Call for projects: "Maturation/Pre-maturation": SATTs at the forefront of France's ambitions for 2030

Monday, January 9, 2023, Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and […]

On Monday, January 9, 2023, Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research, and Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Industry, announced new government measures to accelerate the emergence of research-based start-ups. Among these measures is the allocation of €275 million to 17 consortia led by SATTs and their partners, based on the results of the "Maturation/Pre-maturation" call for projects, to intensify support for high-potential innovation projects and accelerate their transfer to the socio-economic world, in line with national acceleration strategies.

France 2030: fostering the emergence of more research-based start-ups

As part of theFrance 2030 plan, which aims to develop industrial competitiveness and future technologies, France's ambition is to promote the emergence of100 unicornsand500 deep tech start-upsper year by 2030.

To achieve this objective, the government is currently rolling out three major initiatives that will strengthen the link between academic research and the socio-economic world:

  • The establishment of twenty-five university innovation clusters (PUI) to share a collective framework for commitment. €160 million will be mobilized to maximize the potential for commercialization and strengthen the flow of innovation.
  • Accelerating the deep tech planby strengthening existing initiatives and rolling out additional initiatives in conjunction with laboratories, initially to encourage and accelerate the creation of start-ups and then to support their financing. An additional €65 million has been mobilized.
  • Strengthening the promotion of research work and thematic research programs byfunding 17 consortiaas part ofthe Maturation/Pre-maturation call for projects. €275million has been allocated for this purpose.

These actions will be carried out byBpifranceandthe ANR, representing an investment of €500 million, as part of France 2030 and the Research Programming Law (LPR). In addition, the creation of a fund specifically dedicated to deep tech, with €100 million in capital, will enable the government to provide equity support to these start-ups once they have been created and are in later stages of development.

Results of the call for projects "Maturation/Pre-maturation"

Since their creation, SATTs haveboosted technology transfer and professionalized practices in close proximity to regional ecosystems. Nearly 17,000 innovative projects have been identified and analyzed. More than 3,700 priority patents have been filed, 1,700 operating licenses have been granted to more than 1,120 companies, and more than 700 start-ups have been created, raising more than €1.3 billion.

Building on the feedback from SATTs and their track record, the government now wants to take the next step and set new, more ambitious goals for both technology transfer and start-up creation, particularly through France 2030.

The government is therefore allocating€275 million fromFrance 2030 to finance the maturation and pre-maturation phases of the results of the acceleration strategies and contribute to the achievement of the France 2030 plan's objectives. These resources will enable our country to set new ambitions, both in terms of technology transfer to businesses and the creation of new start-ups.

The France 2030 call for proposals for "Maturation/Pre-maturation" allows:

  • Todefine, for each of France 2030's acceleration strategies, one or more ambitious programs to support innovation projectsled by higher education and research institutions, in particular universities, schools, and research organizations, across a continuum of interventions in the pre-maturation and maturation phases.
  • To grant the additional resourcesneeded to support the development and implementation of these pre-maturation and maturation projectsin order to strengthen the emergence of innovative technologies and solutions in the field of national acceleration strategies.

The aim is tocapitalize on proven, high-performing transfer structuresto increase the flow of inventions, multiply outputs in the form of both transfers and start-up creation, and increase the impact on the economy and employment.

The call for proposals was highly successful in terms of mobilizing and structuring technology transfer and research commercialization ecosystems. Analysis by independent experts led to a very satisfactory overall assessment, with 17 projects selected to receive support from France 2030.

As leaders in all 17 winning consortia, SATTs are more mobilized and structured than ever to meet the challenges of the France 2030 plan.

" The implementation of France 2030's call for proposals "Maturation/Prematuration" will enable the establishment of a collective action approach, in particular:
  • At the project level, with simplified support, as each project is known and monitored throughout its development stages;
  • At the researcher level, with a focus on innovation continuum mechanisms, from pre-maturation to commercialization.

SATTs are particularly active at two levels:

  • Analysis of the needs of application markets and, therefore, the positioning of projects with higher added value for these markets;
  • Supporting researchers from the pre-maturation project development phase onwards, so that aspects relating to the potential for commercialization and the protection of results are taken into account at a very early stage.

Laurent BALY, President of the SATT Network

The17 winning consortia of the call for projects