AEROPHILE GROUP: A Dream Comes True With the Olympic Cauldron
It all began in 1993 with the dream of two 25-year-old entrepreneurs and friends, Jérôme Giacomoni and Matthieu Gobbi, to bring a tethered balloon back to the Tuileries in Paris—specifically to the very spot where its predecessor was showcased at the 1878 Universal Exhibition by the French airship inventor Henri Giffard (1825 - 1882). Thirty years later, that dream became a reality with the tethered balloon being the centerpiece of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
AEROPHILE has been a client of OBWB for over ten years, and Mathieu Gobbi has graciously agreed to share more about their incredible journey.
Matthieu, can you tell us a few words about AEROPHILE and your greatest achievement in these 30 years of history?
In 1993, the goal of the project was to allow as many people as possible to experience flight at an affordable price (just a few euros) aboard the least polluting aircraft in the world. Our solution was a tethered balloon held in place by a cable connected to a winch. Barely a year later, in 1994, The Castle of Chantilly welcomed our first tethered balloon.
With its helium- inflated envelope and its electric winch that consumes as much energy as an elevator, it was an extremely ecological solution and immediate success: 36,000 passengers took a trip in just 6 months. This first success was the starting point of a human and entrepreneurial adventure that has lasted for more than three decades. 120 balloons have been sold around the world. From Asia to America, they can be found at the world's most popular tourist sites, such as the Angkor Temples in Cambodia, the Walt Disney World in Orlando, the Disneyland Resort Paris, the San Diego Zoo, and in major megacities: Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles... the latest sites equipped by Aerophile are in 2022, Budapest, Jeddah, Riyadh, Puerto Rico ... in 2023, Biloxi (Mississippi), Palm Island in Dubai, Seville, Petra, in 2024, Seoul, Niagara, and the Olympic Cauldron in Paris.
Without a doubt, the biggest challenge and the project that had the most impact for AEROPHILE was the Olympic cauldron that was the highlight of the 2024 games. The designer of the project, Mathieu Lehanneur, wanted to fly the Olympic cauldron over Paris. Obviously, it was not possible to fly anything using flammable gas. EDF (the French electric utility company) was contacted to develop an electric flame project, where a flame is simulated by means of a lighting system used to light a mist of water droplets dispersed by a fan, thus bringing the flame to life. AEROPHILE was consulted for their captive balloon experience. The kick-off meeting took place 18 months before the date of the opening ceremony and everything then moved fast, in the greatest secrecy. The technical challenge was huge. There were many new features: ensuring the supply of water and electricity to the gondola to generate the flame, flying a balloon without a pilot on-board, which meant controlling everything remotely, like a drone. Confidentiality posed real technical challenges since AEROPHILE wanted to test everything and the production team didn’t want to reveal anything. The balloon was tested once in the middle of the night without light... and separately, the cauldron was tested attached to a crane, in the countryside. It was an exceptional project in its realization: the speed, the confidentiality but also in the ease of obtaining official authorizations for the project. It was exceptional on the human level with the meeting between an artistic production, artisans, and industrial companies.
Balloon assembly – Courtesy of Aerophile
Photo Courtesy of @AugustinProbst
AEROPHILE has patents granted in many countries. Can you tell us about your IP strategy?
Our patent filing strategy is to file limited but strategically targeted applications as soon as soon as we think we have an interesting technological solution. We do not currently have an aggressive IP strategy in the sense that we do not seek to obtain royalties from potential infringers or to initiate legal actions. Patents are primarily intended to convince our partners and investors of the innovative nature of our technical solutions. Patents are also important for obtaining markets in the context of calls for tender.
As for trademarks, we registered the names broadly, with specific classes. We also have designs, when appropriate.
After the Olympics, what’s next?
The success of the Olympic cauldron in 2024 will probably not lead to its use in other Olympic Games However, we have gained notoriety and credibility. During the Olympic Games, we met many foreign representatives who came to see the Olympic cauldron. We were able to show our partners our ability to integrate a major project, while respecting technical and time constraints. For the future, we will use our new notoriety to develop another aspect of our technology important for us: pollution control.
This is something present for the beginning since the « Ballon de Paris Generali » attraction in the South of Paris is already a real flying laboratory committed to air quality. This has been measuring, 24 hours a day, the quantity of fine particles present above the André Citroën Park in Paris, from 0 to 300 meters in height.
Additionally, in 2021, after 10 years of research and experiments, Aerophile's engineers developed Para-PM, a technology based on an innovative patented ionization and electrostatic filtration process. It is a unique system for capturing fine particles in open or semi open spaces, autonomous and ultra-efficient because it removes more than 95% of fine particles. More recently, Aerophile developed an improved system known as AEROPHILTRES based on the para-PM technology, that was used to clean up the air in the Athletes' Village for the Olympics games in Paris.
Aerophiltres – Courtesy of Aerophile - www.parapm.org
Whether in the air or for the air, 30 years after its creation, AEROPHILE keeps a start-up spirit and continues to innovate, with solutions that respect people and the environment.