As part of France 2030 and the law on research programming (LPR), the French government is strengthening its approach to supporting innovation, as close as possible to public research laboratories, by setting up University Innovation Poles (PUI). After having tested five pilot PUIs, a call for proposals was launched on December 7, 2009 to create 20 additional PUIs and accelerate territorial innovation dynamics. Thanks to the joint resources of the LPR and France 2030, 160 million euros, operated by Bpifrance and the ANR, are dedicated to this project.

The PUIs are an essential lever for increasing the economic and social benefits of research and are part of a broader dynamic to accelerate the actions undertaken by the Government to achieve the goal of creating 500 deeptech start-ups per year by 2030.

They capitalize on all existing local initiatives, skills, tools and players in the innovation field in order to strengthen their articulation, accelerate the transfer and creation of start-ups, and reinforce interactions with companies. Their ability to increase the efficiency and impact of the players collectively is at the heart of the approach taken.

A PUI is made up of a consortium of research and innovation actors from a local ecosystem. This consortium includes at least:

• public institutions whose statutes provide for a research mission, as defined in Decree no. 2021-882 of July 1, 2021 (public higher education and research institutions, national research organizations, etc.);
• transfer and innovation support structures (transfer subsidiaries of higher education and research establishments, schools and research organizations; public research incubators; technology transfer acceleration companies (SATT) and experiments that complement SATT).

The five pilot PUIs

This call for proposals follows the successful experimentation of 5 pilot university innovation clusters initiated in November 2021: Clermont Auvergne University, Normandie University, Sorbonne University, University of Strasbourg, University of Montpellier) in the framework of the LPR, the research programming law for the years 2021 to 2030 adopted in November 2020

It has enabled them to strengthen the management and coordination of their actions, to set up a flexible governance system without creating an additional structure, and to develop an action plan with a common objective: to develop new innovation projects and laboratories and maximize their impact, in particular through the creation of deep-tech start-ups that produce products or services based on disruptive innovations.

The AAP to set up 20 additional PUIs and accelerate territorial innovation dynamics.

The winners of the PAA, who will commit to an increase in innovation activities over several years, will be selected on the basis of the following capabilities:

• to co-construct an innovation strategy and set up coordination mechanisms between the players in the ecosystem (universities, schools, national research organizations, and support structures for the transfer and development of companies such as public research incubators, subsidiaries of universities and organizations, technology transfer acceleration companies (SATTs), and experiments complementary to SATTs);
• to develop and deploy an ambitious program of actions in the main areas of innovation policy: ideation, project generation, awareness-raising among researchers and students, detection of inventions, support for technological pre-maturation, research partnerships, access to technological platforms, entrepreneurship training, support for the creation and development of start-ups
  deeptech start-ups.

Two stages are planned:

Stage 1 – Qualification stage: submission of pre-proposals.
Closing date for submission of proposals and registration
Friday, January 20, 2023 at 1:00 pm (Paris time)

Stage 2 – selection stage
Closing date for submission of detailed proposals
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 1:00 PM (Paris time)

To find more information, including the specifications:
Text of the call for proposals (subject to publication in the Official Journal)

Translated from Lancement d’un appel à propositions pour mettre en place 20 pôles universitaires d’innovation (PUI)