Crowdfunding has emerged as a transformative alternative to traditional innovation financing. Limitations of conventional funding sources have led to increased interest in alternative financing mechanisms. Crowdfunding, leveraging online platforms, has democratized access to capital, enabling entrepreneurs to develop products and services that align with broader population needs. This paper surveys the literature, demonstrating how crowdfunding platforms have opened doors to capital for entrepreneurs who might otherwise have found it challenging to secure funding through established channels. While crowdfunding's impact on innovation is multifaceted and contingent on factors like innovation type, entrepreneur quality, and regulatory frameworks, its growth trajectory remains robust, solidifying its significance as a source of entrepreneurial finance.

There is growing recognition that responding to the socio-ecological crisis requires more than technological fixes. There is a need to shift away from palliative interventions, which remain limited to promoting incremental or unproven technological approaches, and to embrace more radical interventions that address the structural drivers of environmental degradation and social inequality. This has led to an interest in degrowth and post-growth economies as a way to catalyse transformational change. Degrowth (or post-growth) can be defined as aiming at an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level, in the short and long-term.

Biohydrogels have evolved substantially since their introduction as poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-based materials in 1960, progressing from simple wound dressings and contact lenses to a multi-billion-dollar market encompassing stimuli-responsive hybrid systems. This comprehensive review examines biohydrogel sources, physicochemical properties, and applications while addressing critical challenges including poor mechanical robustness, limited long-term stability, and production scalability. The analysis reveals that optimal biohydrogels require precise optimization of formulation parameters including polymer concentration, pH, temperature, and mechanical strength. Notably, synthetic hydrogels demonstrate superior mechanical strength, natural variants excel in swelling behavior and porosity, while hybrid formulations achieve the most balanced overall performance. Recent advances focus on incorporating bioactive agents, biosurfactants, chitosan, protein-based polymers, and nanoparticles into nanocomposites to create multifunctional systems. This integrated approach enables customizable physicochemical and biological properties for diverse applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering, positioning advanced biohydrogels as transformative biomaterials for next-generation therapeutic and diagnostic solutions.

Biofabrication has emerged as a transformative discipline in biomedical engineering, enabling the creation of three-dimensional tissue constructs that replicate native tissue architecture and function. Electrospinning, 3D printing, and advanced fabrication techniques—including melt electrowriting, near-field electrospinning, multi-material printing, and 4D shape-memory fabrication—now allow precise control over scaffold geometry, porosity, and mechanical properties. These technologies have been further enhanced by incorporating controlled release mechanisms for therapeutic agents such as drugs, growth factors, and biologics, enabling localized, sustained delivery at tissue repair sites. However, significant challenges remain in translating laboratory successes to clinical applications. Key bottlenecks include limited material libraries, reproducibility and standardization issues, scalable manufacturing, cell integration, and clinical validation. This Research Topic seeks multidisciplinary contributions integrating engineering, materials science, chemistry, and life sciences to address these barriers. The field now prioritizes developing robust, standardized, and scalable workflows that support medical device development and clinical translation, while simultaneously advancing scaffold architecture control, release functionality, and biological performance validation to facilitate real-world deployment.

Researchers at Penn State University have developed a groundbreaking approach to 3D-printed bone tissue regeneration by bioprinting genetically modified stem cell spheroids. The interdisciplinary team introduced different genetic sequences into commercially sourced undifferentiated stem cells to create cell clusters optimized for bone tissue regeneration following severe trauma or infections. The bioprinted spheroids demonstrate enhanced capability not only in supporting bone healing but also in facilitating successful blood vessel formation within generated tissue—a critical advancement, as vascularization has historically been a significant challenge in conventional bone tissue engineering. The team validated their findings through laboratory experiments and mouse models, with results published in Chemical Engineering Journal. By using genetic "switches" to guide cell differentiation, the researchers addressed a fundamental challenge in regenerative medicine: creating networks of functionally diverse cells from a single baseline. This innovation has broader applications beyond bone regeneration, including developing accurate biological models for testing experimental drugs. The work represents a significant step toward reconstructing complex cellular structures for regenerative medicine applications.

Inorganic nanocrystal gels combine the distinct properties of individual nanocrystals with tunable, network-dependent characteristics, offering promising applications in catalysis, optics, electrochromics, and energy storage. This review examines five primary assembly mechanisms: controlled destabilization, direct bridging, depletion interactions, coordination bonding, and dynamic covalent bonding. Each approach manipulates nanocrystal surface chemistry or introduces small molecules to mediate inter-nanocrystal attractions, with distinct advantages regarding gel stability, reversibility, and tunability. The porous networks created in these gels enable reversible and continuous control over nanocrystal neighbor interactions, enhancing collective properties and coupling effects. While assembly strategies for microscale colloids are established, applying these approaches to nanoscale systems remains an evolving field. Understanding how to tune effective interactions between nanocrystals and their equilibrium phase behavior is critical for designing gel assemblies with desired structures. By strategically weakening stabilizing surface ligand repulsions and introducing controlled inter-nanocrystal attractions, researchers can govern aggregation kinetics and create reconfigurable materials and fueled assemblies with novel functionality.

A class of copolymers based on poly(l-lysine)-g-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) was found to spontaneously adsorb from aqueous solutions onto several metal oxide surfaces, such as TiO2, Si0.4Ti0.6O2, and Nb2O5, as measured by the in situ optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy technique and by ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The resulting adsorbed layers are highly effective in reducing the adsorption both of blood serum and of individual proteins such as fibrinogen, which is known to play a major role in the cascade of events that lead to biomaterial-surface-induced blood coagulation and thrombosis.

This article is dedicated to CEOs/Founders/start-up teams who are building in the healthcare industry and looking for: increasing their visibility, attracting funds, expanding their network, growing their business. A start-up can access funds through diverse methods, including bootstrapping, angel investors, venture capital, and government grants. Non-dilutive funding allows start-ups to raise capital without surrendering any equity or ownership stakes.

Le Prix de l’innovation duale vise à identifier, valoriser et accompagner les entreprises innovantes développant des technologies à fort potentiel de double usage, répondant à la fois à des enjeux civils et de défense. Porté par POLD et piloté par le Catalyseur, en partenariat avec l’INAS et La Place Stratégique, ce prix a pour ambition de favoriser les collaborations entre startups, industriels, acteurs publics et experts afin d’accélérer l’émergence de solutions technologiques stratégiques et de renforcer la souveraineté technologique.

Depuis le mois de février 2026, une mission d’information travaillait au Sénat sur le thème de la souffrance psychique au travail. Constituée à la demande du groupe RDSE, groupe constitué majoritairement de radicaux au Sénat, cette mission n’a pas pu rendre public son rapport, comme c’est pourtant l’habitude au Parlement. En effet, mercredi 8 juillet 2026, la majorité de la droite et du centre s’est opposée aux conclusions de la rapporteure Annick Girardin. Explications.

En 2025, 21% des moins de 30 ans arrêtés l’ont ainsi été deux fois dans l’année et 17,5% trois fois ou plus, «un niveau qui dépasse celui de toutes les autres tranches d’âge», constatent les auteurs d’une étude de Malakoff Humanis.

Le point de départ de Weckert est une faille de conception. Les modèles de vision n’ont jamais appris ce qu’est un être humain, seulement à quoi ressemblent statistiquement des humains sur des millions d’images. Contours, contrastes, silhouette tête-épaules, proportions des membres. Une personne, pour la machine, c’est un paquet de statistiques visuelles. Le vêtement joue sur deux registres en même temps. Les transitions de couleurs saturées excitent les premières couches du réseau, pendant que les formes qui se chevauchent brisent la continuité du contour du corps. Le détecteur n’arrive plus à recoller les morceaux en une figure unique. « Le motif crie par-dessus le murmure statistique qui dit personne », résume Weckert.

Les danseuses de ballet professionnelles peuvent user des centaines de paires de chaussons par an. L’impression 3D pourrait-elle changer la donne? C’est la conviction de la startup allemande act’ble: Le ballet est apparu en Europe aux XVe et XVIe siècles, mais ce n’est qu’au XIXe siècle que des cordonniers italiens ont renforcé le chausson de pointe, dont la conception n’a guère évolué depuis et reste majoritairement artisanale & faite à la main. Les danseuses doivent casser, rembourrer et adapter chaque paire, et les chaussons d’une professionnelle ne tiennent souvent qu’une seule journée avant que la semelle ne se ramollisse. Ils constituent ainsi l’un des équipements les plus coûteux et les moins durables du ballet.

Des chercheurs de l’Université de Notre-Dame-du-Lac sont parvenus à imprimer en 3D des réseaux de capillaires sanguins grâce à une technique pour le moins surprenante. Avant d’examiner leur méthode, il convient de rappeler l’enjeu médical de tels réseaux. Rien qu’aux États-Unis, plus de 100 000 personnes attendent une greffe, alors que les organes disponibles restent insuffisants. Imprimer en 3D des organes à partir des propres cellules d’un patient pourrait non seulement contribuer à pallier cette pénurie, mais aussi, potentiellement, écarter tout risque de rejet par l’organisme.

Si les États-Unis demeurent la principale puissance scientifique, leur position est fortement contestée par la Chine, particulièrement en Sciences Physiques et de l’Ingénieur où cette dernière occupe nettement la première place. La part d’audience de la France se détériore, passant de 4,3% à 2,7%, soit une baisse de 37,2% sur les deux dernières décennies. Cette baisse est la plus importante du panel après celle du Japon. En cinquième position en 2005, la France occupe aujourd’hui la dixième place, ayant été progressivement devancée par plusieurs pays comparables tels que le Canada, l’Italie et l’Australie, notamment en période post COVID-19. Elle est désormais rattrapée par des pays tels que l’Espagne, la Corée du Sud ou les Pays-Bas, dont l’audience pesait moitié moins que la sienne il y a vingt ans.

L’étude a calculé six indicateurs principaux reposant sur les publications et les citations (les références bibliographiques ajoutées dans un article) de la France et des autres pays, entre 2005 et 2023 (ou 2024 selon les cas), pour évaluer les volumes de production, leur impact, leur influence ou leur prestige. Tous sont en baisse. « Et l’ampleur de cette baisse nous a surpris nous-mêmes », fait savoir Nicolas Carayol. Elle atteint par exemple plus de 60 % sur l’influence, un indicateur qui évalue la part des articles de chaque pays dans le top 10 % des articles les plus cités. La France passe du 6e au 13e rang (1,56 % des articles du top 10 % sont signés par des laboratoires français). En volume, sa part baisse d’environ 53 % pour atterrir à 1,88 % de la production mondiale (passant de la 6e à la 13e place).

A few weeks ago, a Tier One telecom operator asked me to analyze what humanoid robots could mean for telcos over the next five years. I am still working through the answer, but the more I research the market, the more convinced I become that everyone waiting for the “next smartphone” may be looking in the wrong direction. Physical AI could become one of the biggest new consumer technology categories of the next decade. The numbers already look pretty wild for something supposedly futuristic. Nori Robotics is advertising a $1,688 household robot that can help fold clothes, load dishes, fetch items from the refrigerator, and tidy rooms. Unitree already sells a fully bipedal humanoid for under $5,000, while 1X offers its NEO home robot for $20,000 or $499 per month.

Hackers are patient people, very patient. The popular image is someone in a hoodie breaking into a network at three in the morning, grabbing what he can, and disappearing before breakfast. Serious state groups play a very different game. They get in, stay quiet, learn how the network works, map credentials and dependencies, and keep that access for years before doing anything visible. Telecom has already lived through one of these. Salt Typhoon, the Chinese state-linked group that surfaced publicly in October 2024, compromised at least nine US carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen, according to Senator Maria Cantwell, who spoke at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in April 2026. The FBI assessed in August 2025 that the campaign reached more than 80 countries and that roughly 600 organizations were notified of potential compromise. Dwell time at major Telcos ranged from 12 to 24 months before anyone noticed. In the UK, parallel access to the communications of aides across three successive Prime Ministers ran from 2021 to 2024. By May 2026, Singapore had confirmed that all four of its national carriers were compromised.

Researchers have demonstrated a novel approach to hydrogel tensile testing that transcends traditional single stress-strain curves by mapping strain localization in real time. The study employed the UniVert device to apply controlled tensile loading in a hydrated, temperature-controlled environment, while Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technology converted surface motion into evolving strain fields. A neural network was subsequently trained to forecast strain patterns one step ahead based on experimentally measured data. The dataset comprised 120 strain maps, though specimen independence and training methodology details remain unclear, with an 80:20 training-validation split used but no separate test set reported. The research focused on a single architected hydrogel design, leaving questions about generalizability across different geometries, formulations, or loading rates. Despite these limitations, the workflow represents a significant advance in soft materials testing by establishing a direct connection between predictive modeling and real mechanical experimentation, enabling measured strain fields to serve as training data for material modeling while maintaining grounding in experimental validation.

Chronic inflammation underlies numerous diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, typically managed with NSAIDs, corticosteroids, or DMARDs. However, conventional drug delivery suffers from poor site specificity, high systemic clearance, and frequent dosing requirements. Thermosensitive hydrogels represent a promising alternative, leveraging their high water content, biocompatibility, and capacity to encapsulate diverse therapeutics. These injectable systems undergo reversible sol-to-gel transformation at physiological temperature, forming depot matrices that enable localized, controlled drug release with improved patient compliance. Common materials include poloxamers, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), chitosan, methylcellulose, and poly(ethylene glycol)-based copolymers, offering tunable gelation temperatures, biodegradability, and mechanical properties. These systems show significant promise for delivering anti-inflammatory agents via topical, intra-articular, ocular, transdermal, and injectable routes. Despite encouraging preclinical results, clinical translation remains hindered by challenges including poor mechanical stability, premature drug release, limited drug loading capacity for hydrophobic compounds, variable drug-gelation interactions, and sterilization and scale-up difficulties.