A few kilometers from Amboise and Clos Lucé (the home of Leonardo da Vinci) in Touraine, the entrepreneur Xavier Aubry has imagined a place from which he intends to promote a second European “Scientific Renaissance”. This 4,000 square meter building, which should come out of the ground in the summer of 2024, only exists today on plans. But it already has a name: Da Vinci Labs. And it was unveiled at the end of November in the presence of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Alain Aspect. Along with cell biology and artificial intelligence, quantum is indeed one of the three critical areas of expertise housed in this space intended for research, prototyping and business incubation.
“We want to use these technologies to face the major challenges threatening the planet: global warming, the collapse of biodiversity, pollution…”, explains Xavier Aubry. A veterinarian by training, with a background in industry, this entrepreneur based near Zurich set up Zaz Venture, a company that has become a leader in European financing advice – a fifth of the projects selected by the European Council for Innovation have benefited from his offices . It finances the entire project of 15 million euros.
Its history is part of the rehabilitation of a superb castle, listed in the inventory of Historic Monuments. Xavier Aubry and his wife fall in love with the former property of Louise de La Vallière, Louis XIV’s first favorite. They embarked on its rehabilitation, under the vigilant control of the Buildings of France, and transformed it into a luxury hotel. Passionate about science, innovation and entrepreneurship, Xavier Aubry then decided to create, in this place, a place turned towards the future and plunging its roots into the symbolism and the humanist values of the Renaissance.
The decorator Jacques Garcia started from a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
The concept of the future building was imagined by Jacques Garcia – decorator, among others, of the Mamounia in Marrakech, the Danieli in Venice, the Royal Monceau, in Paris, etc. – who has already carried out the renovation of the Château Louise de La Vallière. To build a bridge between the labs of the future and the rich history of the region, this one was inspired by a drawing by the genius of the Renaissance: the Da Vinci Labs will marry the structure of the “mazzochio”, a hollow ring drawn by Leonard.
In detail, the plans are signed by an architect from Tours, Jérôme Chevalier, who divided the building into six blocks. The first, echoing the past, will house a library celebrating the Renaissance. Two buildings will serve as living and accommodation facilities for researchers. The future will be played out in the three blocks reserved for laboratories, one per discipline: biology, quantum, computer science. Why invoke the Renaissance? “I am convinced that the future belongs to polymaths, that is to say to creators, who, like Leonardo da Vinci, master several areas of expertise”, explains Xavier Aubry. In fact, the complexity of environmental challenges increasingly requires multidisciplinary approaches. A spirit that will cultivate this place mixing several disciplines and mixing entrepreneurs with academics.
A steel UFO nestled in the forest
The location has also been carefully considered: the architectural UFO, whose walls will be covered with steel panels, will be placed about 500 meters away and out of sight of the castle, in a plot of forest recently planted by its last owner, Olivier Lecerf, ex-CEO of the cement manufacturer Lafarge. No tree in the century-old forest that adjoins the castle will therefore be cut, specifies Xavier Aubry.
Other environmental precautions accompany the project which aims to be exemplary in this area: building with low energy consumption, reforestation to compensate for the cutting of trees, modest height of the building, hidden under the cover of trees, cooperation with the Ligue de protection des birds Despite these guarantees, the prefecture dithered for 18 months; the construction required a change of PLU (local urban plan). Now on track, the project has won several local supports: the General Council, the Region, the Community of communes and the University of Tours.
An address and a seed fund for entrepreneurs
Without waiting for the construction of the buildings, the future occupants of Da Vinci Labs are already at work. Hosted since September 2022 at the City of Creation and Innovation in Tours (Mame), four teams are working on projects with a high environmental impact that have won European funding. One is to use satellite data to monitor forest health in the face of climate risks.
Entrepreneurs hosted at Da Vinci Labs will not only benefit from an address. They will also have the possibility of integrating the Quantum Launch Pad, the support and financing structure that Xavier Aubry has also just launched. To launch this accelerator supported by a seed fund endowed with 10 million euros, the founder of Da Vinci Labs joined forces with two very active personalities in the emerging quantum industry: Robert Marino, founder of Qubit Pharmaceuticalsand Christophe Jurczak, partner of Charles Beigbeder in Quantonation, the first European quantum technology fund.
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Da Vinci Labs: AI, quantum and biology to save the planet
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