Altran established the Foundation for Innovation in 1996, to provide international support for technological research and development to benefit the community at large. The Altran Foundation annually presents an award on a different theme to advance concepts or inventions that can make a difference in our society. The winner receives a year's free technology consulting and support worth over one million dollars.

A closer look at a year of support

In 2003, the Altran Foundation decided to tackle the theme of innovation in the area of food allergies that affect many of today's young children. First prize was awarded to Pierre-Henri Benhamou, a pediatrician and founder of the company DBV Technologies. He was working on a patch that could easily detect food allergies in children.

As soon as the prize was awarded, five key areas of work were initiated by Altran consultants:

• the procedures for putting the product into production
• the improvement of quality and process performance
• the challenges relating to patents
• the design of the applicator for the patch
• the visual identity of the product.

The project team was immediately formed to tackle these key issues. The team focused on those areas that typically covered the life cycle stages of a product. In one year, the technological support provided by Altran enabled the patch test to make its market debut in June of 2004. The release was a year earlier than was originally anticipated. Its name: Diallertest - the patch test for food allergies in children.