Since April 27, inventors have been in the spotlight in Paris. The Lépine competition on Sunday awarded its most prestigious distinction to Colin Gallois and Lancelot Durand for "Dreeft", a braking system for wheelchairs.

This invention consists of a pair of wheels equipped with a backpedal braking system, adaptable to any manual wheelchair. It has established itself among the inventions in competition for this 122nd edition of the competition at the Paris Fair.

Each year, the Concours Lépine promotes innovation among French entrepreneurs.

🏆🧑 🦽Congratulations to this year's winners, Colin Gallois and Lancelot Durand, for creating Dreeft, a wheelchair braking system! pic.twitter.com/zRaGHGQfUs

— Emmanuel Grégoire (@egregoire) May 7, 2023

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This braking system allows the user to slow down his wheelchair without friction with the handrail and with "five times less effort than on traditional wheels", according to the organizers. Chosen by a jury of 53 people, the winners received the prize of the President of the Republic, in the form of a vase in porcelain from Sèvres, a house in operation since the eighteenth century near Paris.

Award-winning anti-flood device

The second most important prize, the Prime Minister's Award, went to Olivier Guillou for "Flowstop", a flood control device. For the record, Olivier Guillou had just bought a stand up paddle (board on which we row standing) when deadly floods hit the south of the France a few years ago. He thought that the resistance of a paddle could make it an effective barrier against the waves in front of the entrance doors, garages or French doors of threatened homes. He created the "Flowstop", a lightweight device, inflatable in one minute, which uses the same material as a paddle.

"With this, I stop water in a canal," says the inventor. Communities, campsites with mobile homes or individuals can order these custom-designed devices, depending on the size of the openings to be protected.

Finally, the Connected Universe Prize was awarded to Philippe Gesset for the "B'OTI Project", an intelligent personal assistance robot with a set of mobile applications and objects for personal assistance.

  • Local
  • Paris
  • Ile
  • Invention
  • Paris Fair
  • Lépine Competition
  • Handicap