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Caisse des Dépôts becomes a shareholder of the StreetLab company
Innovative SME - 11 January 2012
By the end of December 2011, Caisse des Dépôts became a 21.5% shareholder of the StreetLab innovation platform beside the Pierre et Marie Curie University (UPMC) and the Voir et Entendre Foundation (FVE).
StreetLab is a service-based firm specialising in the evaluation and development of new products offering greater autonomy and improved quality of life for the visually impaired.
Its first offerings are already on the market: training and awareness as regards visual impairment; assistance and advice on defining accessibility policy; assistance in improving product design for the benefit of the visually impaired; evaluation of products intended to provide increased autonomy. These services are aimed at public bodies, local authorities, industrialists, real estate operators and all public facilities seeking to improve accessibility, as required under the disability legislation of 11 February 2005.
This platform for innovation was launched and promoted by Professor José-Alain Sahel, director of the Institut de la Vision. It aims to offer answers to a very real public health issue, with the help of teams of researchers specialising in eye diseases that can lead to visual impairment. As part of StreetLab, these researchers will be involved in developing ground-breaking technological solutions to improve everyday life for the visually impaired.
The City of Paris and the Ile de France region are also partners in the project, thanks to their financial support for the Fondation Voir et Entendre. StreetLab will actually occupy part of the Institut de la Vision’s premises in Paris.
The investment reflects the priority that the Caisse des Dépôts Group, as a partner of choice for national and local government, places on support for SMEs and innovation.
