Will the change of political color in Lyon lead to a divestment from digital?
In the metropolis of Lyon, Les Verts have decided to let go of the local French Tech.
From 2022, the association supporting digital start-ups, labeled by the State, will no longer receive the 70,000 euros in public subsidies which are traditionally granted to it each year.
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The Métropole de Lyon explains that it wants to redirect part of the public investments towards communities of actors who promote social integration and the logic of inclusion.
“In the current socio-economic context, we choose to put public money where the needs are in the territory. For example, it is more urgent to help residents to get out of the RSA. This can notably involve support in the use of digital technology, ”
explains Émeline Baume (EELV), First Vice-President of the Métropole de Lyon.
The elected representative also considers the withdrawal of public supervision in the governance of local French Tech justified.
“The association has benefited from the support of the metropolis for years.
Today, the digital world is doing very well and the beneficiary entrepreneurs are mature enough to know how to identify the financing windows
, ”
says
Émeline Baume.
The angry opposition
In addition, from September 2021, the metropolis of Lyon will allocate an envelope of 80,000 euros to Fing - Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération, a Parisian digital think tank. This organization which advocates "
degrowth
" will have the mission of working
"on subjects around responsible digital and the protection of personal data
", specifies the metropolis. A news that sparked a wave of criticism from the political opposition. Especially since Emeline Baume happens to be one of the administrators of the think tank on a voluntary basis.
“
There is no parallel to be drawn between our work with the Fing and the end of the subsidy for French Tech,
nevertheless assures Émeline Baume.
Funds for Fing come from the digital budget, while those for French Tech come from the budget for employment and economic development
”. In addition, the elected representative assures
Le Figaro
that the Métropole de Lyon is a former partner of the Fing and that it has been funding its work since 2015.
Explanations that have difficulty convincing Etienne Blanc, Senator LR du Rhône and president of the right-wing and center-right opposition group.
“
I find it hard to understand why The Greens do not take their policy.
Because everything is very coherent in the end.
They do not want growth, so they are beating on French Tech on one side, and on the other, they are financing a device which aims to destroy a market economy system
, ”insists the senator.
Concern of the industry
“
This grant represents 20% of our annual budget and funds jobs. As a general interest association, French tech is not intended to be financially independent,
”worries Emilie Legoff, co-president of French Tech One in Lyon and Saint-Étienne. For his part, the Stéphanois vice-president for digital, Marc Chaussabène, confirmed Monday that Saint-Étienne did not intend to withdraw its subsidy of 50,000 euros to French Tech, explaining that a number of industries capitals of the territory, such as medicine or design, were intimately linked to digital technology.
The decision of the metropolis, which took place in the midst of the economic crisis, annoyed the former mayor of the city, Gérard Collomb. “
Digital technology in Lyon means 7,000 companies, 50,000 jobs, the second establishment after FrenchTech (Paris) [...] Unpardonable!
", He indignantly on Twitter.
Faced with the concern of the Lyonnais economic community, the Metropolis now ensures that public subsidies to French Tech could not disappear completely. In the future, financial support could be provided to certain start-ups in the area in need, which present projects related to “
ecological transition
” or “
digital inclusion
” ”.
"This is a good thing, even if it should be noted that most of our start-ups are developing in the field of social and ecological transition, or that of inclusion!"
, reacts Emilie Legoff.