40% of animal waste. At the
time, the path sweeping motorcycle was revolutionary. Since then, there
has been a regression. To-day, what we want to do is to promote our product,
100% from the Var, notably at the Salon of the town councils of France
which will take place on 19th to 21st November in Paris. It is all the
more important because nobody believes that such a product can come from
the Provinces and even less so from Toulon. As a rule, the authorities
know Toulon but not its industrial activities. The image is to be improved.
We hope that the town council will be alongside us".
A business plan based on 2% of the market
At present in contact with cities such as Paris, Marseille, Antibes, Menton
and Nouméa and also with the Fondation Brigitte Bardot and the
associations for guide dogs, Elyot Environnement plan to be able to recruit
and train personnel next year.
"Our business plan, based on 6000 local councils of more than 2000
inhabitants, corresponds to 2% of the present market. If in 2003, we manage
to find two or three partners to help us and to install between 20 and
30 new stations, we will be able to recruit staff and train them in the
installation technique. We even plan to create a rehabilitation company,
if the company takes off".
With the objective of 360 station installed between now and three years,
Michel Nicoaieff does not intend stopping there. His ambitions could quickly
take him to the USA, Quebec or Germany where the environment is a priority.
After road safety and recycling, dog dirt could well become part of the
major themes under discussion in the coming months.
Michel Nicoaieff,
designer and Sebastien Fratellia-Guiol, head of communication, plan to
install 360 station between now and three years time.
NICE
MATIN - economic supplement 14/11/02
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VINCIENCE
Vincince, a company in Sophia is specialized in the production of bioactive
substances destined for the cosmetic industry - imitating the molecules
present in the skin. The company plan for exports to represent 55% of total
sales between now and the end of the year compared to 46% in 2001. The company,
known up to last year by the acronym Seporga Laboratories (company for the
extraction of principle active agents), today employs 48 staff and has doubled
the size of its research laboratory. More than half its staff are involved
in research the rest of the team working in production, quality control,
marketing and accountancy.
"Our
new name links Leonardo da Vinci ans Science, illustrating our transition
towards activities oriented to research, art and beauty," explained
Joël Mantelin, General director of Vincience since 1988, date at
which, with two associates, he bought the company which then employed
only five staff. We work for multinational cosmetics companies and our
know-how enabled us to make more than 35 patent applications over the
last three years".
Vincience principally used extracts from cattle for its products up to
ten years ago and today depends on elements based on top level substances,
biopeptides, marine and vegetable extracts. The company has developed
a range of more than fifty bioactive substances and it has created three
or four new substances each year. These are sold to reputable cosmetic
companies who use them in finished products for consumers.
C.A.D.
WEB NEWS 28/10/02
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AGROBIOTECH
PROJECT
During the Club day held on 27th September in Sophia-Antipolis, the Club
PERSAN organized a round table on agro-biotechnology. Pierre Ricci, chief
of the plant health department if INRA (National institute for agronomic
research) of Antibes and the Professor Daniel Leredulier of the Université
de Nice-Sophia-Antiplois participated in the debate, entitled "An
example of bringing together research organizations on the Sophia site:
the Agrobiotech project".
"The
project places the INRS research centre, at present in Cap d'Antibes,
in Sophia-Antiplois," explained Mr Jean-Michel rabasse, President
of INRA. "The setting up of the research teams will take place at
the end of 2003. This project has taken a long time to mature and was
influenced by the recent evolutions in the world of research and higher
education that encourage different research organizations to discuss and
to join together."
The scientific programmes of INRA, essentially on the health of cultivated
plants, were restructured during this period. They were discussed with
the Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis and led to the creation
of mixed research units (UMR) between the two establishments and the location
of University staff on the new site. Certain University staff work on
INRA subjects and INRA researchers participant in teaching. All research
activity is under the framework of a federative institute of research
(IFR). After the UMR and the IFR, platforms also form a tool after the
reorganization of research on the site.
Researchers from the CNRS, INRA and the Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis
and other organizations at present contribute to the creation of a genome
platform that reunites the tools and competence in the disciplines which
is at the heart of modern biology.
C.A.D.
WEB NEWS 07/10/02
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A
NEW CHIP CREATED BY IBM AT LA GAUDE
IBM have just announced the creation of a new ensemble of two chips for
network equipment with five times the performance of previous generations
of "switch fabrics" and that was developed by a French team
of engineers of the Networking Development Laboratory of IBM La Gaude,
near Nice.
The laboratory
has the world wide responsibility for all the development of switch fabric
for IBM and developed the chips in only 13 months in collaboration with
the Essonne Development Group of IBM.
The data packet commutator IBM PowerPRS 64Gu is an advance both in performance
and in low power compact design, factors more and more important whilst
the requirements of space and power become primordial questions for manufacturers
of equipment and network service providers.
Completed by a new interface chip IBM PowerPRS C48 or the interface PowerPRS
C192 already available. It is compatible with a vast range of applications
such as company networks, WAN, web content routers, SAN, transport equipment
of multiservice providers and mobile base stations.
"IBM has significantly increased the progress and the growth options
of its switch fabric products whilst continuing to provide a constant
architecture to preserve the investment of its clients", declared
Steve Wainwright, vice-president of IBM TECHNOLOGY Group, Europe, Middle
East and Africa. We accept to help our European clients to rationalize
their development, to optimize their output and to propose new services
and capacities for their users."
For further
information: http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/products/wired/
C.A.D.
WEB NEWS 16/09/02
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