Laurent is the founder and CTO of LightOn, a technology company developing novel optics-based computing hardware. Currently on leave from his position of full Professor of Physics at Université Paris Diderot, Paris, he is a graduate from Ecole Normale Supérieure and holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Marseille University. He is a former fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France, which recognizes the top 2% of French university professors for their research excellence. In parallel, he held various academic positions: Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, USA, Visiting Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, UK, Visiting Professor at the National Institute for Informatics in Tokyo, Japan. Laurent has been a consultant to various small and large companies, and is inventor in several patents. He has co-authored nearly 200 publications, in peer-reviewed journal articles or conference proceedings.