Have you heard about Les Deeptech? This Bpifrance community gathers start-ups of the same name that want to change the world with breakthrough innovations to answer today’s challenges, either in healthcare, ecological transition, transport, etc. To further support their ambitions, Bpifrance has initiated the Deeptech Tour, an event that spans several months, supported by the French government and co-organized with French universities and research laboratories. For this second edition, the tour will stop in 20 universities, in 11 regions across the country, starting November 8^th and until Summer 2022.

During one day, the Deeptech Tour stops at a campus university to meet and raise awareness among researchers and PhD students about the many opportunities behind deeptech start-ups. Organizers hope to develop a bridge between research and entrepreneurship, finding researchers where they are. They also contribute to promote Deeptech start-ups’ work and to hire new talents in the sector. “A stronger interconnection between the academic sphere and the world of entrepreneurship is indeed essential: more than 40% of young researchers consider the creation of a start-up as a career option,” said Paul-François Fournier, head of Bpifrance Innovation.

Growing support for Deeptech start-ups

The Deeptech Tour comes in line with the Deeptech Plan launched in 2019 by the French government. Endowed with €2.5bn over five years, and direct and indirect investment towards Deeptech startups up to €1.3bn, this plan is implemented by Bpifrance with three initial objectives:

• Create 1500 Deeptech startups by 2023.
• Finance massively these companies to support their growth and encourage their leadership.
• Stimulate innovation in territories and in the many sectors that Deeptech startups cover.

“Without the support of multi-partner programmes, without the financial and human support of dedicated structures, incubators, agencies, local authority services, etc., these results could never become real Deeptech innovations,” said Eric Papon, Vice-President in charge of Innovation at the University of Bordeaux. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, the government has revised upwards the ambitions of the initial support plan for Deeptech. Direct and indirect investments have been reevaluated up to €2bn (€7bn with leverage) and funding will rise by 50% starting from 2021. This increasing support also follows France 2030, a massive investment plan announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in October 2021, that doubles the initial number of new start-ups each year and encourages the creation of 100 new industrial sites.

This new edition of the Deeptech Tour hopes to follow the steps of the very first edition of 2020, that drew 10,000 visitors in 16 institutions.

Find all Deeptech Tour stops here:

Bordeaux: November 8^th, 2021
Nice: November 25^th, 2021
Clermont-Ferrand: November 29^th, 2021
Lyon: December 2^nd, 2021
Grenoble: December 6^th, 2021
Aix-Marseille: February 4^th, 2022
Nantes: March 2022
Nancy: March 2022
Lille: April 2022
Strasbourg: April 12^th, 2022
Rennes: date to be announced
Saclay: date to be announced
Dijon: date to be announced
Montpellier: date to be announced
Toulouse: date to be announced
Paris (Paris Sciences & Lettres): date to be announced
Paris (University of Paris): date to be announced
Paris (Sorbonne University): date to be announced
Orléans/Tours: date to be announced