April 2006

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The “Agency for Industrial Innovation”

• The “Agence de l’innovation industrielle” –AII– (Agency for Industrial innovation) was founded on 30 August 2005 by Jacques Chirac, French President

• “AII” has been created further to recommendations included in a report entitled “Towards a New Industrial Policy” submitted by Jean-Louis Beffa, CEO of Saint-Gobain

– This report, among other aspects, pinpoints that a number of successful French companies operate in low tech areas

• “AII” is a new instrument that is crucial to boost French companies strengthen their presence in the global hi-tech market

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“AII” is one of the two newly created instruments in the French research and innovation landscape in 2005

Agency for Industrial Innovation (AII)Agence de l’innovation industrielle

Ministry of Industry (DGE) National Agency for ResearchAgence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

It is in charge more specifically of supporting the development of basic and applied research, of partnership between public and private sector, and contributing to technological transfer from public research to industry.

OSEO anvar

RRIT

Public-Private Cooperative Research PublicResearch

Non-CooperativeResearch

TowardsBasic

Research

Towards innovationand market

Size of Projects

Sou

rce

: MIN

EF

I

Growing involvement of public labs

The Agency supports Programme to Mobilize Industrial Innovation proposed by industrial companies for activities beyond their usual R&D activities, in order to help them reach or strengthen a worldwide scope, with two objectives: highly qualified jobs and export market.

The Enterprise Competitiveness Funds from the Ministry of Industry funds industrial research projects, especially those which are submitted in the frame of the European EUREKA strategic clusters.

Its aim is to promote and support SMEs in their industrial development and growth through funding for innovation, especially from a technological standpoint.

Their main objective is to increase local synergies through support to the development of industrial activities to strengthen employment into regions

CompetitivenessClusters

Pôles de Compétitivité

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“AII” Implementation Instrument: the “PMII”

• All projects are operated under the form of a “Programme Mobilisateur pour l’Innovation Industrielle” –PMII– Programme to Mobilize Industrial Innovation

• The key features of a “PMII” are – Clear innovation, potentially via disruptive technologies– Industrial objectives allowing the concerned companies to leapfrog

their competitors and establish themselves in a sustainable manner on the global market

– Support is provided to the R&D part of a PMII only if there is an identifiable risk that cannot be taken by industry on its own

• A PMII is managed and coordinated by an industrial operator leading a consortium including other companies (large, medium or small) and public laboratories selected following the “best-in-class” criteria.

• The industrial programme leader has to carry the project and commercialized the final product to become a “global champion” which will take between 5 % and 10 % of the market.

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Example of Organization of a Programme (PMII) –Other options open

ProgrammeLeader

Contract

Consortium Agreement

IndustrialPartner(s) SME(s)

ResearchLabs

FinancialFlow

Subcontractor Subcontractor

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PMII evaluation process

• Phase 1 : Proposal– Informal exchange– Oral presentation

• Phase 2 : Eligibility– Formal (written) PMII proposal– Expertise– Board of Directors decision– (Contractual negotiation starts)

• Phase 3 : Management Board decision• Phase 4 : Contracting

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Main sectors supported by AII

• AII intervenes in all of industrials sectors, with a predilection for the sectors capable to absorb disruptive technologies :– Information Systems / Communication– Energy– Environment– Health– Chemistry– Biotechnology– Transport

• Non eligible sectors: nuclear, space, defence, aeronautic platforms.

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Funding Policy

• AII received at the end of 2005 a grant from the Treasury of 1.7 billion euros, intended to be engaged in 2006-2007.

• A general framework for aid is under notification at the European Commission.

• Refundable loans according to the commercial success of the products and services.

• Subsidies for industrial research, and for some minor partners, public labs, SMEs …

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International Activities

• AII is, by construction, open to bilateral European cooperation– Projects can include participants from European countries

whenever appropriate– The German-French collaboration has already started– Contacts with other European countries have started in order to

see what could be done in common• AII is working with the European Commission

– To ensure that AII programmes may bring an added value to and could take advantage from European industrial, research and innovation policies –including those prioritized in the European Technology Platforms

• Cooperation with the EUREKA is being studied.

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Current Status –as of early April 2006

• Several proposals are currently under evaluation in all four main domains including some projects with participants outside France (especially Germans but not only).

• Proposals of PMII can be submitted anytime (the call for proposals has been open since December 2005) through an open bottom-up process.

• The Agency has no deadline for the submission of PMII proposals

– Likewise, the sectors are open. They can include, for example, energy, transport, environment, health, chemistry and information Systems/ Communication and their applications - There is no predefined work program and no predefined theme per sector.

– There is no predefined allocated budget per sector.

• First projects expected to start by mid-2006.

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AII Organization

Management Board

Prospective

Administration & Finance

Communication

Operational Evaluation

Information Systems / Communication

Energy – Environment

Transport

Biotechnology - Health – Chemistry

Board of DirectorsScientific and Industrial Council

GovernmentRepresentative

International

www.aii.eu