BIUTOPIC
Inhabit the living world
without weighing on it.
Two branches of one organism: the Lab — research, technologies, environmental platforms — and the Studio — design, storytelling, film. One gives the story a field; the other gives the field a voice.
Method
Start with a real environmental or social problem.
Bring together science, design, engineering, culture and lived experience.
Create a functional physical, digital or narrative prototype.
Put it into real conditions rather than relying on theory alone.
Turn the lessons into useful knowledge, public engagement and sustainable activity.
Three demonstrators
HYDRO-01, Hydronaute and HYDRO-02 can evolve independently or reinforce one another. Together, they explore autonomy, the reuse of existing infrastructure and new forms of research and action on water.
Scientific and public base boat
A restored Renaud 8000, progressively transformed into a floating base for research, field operations, autonomous systems and public engagement.
In preparation
Subject to the mooring framework and required authorisations.
Discover the boatAutonomous mini-platform
A compact experimental platform that has sailed the open sea: remotely supervised autonomous navigation, sensors, communications and environmental missions tested in real conditions.
Field-tested prototype
Follow the trialsModular exoskeleton
A reversible structure under development around Hydronaute to extend the energy, scientific and operational capabilities of a compatible existing hull.
Prototype in development
See the technologyBeyond boats
Nautical platforms are currently our main field of experimentation, but the BIUTOPIC method can also take the form of a game, film, campaign, installation, scientific protocol, digital tool or territorial demonstrator.
The object changes with the challenge. The mission remains the same: creating more attentive, useful and lighter ways of interacting with the living world.
Applications
Conductivity, temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen — measured in the field, versioned, shared.
Platforms open to laboratories: onboard sensors, co-built protocols, open data.
Microplastic sampling, assisted observation, mapping of sensitive zones.
Workshops, schools, public demonstrations — and a 3D navigation game that feeds the research.
Scroll to cross
Act I · North Atlantic — HYDRO-01. Has sailed the open sea — tested in real conditions in the North Atlantic.
Act II · The Erdre, Nantes — L'Hydronaute. The first public demonstrator. Solar, electric, in silence.
Act III · Demonstrator — HYDRO-02. The exoskeleton — a modular structure designed to adapt to existing hulls.
From the Atlantic to the Erdre — a prototype in trials, a demonstrator in Nantes, an exoskeleton for existing hulls.
HYDRO-01 · Field trials North Atlantic campaign — 2026
HYDRO-01 has been deployed and tested in real marine conditions in the North Atlantic: navigation, communications, energy management, solar integration, environmental and acoustic missions. Each sortie reveals technical limits, produces lessons and feeds the next iterations.
Discover HYDRO-01What the field taught us
Real conditions reveal what simulations cannot.
BIUTOPIC Studio
BIUTOPIC Studio turns research, prototypes and field actions into narratives that can be understood, shared and supported. It documents BIUTOPIC’s own projects and works with a limited number of mission-aligned organisations.
ESS / ESUS mission
BIUTOPIC is an ESS company with ESUS accreditation, recognised as a Jeune Entreprise Innovante. Its economic activities, research projects and collaborations serve one mission: extending the life of existing infrastructure, making ecological experimentation more accessible, and creating shared tools to better understand and protect ecosystems.
Backed by Bpifrance · France Active · Réseau Initiative Nantes · Région Pays de la Loire — France 2030
Who we work with
Environmental monitoring, public engagement, territorial demonstrators.
Field platforms, co-built protocols, open data.
Measurement and advocacy tools grounded in real data.
Robotics, energy, sensors — co-development and integration.
Citizen science, workshops, the 3D game, engagement outings.
Round 1 closed (€100,000), Round 2 planned 2027 — details and milestones on the funding page.
Press
3 articles
The Hydronautes — a citizen-science project that almost capsized over a boat theft
France 3 covers BIUTOPIC's citizen-science project and the theft that nearly derailed it.
Stargate — boat behind a science project — stolen, then recovered after an improvised chase on the Erdre
The Nantes river community mobilises — L'Hydronaute and Elven Villecourt at the centre of the action.
The “Stargate”, boat stolen in Nantes, recovered 24 hours later thanks to broad mobilisation
A look back at the collective effort and the river community's role in cracking the case.
Looking for new articles…
Environmental monitoring, a scientific mission, a territorial demonstrator, public engagement — let’s talk about what your waters need to say.
