Since 1999, the State Innovation Competitions have rewarded innovative researchers and entrepreneurs throughout the territory in order to promote the emergence of great French champions internationally and to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit in deeptech.
A chance for innovative start-ups.
"The State, through the i-PhD, i-Lab and i-Nov competitions for entrepreneurship, offers a continuum of funding for business creators
"
, underlined Serge Kinkingnéhun, expert of the i-Nov competition and president of the Hephaï company, during the awards ceremony.
Indeed i-PhD, launched in 2019 by the State, is located upstream and is aimed at young researchers wishing to create a company from their thesis project.
i-Lab, which celebrated its 24th anniversary this year, rewards companies less than two years old, while i-Nov focuses on more mature SMEs and start-ups in order to promote the emergence of leading companies in their domain and can claim to have a global scope.
2021-2022 Ceremony of the State Government Innovation Competitions
International recognition
The interest of these competitions goes beyond their endowment and the support offered.
"
Winning one of these labels is national and international recognition and proves the solidity of the project
"
, explained Cécile Real, president of the i-Lab jury and herself a winner in 2011 with her company Endodiag.
A precious sesame to defend his project in front of private investors.
A point of view shared by three former winners who came to tell their experiences.
“
Participating in the i-Lab competition in 2012 was structuring for our company,
explained Thomas Ybert, CEO and co-founder of DNA Script, a company that developed the first DNA printer.
We went from a craft project to corporate status and we completed a fundraising of 2.5 million euros a few months after being awarded i-Lab.
»
2021-2022 Ceremony of the State Government Innovation Competitions
Winning projects in line with the expected impacts of France 2030
For this 2021-2022 edition, the award ceremony was organized around seven themes – culture, health, decarbonization of industry, transport of the future, digital sovereignty, disruptive projects and the third agricultural revolution – which correspond to the main objectives of France 2030, presented by Emmanuel Macron in October 2021. As a reminder, this 54 billion euro investment plan must prepare and build the France of tomorrow by guaranteeing its independence (materials, components, energy), by mastering digital technologies, by supporting talent, financing the growth of start-ups and innovative companies and accelerating the decarbonisation of our economy.
Prediction of response to a treatment, production of carbon-free hydrogen, image blockchain: some examples of rewarded projects.
Diane-Laure Pagès received the i-PhD Grand Prix for the Orakl project, which develops functional in vitro diagnostic tests to predict the response of cancer patients to a wide range of drugs.
A technique that proposes to develop personalized medicine by identifying effective treatments for each patient.
“While we are just beginning to make ourselves known, this Grand Prix is a major asset for our credibility,
underlined the young woman.
The support offered as part of this program is a chance for young entrepreneurs like me to train and meet other players in the Deeptech ecosystem.
»
Another key objective of France 2030: to decarbonize the French economy by investing massively in nuclear power, renewable energies and also green hydrogen.
This is what the company Spark Cleantech, Grand Prix i-Lab 2022, created by Erwan Pannier, is working on.
The start-up is developing a process for producing carbon-free hydrogen that uses three to four times less electricity than electrolysis.
“The process will make it possible to produce up to 1,000 kg of hydrogen per day, i.e. enough to supply future hydrogen service stations or meet the needs of small industrial uses today, and this, directly on the consumption sites, thus freeing itself from the constraints of transport and storage of hydrogen”
,
The Government also intends to support and encourage projects that offer to support the digital and ecological transitions of French cultural and creative industries.
In this context, the Pictia company received the i-Nov 2022 prize (and aid of 402,000 euros) for its solution allowing the blockchain certification of images, the sale of licenses, the monitoring of fraudulent uses, the establishment of digital findings and the management of amicable disputes.
"The objective of our platform is to create a new system for distributing royalties in copyright in the field of images
," said Julie-Sarah Marguet, president and co-founder of the company.
2021-2022 Ceremony of the State Government Innovation Competitions
All the results of the 2022 Innovation Competitions:
i-Phd
i-Lab
i-Nov wave 7
i-Nov wave 8