Lydéric Bocquet is Co-Founder at Ilion Water Technologies, a pioneering water desalination startup developing pressure-free nanofluidic technology. He is a CNRS Director of Research and Professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure, leading the Micromégas team in nanofluidics research.

Bocquet completed his PhD in statistical physics at ENS de Lyon under Jean-Pierre Hansen and has over 30 years of research experience. He has published 200+ papers in top journals including 8 in Nature and 2 in Science, and holds 12 patents.

Bocquet received the 2024 CNRS Innovation Medal and was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He held an annual chair at the Collège de France and received the ENI Award for his groundbreaking nanofluidics research.

Bocquet co-founded four startups based on his nanofluidics research: Sweetch Energy (2015, osmotic energy), Hummink (2020, nanoscale printing), Altr (2020, beverage dealcoholization), and Ilion Water Technologies (2025). He serves as scientific consultant for Saint-Gobain and Plastic Omnium.

Ilion won the 2024 Pollutec Innovation Challenge for its VIRO technology that desalinates water using just a few volts instead of high pressure up to 60 bar. The technology aims to develop an industrial pilot within 3 years, addressing global water scarcity affecting half the world's population.