Horizon Europe is the European Union’s framework program for research and innovation, which runs from 2021 to 2027. This program follows on from Horizon 2020 and has a budget of approximately €95.5 billion. It is structured in four pillars: excellent science; global issues and European industrial competitiveness; a more innovative Europe; widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area.

Bpifrance is deploying several levers to become the reference operator in Europe for the support and implementation of the European Innovation Council. It has also created two Diags to support companies: the Diag PTI for R&D and collaborative innovation and the Diag Europe for the European Innovation Council Accelerator. At the end of 2022, Bpifrance set up an action plan to increase the funding received from the European Innovation Council for French companies and the Deeptech Plan.

The European Innovation Council aims to support disruptive innovations from the laboratory to the market. It represents the major part of the Horizon Europe program for the financing of deeptech with a total envelope of 10 billion euros between 2021 and 2027.

EIC InfoDay: the keys to success in the EIC Accelerator program

On Tuesday March 7^th 2023, the EIC InfoDay 2023 organised by Bpifrance took place at its Parisian headquarters, in the Haussmann Hub. The objective of this morning session dedicated to the EIC Accelerator program of the European Innovation Council was to detail its different stages through various testimonies. Representatives of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, evaluators, French winners of the program and other stakeholders shared with French deeptech startups and SMEs interested in the program the keys to a successful application. Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO and co-founder of Pasqal, said during the morning session: « Pasqal is an EIC 2020 prizewinner and produces quantum computers, which is exactly in line with the philosophy of the EIC Accelerator. This is essential support when we know that the main bottleneck in deeptech is the extremely long time to market. This process can take several years and tends to scare off other investors. Participation in the EIC Accelerator and the support we received allowed us to take a quantum leap in our development and contributed to the €100 million fundraising we achieved this year. « The EIC InfoDay was the occasion to launch EuroQuity’s EIC Accelerator France community. The aim of this community is to unite and support candidates and winners in the various stages of the EIC Accelerator program. Here, the replay of the Morning sessions.

EIC & EuroQuity-Bpifrance Investor Day: a joint European action to build an ambitious Tech ecosystem

The EIC & EuroQuity Investor Day allowed European startups specialised in deeptech and awarded by the EIC Accelerator to pitch their disruptive innovations to a panel of European investors. During the day, Stéphane Ouaki, Head of the European Innovation Council at the European Innovation and SME Council Executive Agency (EISMEA), reaffirmed the value of this collaboration with Bpifrance and the interest of events where entrepreneurs, investors and institutional partners can meet to build together a roadmap that will allow French and European deeptech start-ups to become tomorrow’s global leaders. This event is part of the actions carried out by the EuroQuity team for many years in support of the European Innovation Council.

During the EIC investor day, Bpifrance welcomed 17 European Tech companies with very high potential, 77 key investors from the fields of AI and Big Data, Quantum and Semiconductors and finally Advanced Computing/Electronics. More than 250 connections between investors and companies took place during the event.Two new initiatives send a strong message on the willingness to lead a common European action to build an ambitious Tech ecosystem by increasing the financial resources of investors for the Scale-Up phases: The European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) which is a fund of funds managed by the EIF with resources from the EIB group and five EU Member States (France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium) for 3.75 billion euros. And at the level of Bpifrance, the cooperation agreement of 3.3 billion euros over 5 years signed during the French Presidency of the European Union with KfW capital (Germany), Tesi (Finland), Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece) and Vækstfonden (Denmark).

Tech Tour Growth Europe

The most promising European scale-ups were honoured at Bpifrance’s premises during the Tech Tour Growth Europe 2023: this event brought together the companies selected in the framework of the European Innovation Council’s EIC Scaling Up programme, in which Bpifrance participated through its EuroQuity platform as a member of the consortium with Tech Tour, DeepWave Ventures and the Boston Consulting Group.It was an opportunity to bring together inspiring entrepreneurs who want to solve problems on a global scale, investors, but also key players in European leadership. As Pascal Lagarde, Executive Director of International, Strategy, Research and Development at Bpifrance said at the event, « it is very important to support European scale-up companies financially, but also to connect them with qualified investors, which we do through the EuroQuity platform.
The great exchanges between the different participants were an opportunity to reflect together on the issues and problems existing in the European Tech ecosystem, but above all to set up common actions so that these companies receive uninterrupted support throughout their development on the European continent.

Paul-François Fournier, Bpifrance, Executive Director in charge of Innovation, highlighted Bpifrance’s « commitment to invest in and support French and European deeptech companies through the Deeptech Plan, which aims to create 500 deeptech companies each year in order to build a strong European tech ecosystem that can play a leading role on the global stage. EIC Scaling Up aims to support European Deeptech companies in Series B on three themes: Sustainability, Digital, and Health. The objective is to raise a minimum of €500 million for around thirty selected European companies.

A first part of acceleration and coaching has enabled the companies to be accompanied on the themes of go to market, recruitment, financing, etc. The second part was to put them in touch with the players in the ecosystem: public institutions, investors, business partners, etc. The success of this pilot allows Bpifrance to support new European Deeptech companies via the new EIC project: EIC Scale Up 100, which aims to support 100 Deeptech companies in the next two years.

Three events, one objective

The objective of this day organised by Bpifrance was to give entrepreneurs and company representatives the keys to access the EIC Accelerator programme, dedicated to companies with high innovative potential.The aim is to enable them to meet and exchange with key players in the European innovation ecosystem. The three events that Bpifrance has hosted and accompanied demonstrate the public investment bank’s intention to promote French companies on a European scale.
« I am very happy to be able to take part in this event, which adds a beautiful stone to the edifice that we have been trying to build for 10 years in favour of innovation, in order to make France progress collectively. We have evolved in our thinking about Deeptech and Europe: the major priorities found in Bpifrance’s Deeptech Plans are found in those of the European Commission. And this responds well to the major European political issues around health, climate and sovereignty.  Paul-François Fournier