AcuSurgical – ready, set, go!

credits: AcuSurgical official website

AcuSurgical, a startup developing a robotic assistant for vitreo-retinal surgery, announces a Series A funding of around 6€ million euros. The round was led by institutional investors Merieux Partners and Supernova Invest, with participations from IRDI-Soridec and Sofimac Innovation. The round aims to finance upcoming clinical trials and CE mark certification.

AcuSurgical designs and builds a robotic surgical assistant dedicated to the treatment of retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affecting over 300 million patients worldwide including one in three Europeans aged over 70. AcuSurgical’s mission is to improve the precision and safety of current retinal procedures, augmenting the surgeons abilities and thus enabling new retinal surgeries. The aim is to treat the significative percentage of patients who today suffer from limited treatment options.

The innovative and unique robot was designed in collaboration with the LIRMM robotics laboratory, a joint research unit of the University of Montpellier and the CNRS (France) and vitreo-retinal surgeons at the Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne (France). The company recently signed a partnership with the Adolphe de Rothschild Foundation based in Paris.

“Our ambition is to enable innovative treatments for retinal disease that will open new perspectives for the numerous patients who today are impacted by these debilitating retinal conditions and who currently have limited options for treatment. We’re proud of the confidence afforded to us by this strong group of investors. Their support will allow us to grow the team and reach key milestones towards certification and commercialisation of our innovative surgical robotics platform” says Christoph Spuhler, CEO and co-founder of AcuSurgical.

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AcuSurgical was co-founded in 2020 by Christoph Spuhler, robotics professors Philippe Poignet and Yassine Haddab and vitreo-retinal surgeons and professors Philippe Gain and Gilles Thuret. The team is comprised of experts with significant previous experience in surgical robotics and ophthalmic medical devices. The company grew out of a collaboration between the co-founders and the LIRMM robotics laboratory accompanied by seed funding from the AxLR incubator. SATT AxLR specializes in the maturation and commercialization of innovative projects resulting from academic research. The company has been incubated at the BIC since 2018, and has received i-site MUSE support.

2014 Robot Statistics

The latest robot statistics for 2014 and forecast 2015-2018 were released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Again, 2014 was the most successful year ever for new robot installations with the highest number of industrial and service robots ever sold. A useful overview report is available at this webpage (main homepage here).

A few major facts:

• In 2014, robot sales increased by 29% to 229,261 units, by far the highest level ever recorded for one year. Sales of industrial robots to all industries increased compared to 2013. The automotive parts suppliers and the electrical/electronics industry were the main drivers of the growth. China has considerably expanded its leading position as the biggest market with a share of 25% of the total supply in 2014.
• Asia (including Australia and New Zealand) was by far the biggest robot market with about 139,300 industrial robots sold in 2014, 41% higher than in 2013. This was the highest sales level ever recorded for the third year in a row. Industrial robot sales to the second largest market, Europe, increased by 5% to almost 45,600 units (a new peak). About 32,600 industrial robots were shipped to the Americas, 8% more than in 2013, reaching again a new peak for the third year in a row.
• There are five major markets representing 70% of the total sales volume in 2014: China, Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Germany. Almost 29,300 industrial robots (+17%) were sold to Japan reaching the highest sales level in that country since 2008. Since 2013, Japan is the second largest market regarding annual sales. Robot sales in Japan followed a decreasing trend between 2005 (with the peak of 44,000 robot units) and 2009 (when sales dropped to only 12,800 units). Between 2010 and 2014, robot sales increased by 8% on average per year (CAGR).
• Italy is the second largest robot market in Europe after Germany. Worldwide, it ranked 7th in 2014. Total sales of industrial robots were up by 32%, to about 6,200 units in 2014. This was the second highest level ever recorded for one year after 2001. This is a clear sign of economic recovery in Italy. Between 2010 and 2013, annual robot sales to Italy were rather weak due to the critical economic situation. The French robot market also recovered substantially in 2014, by 36% to almost 3,000 units. Sales to Turkey continued to increase in 2014. Robot sales in the Czech Republic and in Poland increased substantially, while other Central and Eastern European markets were down in 2014.
• In Spain, sales of industrial robots decreased by 16% to about 2,300 units in 2014. After considerable investments in Spain between 2011 and 2013, sales to the automotive industry were significantly down in 2014, while almost all other industries continued to increase robot investments substantially. Sales of industrial robots to the United Kingdom further decreased in 2014 to almost 2,100 units after considerable investments of the automotive industry in 2011 and 2012. Robot sales to Belgium/Netherlands, which had followed an increasing trend up to 2013, decreased in 2014. Sales to Sweden were also down in 2014.

Ragazzi, “barrez-vous”, scappate dalla Francia

dal sito di Repubblica

L’ex direttore della comunicazione dell’International Herald Tribune, Felix Marquardt, incita i giovani francesi ad abbandonare un paese dove non è ancora vissuto come un problema la fuga dei cervelli, ma dove la disoccupazione giovanile è al 26%. Le mete consigliate: Brasile Cina e Colombia

“Ragazzi, scappate dalla Francia!”. E’ cominciata come una provocazione, ma ora sta diventando il segnale di una nuova stagione di scontento tra i giovani transalpini. Il curioso appello firmato dall’imprenditore Felix Marquardt è stato inizialmente pubblicato sulle colonne di Libération, poi ripreso anche dal New York Times. Titolo perentorio: “Barrez-vous!”, Scappate! Lo stesso che compare adesso su un nuovo libro-guida all’espatrio – 99 ragioni di andare a vedere com’è altrove – e un sito che raccoglie testimonianze di gente che abbandona la non più dolce Francia.

Un paese bello ma impossibile, scrive Marquardt, che si autodefinisce “non più giovane”: ha trentotto anni. Figlio di un’americana e di un padre austriaco, nato e cresciuto a Parigi, Marquardt descrive la Francia come una “Bella addormentata”, una nazione in declino, governata da una gerontocrazia, incapace di investire sulla propria gioventù. “Non sono antipatriottico” spiega Marquardt, abituato a rispondere a questo tipo di critica. “Credo che sia giusto andar via, cercare fortuna altrove, e poi magari tornare in questo spendido paese”. Lui vive negli aerei, è abituato a lavorare all’estero. E’ stato direttore della comunicazione all’Internationl Herald Tribune, ora ha un proprio studio di consulenza, Marquardt&Marquardt, che fa advocacy e lobbying per gruppi e governi stranieri, dall’Indonesia alla Georgia. “Nazioni che ci ostiniamo a chiamare emergenti, mentre alcune sono già più avanti di noi”.

E’ una posizione che fa discutere, in un paese in cui ancora non esiste, o comunque poco, il fenomeno della “fuga di cervelli”. Nel 2011, 35mila francesi sono espatriati. Erano appena 21mila l’anno prima. Il 40% ha meno di 30 anni. Una tendenza ancora piccola, ma in aumento. In Francia, la disoccupazione giovanile è arrivata al 26%. “Nessuno sa davvero come pensare ai giovani” racconta Marquardt, diventato portavoce dei nuovi espatriati. “Ai giovani viene chiesto di inserirsi, integrarsi: un controsenso”. I ragazzi sono una forza di cambiamento e trasformazione della società, continua, non l’ennesimo tassello in un puzzle predefinito. La società francese è insomma chiusa e arroccata sul suo passato, senza prospettive. “Una situazione simile a quella dell’Italia” nota l’imprenditore che vorrebbe lanciare versioni del suo movimento in tutta Europa e anche negli Stati Uniti.

La valanga di reazioni e critiche al suo appello su Libération, lo ha convinto a scrivere un libro e aprire in Rete un dibattito. Tra le destinazioni preferite dei francesi under 30 che fanno i bagagli ci sono Stati Uniti e Gran Bretagna. Londra è ormai definita scherzosamente la seconda città “francese” dopo Parigi a causa del forte numero di espatriati che hanno scelto di trasferirsi oltre Manica. Secondo Marquardt, però, bisogna scegliere di partire lontano dall’Occidente. “Per gli europei il meglio è già passato, ora tocca a brasiliani, cinesi, colombiani”. E’ in questi paesi, continua l’autore di “Barrez-vous!”, che essere francesi, italiani, o comunque europei, diventa improvvisamente un grande vantaggio.

Nonostante la Francia sia depressa e pessimista sul suo futuro, appena si valica la frontiera c’è interesse e ammirazione per il french touch. Insieme a Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Marquardt ha fondato il movimento Europeans Now per ridare un po’ di slancio alla costruzione politica dell’Europa ed è diventato anche produttore di rap francese. Il suo monito ai giovani è una piccola novità per un paese che non ha mai davvero, conosciuto, fenomeni di emigrazione e ha sempre discusso per lo più di immigrati. “Non parlo di fuga” precisa Marquardt. “Consiglio di partire, tornare, ripartire”. E alla fine, forse, scegliere di invecchiare in Francia.

Journée Futur & Ruptures

Last thursday (January 24th 2013) I participated in the Journée Futur & Ruptures 2013, held at the Institut Mines-Télécom in Paris, France. This nice french name indicates the program of which my PhD project is part.

The goal of the program Futur & Ruptures is to implement a long-term vision and test new approaches on topics such as future telecommunication networks, digital contents, information technology and computer-assisted healthcare.

The aim of this annual meeting is to facilitate the interactions among all PhD students and the parts that financially support and sponsor the program Futur & Ruptures. In this context, each PhD students was invited to present their project in a specific format. In my case, I prepared a poster 🙂

I’ve also updated the Publications Section of my blog. If you are curious to read my poster, just send me an e-mail at this address:  andrea.collo AT lirmm.fr

Création d’un plan robotique

Assises de l’industrie 2012 :

Arnaud Montebourg parie sur le

secteur de la robotique

En ouverture de la 3e édition des Assises de l’Industrie consacrée aux “nouvelles frontières de l’industrie”, le ministre du Redressement productif a indiqué que ses équipes travaillaient sur un plan de soutien au secteur de la robotique, avec l’ambition d’en devenir un leader mondial.

Le ministre du redressement productif prononçait le matin du mercredi 17 octobre l’allocution d’ouverture des 3e Assises de l’industrie. A l’instar du plan de soutien au secteur automobile annoncé en juillet dernier, Arnaud Montebourg a indiqué que des dispositifs équivalents seront mis en place pour tous les secteurs, à commencer par celui de la robotique.

“Nous préparons un plan robotique. La France dispose dans ce domaine de compétences remarquables comparables à celles qui existent au Japon. Nous avons des inventeurs de génie mais, avec une atomisation des entreprises, les autres puissances, les autres Etats, viennent piocher dans ce secteur “, a précisé le ministre. Il a mis en avant l’objectif de s’imposer comme un leader dans ce domaine à l’échelle internationale.

Arnaud Montebourg n’a cependant pas précisé quand ce plan robotique serait mis en place. “Nos équipes y travaillent”, a-t-il simplement déclaré. Quant à sa force de frappe, il a indiqué “une puissance modeste mais avec des effets décuplés”.

Le ministre a ensuite replacé ce plan dans un programme plus large et répété la volonté du gouvernement de faire son “travail de redémarrage, de mobilisation autour de l’industrie, en collaboration avec ses acteurs. C’est ce que j’appelle la politique du colbertisme participatif, on travaille ensemble pour reconstruire l’industrie en France”, a ajouté Arnaud Montebourg.

source: L’Usine Nouvelle