Editorial Spotlight – Timothée Le Quesne’s Energysquare Invention

This week’s editorial spotlight falls on Timothée Le Quesne’s Energysquare invention reforming the way we charge our smart devices.

The technology behind Energysquare charges multiple smart devices at the same rate as a traditional plug – It is also water-resistant and shatter-proof.

The user simply access the energy via a sticker at the back of their device.

Timothée Le Quesne, 22, and his co-founder, Daniel Lollo, 23, discovered the invention during a student science project while studying at Universite Paris-Saclay.

The Energysquare tech was developed in 2014 and was launched in May 2015.

Both founders have just returned from trial testing their invention at Silicon Valley, San Francisco USA as part of their university’s start-up competition.

Their aim is to help consumers get rid of their reliance on cables and they’re currently working on making this ingenious tech available to be used in offices, homes, and public places like libraries, airports, parks and fast-food restaurants.

A Bit More Information On How It Works? 

The technology behind Energysquare is composed of two elements – A special charging surface made of conductive squares encrusted into an insulating material. Each square is then piloted separately by our hardware; 

A thin and adhesive sticker plugs into the device and it’s then stuck to the back of the device. There are two conductive dots on the sticker, which directly connects to the battery.

When the equipped device is placed on the surface, the two conductive dots of the sticker connects with two different conductive squares of the surface. The surface then automatically detects the presence of the device and sends the right amount of energy through the sticker to recharge it.

The charge is made by simple electrical contact like a battery in a remote control or a plug-in an outlet.

So contrary to induction charging, there is no loss of energy and several devices can be charged on full surfaces and at the same time. It’s a two-dimensional plug-less electrical outlet charging a battery-powered device like a smartphone, tablet, laptop, drones and speakers.

How did you discover your invention?

It all started with a student project ‘Art and Science‘ two years ago. We had a team composed of engineers and designers, and our subject was “Energy of the future”. Our goal was to create a cloud of energy – A technology that could charge devices anywhere.

We had to ask ourselves about what we were doing with our smartphones and the answer was pretty simple because we place it down all the time while working, sleeping or eating. We then decide to develop a technology that could charge our devices on different surfaces.

We brainstormed for a few months with teachers from our engineering school Télécom Paristech, created several prototypes and finally patented the Energysquare technology in September 2015.

How Was Your Invention Received At Silicon Valley?

The Startup Booster competition, organised by Université Paris Saclay, gave us the opportunity to spend one week in San Francisco, discover the ecosystem and get some feedback about our invention from more experienced entrepreneurs.

The main recommendation was to stay in France in the early stage phase of development, testing the product and the market, and then come to Silicon Valley once we have a market fit product in order to raise funds and reach the American market.

The French ecosystem is great for startup inventors as there’s a lot of financial help from the government, startup incubators and accelerators.

How Can It Be Purchased?

We are planning to launch it on Kickstarter at the end of May 2016 – People can sign up here to be notified about early bird offers.

Our goal is to create an urban network of charging opportunities and to distribute the stickers for free as technological goodies at places such as restaurants, bars, airports and train stations.

This would allow users to keep their smart devices charged all the time.