Adrien Marchandise: MiniLab is a Living Lab, a real-world laboratory that fosters innovation through real-life testing, that aims to fast-track the marketing of technologies, systems and materials aimed at enhancing environmental performance. MiniLab’s activity revolves around 2 core pillars: a collaborative onshore platform enabling industrial and academic partners to develop and test eco-efficient technology prototypes and a racing yacht that serves as an offshore laboratory, the Mini 6.50 No. 754, used to validate and test these prototypes under real conditions.
Founded in 2023, MiniLab is the 1st project from Opensea Labs, a company based in Lorient, which is a hub for offshore racing and maritime innovation. MiniLab aspires to become a reference point for experimentation and validation of new technologies. By bringing together experts from various scientific backgrounds, we facilitate the emergence of innovative solutions to address current environmental challenges.
Why is the choice of composite materials crucial to offshore performance?
MiniLab focuses on improving the understanding of the physical phenomena involved in the use of composite materials and onboard systems in a marine environment. By providing its infrastructure
and expertise, MiniLab enables large-scale testing, the collection of precise data and the development of solutions tailored to specific constraints. Offshore racing is an extreme mechanical sport that pushes
materials and systems to their limits. Competitive boats continuously seek more efficient and robust materials, reliable systems and more efficient means of energy production while maximising weight
reduction. These challenges are also critical for the transport and energy industries, often held back by regulations that slow down development. MiniLab leverages the stringent demands and agility of off shore racing to reduce the time to market for new industrial technologies.
What are your main missions, and what do you offer to your partners?
Our main tasks are to test and validate new embedded technologies. This involves gathering data from tests in real conditions and experimenting with the durability and adaptability of new materials in saline environments. The goal is to provide a collaborative platform for industrial players seeking to validate their innovations in the demanding and hostile ocean environment, thereby accelerating their introduction into the market. It also means that, ultimately, reliable and sustainable innovations can be integrated more quickly into the nautical industry. Around this project, we are developing an ecosystem of partners committed to eco-performance and raising awareness of sustainable innovations in competitive sailing. This project provides a unique testing ground for engineers and researchers specialising in composites. Testing these technologies on a small boat like the Mini 6.50 may, in the near future, lead to the expansion of sustainable innovations to
larger competition boats, such as those in the IMOCA or Ultim Classes. Partners also benefit from the opportunity to test these technologies with a view to transferring them to other sectors such as automotive and aerospace industries…
