History & Reports

Major Milestones

• 2008-2013: Air Liquide SA and Air Liquide Santé International launch the Air Liquide Foundation in 2008. It is established as a  French corporate foundation, with a Board of Directors and a Projects selection committee, to support both research projects and local community initiatives. Benoît Potier, CEO and Chairman of the Air Liquide group, becomes its first chairman.  
  From the start, the Foundation relies on employees of Air Liquide to submit “micro-initiative” projects with  NGOs and to monitor the completion of every project the foundation supports.. Under the pole and Premup count among the foundation’s first scientific projects.After a successful launch, the Foundation’s five-year mandate is renewed in 2013.
• 2013-2018: dozens of projects are supported by the Foundation, both “research” and “local development” in more than 40 countries. In 2017 Jean-Marc de Royere, an executive-committee member of Air Liquide, takes the chair.and proposes a 2nd five-year renewal of the Foundation, based on an increased budget.
• 2018-2019: In 2019 the Board supports the development of multi-annual partnerships and a special focus on job-skilling schemes.This direction should lead to fewer, larger projects.
  In 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Foundation received extra funding from its sponsors for scientific research on the disease and aid high-risk populations and funded 30 projects such projects identified in 2020.