I-Nov innovation competition: the 8 themes

The 7th wave of the "Innovation Contest - I-Nov" (former Innovation Contest - Growth) is launched!

This call for projects is a mechanism financed by the Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir (PIA), which aims to support innovative projects of global scale with high impact for the French economy.

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Ecology, digital, culture, health, food, energy, mobility and biodiversity... In this article, you will discover the eight themes of the seventh round chosen byADEME and Bpifrance, financiers of this competition.

If you are a start-up or an SME, good news! This competition of excellence could be more than interesting as it allows to co-finance non-collaborative research, development and innovation projects with total costs between €600,000 and €5M for a duration of 12 to 36 months.

You think you meet the eligibility criteria? Like our client Millionroads, winner of the ^6th wave of the I-Nov contest, contact us to choose the right theme and put all the chances on your side!

Contact us

Projects financed by ADEME

In order tosupport the energy and ecological transition in France, ADEME financially supports ambitious innovation projects that aim to develop products, services and technologies that meet current environmental and energy challenges.

With the objective of becoming a low-carbon society adapted to climate change, ADEME wishes, for this ^7th wave, to support innovation projects that fall within one of the following themes

Water and Biodiversity" theme

This theme supports projects for the development of innovative tools for diagnosis and monitoring, decision support and operational implementation with the aim of reducing pressures on natural environments.

Indeed, in this component, ADEME is particularly interested in projects concerning, for example

• The development of nature in the city and the limitation of the consumption of natural, agricultural and forest areas
• Preservation and recovery of biodiversity and soil functionality
• Limiting collisions between cetaceans and ships
• Recovery of micro and macro plastics
• Recovery of resources contained in wastewater or resulting from its treatment
• Innovative metrology systems

Theme: "The challenges of energy and ecological transition for industry and agriculture

ADEME wishes to finance agricultural and industrial sector projects that aim to develop innovative organizations and technologies committed to the ecological transition while generating sustainable economic activity.

Concerning the industry, the innovations sought are concentrated on :

• Improving energy performance
• Optimizing material and water intensity and promoting the use of renewable materials and recycling
• Reducing the impact of effluent or air emissions on the environment
• Optimizing the consumption of raw materials, especially strategic metals and scarce resources
• Facilitating the use of agroecological products or products with a quality sign
  
  

For agriculture, the candidates' projects will have to meet one of these challenges:

• Adapting agricultural and forestry production systems to the effects of climate change
• Improving the energy efficiency of production systems
• The transition to agroecology
• Development of eco-designed agricultural and food production systems

Renewable energies, storage and energy systems including hydrogen" theme

This theme focuses on the transformation of energy production and management models to meet the challenges of decarbonization of economic sectors provided for in the Paris Agreements.

ADEME is keen to support projects to develop innovative, competitive and sustainable processes, technologies, industrial solutions and services in two areas:

• The production of renewable energies and energy carriers
• Storage and energy systems

Sustainable and intelligent mobility" theme

In France, the low-carbon strategy aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the mobility and transport sector by 28% by 2030, compared to 2015 figures. The ultimate goal is to achieve almost complete decarbonization by 2050.

To this end, the I-Nov Innovation Contest supports innovation projects that develop innovations aimed at promoting :

• Eco-design, recyclability and energy multi-functionality
• New generations of low-emission vehicles
• Services or intelligent systems for logistics
• Multimodal management and regulation of people's mobility
• Inclusive, supportive and ecological transport and mobility

If you would like more information on the ^7th wave of the I-Nov competition, ADEME is organizing an information webinar on March 30 at 10am.

Projects supported by BPIFrance

Bpifrance is committed to providing financial support for innovation projects in the fields of digital technology, space, the French Fab, security and cyber security, health, etc.

More specifically, the 4 themes chosen for the ^7th wave of the I-Nov excellence competition are :

The "Digital Deep Tech" theme

Digital technology is changing the way they organize and work. deeptech represents a major challenge for tomorrow's businesses. The challenge is to reconcile significant productivity gains with a reduction in the ecological footprint of digital technology.

Applicants must propose projects with a digital dimension that also have a disruptive innovative character in terms of product or use at any level of the value chain (from design to recycling).

Preference will be given to projects concerning :

• Quantum technologies and other disruptive architectures for digital computing components
• Artificial intelligence and Big Data processing
• The 5G
• The blockchain
• Augmented reality, virtual reality
• Reducing the ecological footprint associated with digital technology

The theme "Transforming the cultural and creative industries through digital technology

Immersive technologies, big date, artificial intelligence, blockchain, holochain, 3D printing... Digital innovations in the cultural and creative industry are opening up the field of possibilities as they influence the processes of creation and production as well as dissemination and the relationship with the public.

Bpifrance expects applicants to submit projects with a digital dimension that will impact any level of the value chain (from creation to distribution of the cultural offer).

The Health theme "Diagnosis, screening and monitoring of diseases

Through this theme, Bpifrance wishes to support significant innovation projects concerning the screening, diagnosis or monitoring of pathologies.

Projects focusing on epidemic-prone viruses (in particular SARS-COV-2), on the emergence of resistance or escape from preventive or therapeutic solutions could be of great interest to the jury.

In this theme, Bpifrance mainly favors projects that address :

• Devices based on new sensors or biomarkers
• Signal processing technologies, methodologies to assist in reading or interpretation
• Pooling methods or technologies
• Easy-to-use devices for the home
• Integrated systems for detection, prediction and monitoring in hospital or community settings
• Water monitoring methods or technologies
• Modeling tools

The "Proteins and ferments of the future" theme

The objective of this theme is to support innovative projects with a significant impact on the development of technologies or products using new sources of proteins and ferments for food use.

This will allow us to conquer market shares, to create value and employment on the territory but also to participate in the ecological transition of agriculture.

Particular interest will be given to projects focusing on:

• Innovative products providing new sources of protein
• Equipment, processes and innovative technological solutions
• Dietary diversification
• Improvement of the food supply chain
• Valuation of the environmental and nutritional services provided by proteins and ferments

Our customers are talented

The choice of the theme, the preparation of the application file and the auditions...

Since the launch of the I-Nov Innovation Competition in 2017, we have been accompanying our clients through all stages of this highly selective call for projects.

During the 6th wave, we had the pleasure of accompanying the MillionRoads winner towards the success of his innovative project on guidance and the fight against school dropout!

Justine Fasquelle, Innovation Engineer at Dynergie, who helped Millionroads become a winner, tells us:

How did Millionroads' application to the I-Nov competition go?

Very good! It was great to think that we were going to do a project that made sense!

Even though it was very stimulating, the only "snag" was the time frame. We had to move very quickly, but thanks to our team of experts we were able to prepare the file in two weeks.

What do you like about accompanying companies in innovation competitions?

I like the fact that I am in charge of a project in its entirety and under all aspects, whether they are technical, economic, financial or concerning the story telling. But also, the feeling of supporting a project with a strong impact and helping a company to realize it.

What a joy when we won the call for projects! When we found out that the project was selected, I immediately called my client to congratulate him and to wish him a happy new year! Clearly, this is the kind of result that makes me want to get up in the morning.

To go further

Are you preparing to launch an innovation project with a strong economic impact and global scope in connection with one of the eight themes of the 7th wave?

You think you meet all the criteria to apply to the I-Nov innovation competition?

Our teams of experts can help you optimize your chances of success!

Learn more about the I-Nov Competition

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