When and where?

Opening : April / Mai 2013
Place : 20 rue du Jeu de Paume, Laval, Mayenne. France
http://conceptstore.laval-technopole.com/
   

Coworking and The Store  are concepts to prove in a new initiative of LMT.

For the “Boutique”, the idea is to provide a space for digital enterprises to test their products with real users. The project is developed under Open Innovation project and a network of Stores is planned in many European countries.  For the start-ups in Mayenne,  department number 53 of France ….

The more innovative a product is, the more difficult is its market access. The innovation concept- store will accelerate the meeting between consumers and companies. It will also help these better understand their customers’ reactions to innovation and get more accurate market research results.

The boutique offers excellent opportunities for young start-up companies that innovate, have developed a BtoC manufactured product, are looking for distributors or simply want their customers to test their products.

They offer a place for testing your digital apps in our boutique. Anyone who shops in the boutique can freely test them. Our fees will not be charged on the sale of your product but on the boutique’s test supply.

Who is in charge ?

Laval Mayenne Technopole (LMT) is the reference for innovation in the Mayenne. Their mission is to accompany the region’s economic development through innovation. In order to reach its objective, LMT has developed several tools. Among these, we can quote the Incubator for innovative projects (with 50 accompanied projects since 2008), a building estate that hosts innovative companies, a contest that accelerates the creation of start-ups (Idenergie).

The innovation concept store is an additional tool for accompanying the launch of innovative products. By creating it, LMT has equipped itself with an unique tool that hasn’t been developed in any other innovation ecosystem so far. Its missions are therefore stretched out to target the general public.

This is a further step in the strategy that has been followed by LMT for several years and that aims to incorporate more new and innovative tools, like “living-labs” and “Open Innovation“, in the service business. The implementation of the concept store is part of the Open Innovation trend.

Context and funding

The project is supported by local fundings (Laval Agglomération, the region Pays de la Loire, the General Council of the Mayenne). It has also received the support of the European funds Interreg IV B within the framework of the Open Innovation project that gathers LMT’s partners in Northern Europe.

Besides the participation of European and local funders that have successfully ensured its start, the project has found its balance and managed to cover the operating expenses both by revenues from selling products and services and by private partnerships.

Inventor and initiator of the project, Laval Mayenne Technopole will be followed in 2013 by its European partners in the implementation of similar concept stores in other European countries.