Bruno Le Maire, Roland Lescure, and Carole Delga have announced the labelling of 55 competitiveness clusters for phase V (2023-2026).

Submitted by ECCP Team on 04 April 2023

Photo officielle annonce labellisation Phase 5

Roland Lescure, French Minister Delegate for Industry, attended the General Assembly of the French Association of Competitiveness Clusters (AFPC), where he announced the winners of the call for applications for the fifth phase of competitiveness clusters, in the presence of Harold Huwart, representative of Regions de France. 

 

During phase IV (2019-2022), the clusters federated 2,000 additional members, despite the health crisis. They now form a network of 18,500 innovative companies, research centres, and training facilities. During these four years, they supported and obtained funding for nearly 1,000 European projects for themselves and their members. They have demonstrated resilience in supporting the economy during the crisis and proposing new services to meet the needs of companies in transition. 

 

The call for applications for phase V (2023-2026) was launched on August 2, 2022. It was open to structures already labelled during phase IV, as well as new applications. Three main objectives were defined by the State and the Regions, mobilizing all partners, for phase V: 

  • To create stronger, better-connected ecosystems capable of addressing both national and regional challenges through collaborations. 

  • To strengthen the development of cluster action at the European level, to confirm the successes of phase IV and amplify the international outreach of our innovation ecosystems by mobilizing European funding. 

  • To support French SMEs and startups in their transformations and development, by supporting technologically demanding and structuring innovation and industrialization projects for industrial sectors, in coherence with the deployment of France 2030 and regional priorities. 

 

According to the specifications, the applications were reviewed by a selection committee comprising the State and the Regions. Following this procedure, the Prime Minister decided to follow the recommendations of the selection committee and label 55 competitiveness clusters: 

 

  • 47 competitiveness clusters are labelled for a period of four years: Aerospace Valley, Agri SOI, ALPHA-RLH, Aquimer, Atlanpole Biothérapies, Axelera, Bioeconomy for change, BioValley France, Cap Digital, Capénergies, CARA, CIMES, Clubster NSL, Cosmetic Valley, EMC2, Eurobiomed, Finance Innovation, Hippolia, iD4CAR, Images & Réseaux, Innov’Alliance, i-Trans, LyonBiopôle, Medicen, Minalogic, Nextmove, Nuclear Valley, Optitec, PMT, Pôle Avenia, Pôle européen de la céramique, Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, Pôle Mer Méditerranée, Pôle Véhicule du Futur, Polymeris, Qualitropic, S2E2, SAFE, SCS, Systematic, Techtera, Tenerrdis, TES, Valorial, Végépolys Valley, Vitagora, Xylofutur. 

  • Competitiveness clusters are labelled for a period of two years, extendable to four years under certain conditions: ASTech, EuraMaterials, Fibres-Energivie, Team². 

  • 2 competitiveness clusters are labelled for a period of one year, extendable to four years under certain conditions: Derbi and Materalia. 

  • 2 new competitiveness cluster projects are labelled for a period of two years, extendable to four years subject to effective structuring: ENTER and Infr@2050. 

 

Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, welcomed the partnership work that has been carried out with the regions to bring this call for applications to fruition and to enable competitiveness clusters to strive for excellence in key future sectors and to contribute even more to the economic sovereignty of our country. Learn more about competitiveness clusters via the following link. 

 

Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, stated:

"I would like to reaffirm the support of the state for the competitiveness clusters which, for 18 years, have been participating in the innovation dynamic in the territories, as close as possible to micro-enterprises and SMEs. They have demonstrated all their expertise in bringing together large companies, SMEs and research laboratories. The competitiveness clusters have been able to meet many challenges in recent years. They have been present during the health crisis to support our industry and have allowed an increasing number of SMEs to access the European market and funds. Phase IV of the policy of competitiveness clusters has demonstrated the relevance of their expertise and the services they offer to innovative SMEs and micro-enterprises. The competitiveness clusters prove that close collaboration between the State and the Regions is essential to support the economy and accompany the industrial champions of tomorrow. 

I would like to renew the government's full confidence in the competitiveness clusters. We need them to involve all the actors of the economy, starting with SMEs and TPEs, in today's major challenges such as green and digital transitions, but also the reindustrialization of our country." 

  

Roland Lescure, French Minister Delegate for Industry, stated:

"For nearly 20 years, competitiveness clusters have emerged as a successful product of our innovation policy. For companies, this is the opportunity to establish relationships and partnerships with actors in their innovation ecosystems, particularly research laboratories and higher education institutions. For public authorities, this is a relay on the territory for the policies we implement, such as France Relance and now the France 2030 plan. 

I welcome the results of phase IV of the competitiveness clusters. For every public euro invested, member SMEs of the clusters invest an additional 3 euros in R&D, all within a close partnership between the state and regions. 

Innovation will be the key to the sustainable and green reindustrialization of our country. That's why I want phase V of competitiveness clusters to be focused on green reindustrialization, and to allow our startups, micro-enterprises, SMEs, and medium size businesses to strengthen their growth, innovation capacity, industrial partnerships, visibility, and international projection." 

 

 

Carole Delga, President of Regions of France, stated: 

"The Regions are fully committed, as leaders in economic development in their territories, to meet the challenges of decarbonization, reindustrialization and innovation, alongside the State, companies and industrial sectors. At the heart of regional strategies, competitiveness clusters structure ecosystems and animate collective of companies, to give more strength and cohesion to economic actors in a sectoral approach. 

With this 5th phase that we are officially launching today, the mission of competitiveness clusters, which has been to support companies, both large groups but also SMEs/ETIs and startups, in their collaborative research projects since 2004, is confirmed. We also expect the clusters, anchored at the heart of their territories and acting as a link between national, regional and European priorities, to support companies in carrying out the necessary transformations to meet the challenges of the energy transition, employment and skills, cybersecurity, and robotics. It is also worth noting the exemplary work that has been carried out over the past few months between the State and Regional services to select and approve this new cohort of 55 clusters, who are ready today, I know, with all their collaborators, to bring about the innovations of tomorrow and the future industries for France and our regions. " 

 

Jean Luc Beylat, President of Association Française des Pôles de compétitivité (AFPC), commented on this announcement:

"The French Association of Competitiveness Clusters welcomes the launch of this new phase 5 after a deep analysis with the State services, the regions, and the clusters themselves. This work has demonstrated the economic impact of the competitiveness clusters policy. 

The renewed support of the State for competitiveness clusters constitutes a new step in the innovation policy in France. This decision validates and encourages the fundamental work undertaken by the cluster teams 18 years ago for the development of ecosystems, a major pillar of innovation actions, economic development, and the attractiveness of our territories. The new phase launched by the government confirms the strengthening of ecosystem policies to support transitions, serving businesses and employment."

 

 

The full press release can be downloaded here.

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