What has become of the latest inventions that caused a sensation?

A cap so as not to sting from the nose, a bicycle wrist protector, a connected rehabilitation pedals … The Lépine competition is the only place where you find what you were not looking for. He has long caricatured daily adventurers, but this competition also offered dumbfounded humanity the lawn mower, steam iron, washing machine or contact lenses in 1948. “The first time we had this idea of ​​landing glasses directly on the cornea, it surprised a little. But today it has become something great“, Underlines Anicet Mbida, journalist specializing in innovation.

A good invention does not necessarily go to posterity. In 2022, a sock tie won a prize in the Lépine competition. Two years later, the adventure ends for lack of solid funding. Another feedback: last year, A green bike that helps pedaling is awarded in Paris. Flights take off. 600 bikes in one year. “”Our strength was already to have a product marketed when we presented our invention in the Lépine competition“, Explains Adrien Lelièvre, founder of” Pi pop “. Sometimes it takes time to convince. In 2023, Helodome, a low consumption house, seduces the jury. The inventor has sold only ten in 22 years.

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