French competition encourages creation of innovative technological enterprises

Brussels, 03 Jan 2003

The French Ministry for Research and New Technologies in association with ANVAR (Agence nationale de valorisation de la recherche) and the European Social Fund has launched the fifth national competition to encourage the creation of innovative technological enterprises.

The competition aims to discover and reward the best technological innovation projects.

Projects eligible for participation in the competition are:

- Projects that are just getting off the ground and need time to develop and mature. The winners from this category will receive a grant of up to 45,000 euro to finance up to 70 per cent of the services needed in order to complete the project.

- Projects at a more advanced stage where the creation of a business enterprise is being completed. Winners from this category will receive, after the business enterprise is set up, a grant of up to 450,000 euro, which will be used to finance up to 50 per cent of the innovation programme.

All the winners will benefit from the support network that encompasses the competition as well as access to facilities provided by support and finance institutions.

Special prizes will be given to the three most promising projects of the year and to the two best projects presented by PhD students and young graduates respectively.

Interested participants from France and the other Member States of the EU, whether they be students, unemployed or working in the public or private sector, are invited to participate in this competition: The objective of the project or innovative concept must be to set up a business enterprise in France which promotes innovative technology.

For further details about the rules of the competition and to obtain an application form, please consult the following web site:
http://www.recherche.gouv.fr/technologie /concours

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