Doriane, Agro and IT expertise made in France
For 30 years now, Doriane has been putting its expertise at the service of seed companies around the world through its RnDExperience® software. This is a tool designed for business research and development, capable of managing data, protocols and all the processes that go into research.
Two complementary areas of knowledge come together within the company:
Computer savvy and agri/agro expertise.
History of Doriane's expertise in aronomy and IT
The Doriane company based in Nice, was founded by Frédéric Royer and Florence Royer 30 years ago. “I have a background in plant breeding. I worked at Geves (Variety and Seed Study and Control Group) and was approached by seed companies who were looking for IT solutions to manage their research and development. Realize this was in the late 1980s”, says Doriane’s manager, Frederic Royer.
One thing led to another and Doriane's client base grew. Doriane is present in all regions of the globe, from Latin America to China. Since then, Romain Royer has joined the family business and taken over the marketing department. “We have 3 main activities: IT development, consulting (customer support) and commercial activity per se.
Two complementary areas of knowledge come together within the company: Computer savvy and agri/agro expertise. We must be able to understand the needs of our customers that have invested in plant breeding” explains the manager.
RnDExperience® software is designed to support the activities of the various research departments.
Customized agro-research software made in France
RnDExperience software is designed to support the activities of the various research departments. It helps centralize all stages of seed research, from plant breeding to the development of varieties, thanks to time and energy-saving organizational and unifying structures: management of protocols, experimental practices, data and their confidentiality. “It is based on horizontal and versatile concepts that are adaptable for all the scientists to share research work on the same subject but in different experimental stations or to researchers studying different species who collaborate on experimental or ultra-specific laboratory protocols”. It has a common basis but adapts to all the needs of customers.
IT administrators within each companies can configure it to fit their needs. “IT directors are interested in a tool that can be configured to meet the needs of several laboratories thus reducing the learning curve. Therefore, the tool needs to be sufficiently versatile within structures, but also in terms of its configuration so that it can satisfy the profiles of a wide range of customers”, explains the manager.
RnDExperience software targets three distinct market segments: seed companies that do plant breeding, technical institutes for their applied research and agri-food industries which also invest in the research and development of certain raw materials to ensure their supply over the long term. Doriane’s quality policy helps meet the requirements of these industrial targets. “Since 2011, all of our activities are ISO 9001 quality certified . This is quite rare among software companies and is not the case with our competitors. It is a guarantee of quality and reliability” adds Frédéric Royer.
In the field of research on living systems, including plants of course, it can take a long time to get a return on investment. It is a nightmare for managers when a researcher leaves the company insofar as the latter takes his methods and protocols with him and this could jeopardize the continuity of ongoing programmes. “Our solution guarantees this continuity. It should be viewed as safe deposit box for data and methodology ” affirms the manager.
Our solution guarantees this continuity.
It should be viewed as safe deposit box for data and methodology
Capitalize on expertise in agronomy and IT systems
Doriane, a specialist French company, has a turnover of €1 million and intends to continue its development beyond the French Riviera. Indeed, after becoming established in the Paris region, Doriane set up premises on the Riviera. “This is a region with many important companies and recognized expertise in our fields of interest. The Côte d’Azur University (UCA) offers cutting-edge computer training. We also benefit from the presence of Inria (National Institute for Research Research in Computer Science and Automation), on the campus of Sofia-Antipolis “, says Frédéric Royer.
In terms of perspectives, this Côte d’Azur company has set out to tackle the challenge of simplifying the use of its IT solutions “... ease of use and progress on the part of users is our main priority. R&D data sets are always more complex, especially when interoperability tools between data sources come into play. For different systems to work or communicate, software must be increasingly efficient in analysing polymorphic data sets.”
Romain Royer is responsible for Doriane’s 20-minute monthly webinar for the international agri-plant-environment applied research community. The number of new and repeat webinar participants is rising rapidly. The Doriane webinar provides live coverage to Eurasia, Africa and the Americas. The entire series of webinars can be viewed with no time limit on the doriane.com site. This is particularly useful for researchers in Asia, Australia and Oceania. Specific topics are always at the heart of digital work in plant breeding, from information gathering to support in decision- making. Always didactic and friendly, this monthly webinar is a good way to support one another in what may appear to be a parallel world for the less informed!
For different systems to work or communicate,
software must be increasingly efficient in analysing polymorphic data sets.
Source :
Hélène Sauvage, "Research and development, Doriane: expertise made in France", Cultivar Seed May 2019 (pp 24-25) : https://fr.calameo.com/read/0012202458601a478d03b