Bioceanor's connected buoy monitors water quality in the bay of Cannes

The Cannes Lérins conurbation is trialling a system from the Sophia Antipolis start-up co-founded by Charlotte and Samuel Dupont, which uses artificial intelligence to predict changes in water quality.

Off the beaches of Cannes, a buoy continuously measures the state of the sea. The Cannes Lérins conurbation is testing Bioceanor's system to monitor water quality in the bay, Le Journal des Entreprises reported.

The Sophia Antipolis bluetech company fits its buoys with sensors that constantly record several water parameters. Its algorithms turn these into forecasts, to anticipate deterioration rather than observe it after the fact. Charlotte and Samuel Dupont, who founded the company in 2018, were recognised for the connected buoy in November 2023 in the “Entrepreneur” category of the Fondation de la Mer's Engagés pour l'Océan awards.

The company has raised funds several times. In June 2020 it raised €1.5m from Région Sud Investissement, Inventures and Blue Oceans Partners. In July 2023 it raised €2m, including a €500,000 grant linked to the i-Nov competition. Most recently, in February 2025, it raised €2m in a round led by Go Capital, with The Yield Lab Europe and Caisse d'Épargne Côte d'Azur, to fund its international expansion.

For coastal authorities, the benefit is twofold: monitoring bathing water and tracking the effects of discharges or rainfall episodes, which are frequent in the Mediterranean, on the quality of the marine environment.