Michel COLINET
Chief Operating Officer/Strategy & Business development
Move, discover, reflect, confront each other, share, be surprised ...
Nowadays, it’s his thirst for knowledge about deep-sea environments that drives him, through ABYSSA’s exploratory campaigns, to deepen our knowledge and characterise our largely uncharted oceans and the resources they hold.
With his love of climbing and pot-holing, he could easily have carved out a career for himself on terra firma. Instead, when it came to making a choice, well, there is just so much more still to be discovered about the oceans, they are the engines that keep our planet working… Plus, what could be more motivating than working in such an open environment, packed with opportunities for doing things that have never been done before, in places no one has ever been to, constantly challenged, and intersecting with other disciplines? Michel COLINET graduated in Applied Geosciences & Engineering from the University of Bordeaux (1994), before going on to join CREOCEAN in 1996.
Then, in 2003, he completely changed tack. Finding he had a gift for business development and customer relations, he switched from a purely scientific career to become agency director, setting up and expanding the agency, seeking out new projects and partnerships, first in the Caribbean and then in the South Pacific. An expert in coastal environments, he found a new passion for the deep seabed and managing mapping surveys.
In January 2013, back in mainland France, he was appointed Offshore Project Lead, in charge of geophysics projects (data acquisition and processing, engineering, design and lead contractorship, etc.). To meet the specific needs of island communities in these regions, Michel COLINET specialises in Marine Renewable Energy (MRE). He led several projects to install Seawater Air Conditioning (SWAC) systems in hotels and hospitals.
In 2014, as soon as heard about the Concours Mondial d’Innovation (World Innovation Challenge), he got in touch with Morgane RAVILLY. The two scientists, who are totally on the same wavelength, set up the MELODI project, winner of the challenge for the next two years running. When the time came to wind down the consortium set up to validate the project, they were faced with a decision. Together with Jean-Marc SORNIN and Jean-Damien BERGERON, they sought – and found! – the backing needed to set up ABYSSA. They each quit their existing jobs to devote their energy and expertise to this new challenge, with Michel, naturally, as head of business development and development strategy.
