Laurent is a physicochemical engineer with a Ph.D. in solid-state physics and has worked for EDF since 1993. Before moving to Germany, he spent more than 10 years on nuclear power plant materials. He created the European Energy Research Institute (a joint research center between EDF and KIT), which works on decentralized energy and smart cities. In 2011, Laurent returned to France and joined the EDF/R&D Innovation team as a technical manager. From 2013 to 2016, he became an investment director in a DeepTech seed fund. Since 2016, Laurent has been EDF’s Senior Open Innovation Catalyst and “Black Swan detector” for the R&D team.