We are currently going through the selection process of new semi-finalists for the 2017 PWN Paris « Prix de l'Entrepreneure Responsable ». Prizewinner as startup in 2014-2015, I take advantage of this opportunity to wish the best of luck to all candidates and above all to encourage them to make the most of the PWN Paris network.

So many good things have happened to me after this award and 3 years in the PWN Paris network.
After facilitating the issue of Responsible Research and Innovation within industrial companies such as Air Liquide and public-sector laboratories, I wrote my first book on that same topic. On June 1st, 2017, it was published by Editions Diateino: Science et Impact social: vers une innovation responsable.

On June 9, Echoing Green officially granted me the Echoing Green Fellow status. Since it began 30 years ago based on the ambition of Echoing Green to identify tomorrow’s transformational leaders today, this highly selective reward was only bestowed on 750 fellows worldwide.

On June 17, just like Jeff Immelt (GE CEO) or Eric Schmidt (Alphabet CEO), I was a speaker in a main stage at VivaTechnology, to address the issues of development of new technologies and sciences in the future.
3 years ago, when joining the PWN Paris network thanks to the « Prix Entrepreneure Responsable », I had no idea I could achieve all this.
Of course, the PER award confirmed the potential of SoScience, my company specialized in Responsible Research and Innovation with the purpose of helping scientists meet social and environmental challenges in close collaboration with society.
Well beyond the many meetings made possible thanks to the network, the Award brought me more in my entrepreneurial adventure. Indeed, the mentoring program was a key asset.

Over many months, that eventually turned into years, Francine Jacob, our mentor, has known how to help me to find the right path for me and SoScience and even my style, my voice. A mentor brings you so much! On a very practical level, Francine was a key in the redefinition of our offers and the subsequent commercial success. But there is more. Francine made us aware of all we had already achieved and of the value of what we could offer. Thanks to that great state of mind, I contacted the Editions Diateino about my book: as of now I knew the expertise I’d built was unique and precious. Quite an impressive step for the young business woman I was even as the Editions Diateino had published Navi Radjou, one of the 2014 PER speaker! Later the belief that what we did at SoScience was without any equivalent convinced also Echoing Green. And that’s how 3 years later I joined a Fellows family that counts among others Michelle Obama !

To be surrounded by good people is critical to your entrepreneurial adventure. The current success of SoScience first depends on its team and its early supports. And clearly PWN network and the major influence of our mentor, Francine Jacob, met thanks to the network in 2014 are obviously among the valuable supports of SoScience.

Wishing you a lot of success, I sincerely hope you too will find the mentor who will help you maximize your potential!

Mélanie Marcel

founder and CEO of SoScience, an organization harnessing the power of science and technology to generate
positive impacts for the people and the planet
Echoing Green Fellow 2017, writer.