Last week held the 11th edition of the “Semaine de l’Industrie” (Industry Week) in France. 6 days to contribute to changing the way the general public and young people look at the industrial field and its professions through events organized all around the country.  This week also echoes the Industrial Startups and SMEs plan launched earlier this year supporting industrialization of innovations carried by French startups through a battery of levers, ranging from advice to loans and grants. 

The premises of a lasting solution: The Industrial Startups and  SMEs Plan  

100 new Industrial sites by 2025 is the ambition behind the Industrial Startups and SMEs Plan. This €2.3 billion plan, launched by the government through Bpifrance as part of France 2030, aims to create « tomorrow’s champions » by leveraging the innovative power of Industrial companies. 

When we asked Paul-François Fournier, Bpifrance’s Executive Director of Innovation, how the Industrial Startups and SMEs Plan came about, he mentioned how obvious the project was when a new type of company emerged. This “new type of company” encompasses those who are not only La French Tech but also La French Fab, both communities created by Bpifrance. In other words, it concerns startups willing to innovate and develop French Industry with true commitments towards green and responsible projects overall representing a real opportunity for France. Also, the fact that those companies are more often than not, located in outlying regions, sits well with the aspiration to gain more control over local production tools and to give more power back to those areas with a logic of reindustrialization.  

How does this plan take form?

The Industrial Startups and SMEs Plan aims to support industrial SMEs in the deployment of innovative projects. It provides industrial companies with 5 types of schemes: grants, loans and guarantees, equity funds, funds of funds and support. Among them, 4 new initiatives have been unveiled, the call for projects Première Usine” (First Industry), the New Industry loan, The 2nd Industrial projects companies’ fund and the national industrial venture fund. With the “Première Usine” (First Industry) call for projects and within the €2.3 billion budget, 550 million euros will be deployed over 5 years for companies projecting to establish pilot and/or industrial production sites in France. The New Industry loan will finance up to 150 million euros, industrial demonstrators or small pilot plants. Altogether, these 4 new initiatives are meant to help creating new industrial activities in France by supporting the industrial and commercial scale-up of innovations developed by companies of all sizes.  

These measures complete the continuum of solutions already offered by Bpifrance. “Some of these tools are new, in line with the innovative power of these companies and with a rapidly changing industry”, states Paul-François Fournier.