The Air Liquide Foundation Awards recognize five scientific and humanitarian organizations

The Air Liquide Foundation Awards honor the five most innovative organizations among those supported by the Foundation. For this first edition, five organizations were awarded in two categories – Scientific Research, for innovative research projects pertaining to the Environment and to Health/Respiration, and Societal innovation, for micro-initiatives that help local communities. The Air Liquide Foundation Awards ceremony was held on January 13, 2016, in Paris, at the corporate headquarters of Air Liquide.

Since its creation in 2008, the Air Liquide Foundation has been supporting research programs in the areas of the Environment and Health/Respiration, and has been contributing to local development by encouraging micro-initiatives in those regions of the world where the Group is present. The Foundation has in fact supported 220 projects in 45 countries since 2008, thanks to the dedication of 250 employees who have recommended or supported these projects.

The projects that won awards illustrate the diversity of the missions of the Air Liquide Foundation in connection with Scientific Research and Societal Innovation:

• The CNRS¹ in French Guiana was awarded for its study on natural insecticides from the forests of Guiana²,
• Fondation PremUp, for two research projects it is conducting on respiratory ailments in premature infants,
• Agronomes et Vétérinaires sans Frontières, for projects aimed at valorizing the fruit production of peasant families in Brazil and at developing biogas in Senegal,
• Energie Jeunes, for its program helping keep kids in school in priority education areas in the Ile-de-France territory,
• Village Pilote, for its program aimed at helping disadvantaged youth in Senegal find careers.

In addition to the Foundation’s support for all of the projects, the winning organizations will each receive 10 000 euros.

Benoît Potier, Chairman of the Air Liquide Foundation and Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide, said: “I would like to congratulate the winners and the nominees of the first Air Liquide Foundation Awards. These organizations are emblematic of the Foundation’s values. The winning projects, which address social and environmental issues, also stand out because they are innovative.”

¹ Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France’s National Center for Scientific Research)
² Study conducted with the support of the European Regional Development Fund and the Guiana Regional Fund