EUREKA MEMBER > France

FUNDING SCHEME

Funding in France

OSEO was established in 2005 by bringing together the French innovation agency and SME development bank, with the aim of providing assistance and financial support to French SMEs in the most decisive phases of their life cycle.
Every year, the Ministry for Economy, Industry and Employment, through the General Directorate for Competitiveness, Industries and Services (DGCIS) earmarks funds for the following EUREKA Clusters: CATRENE, ITEA2, CELTIC, EURIPIDES, EUROGIA+ and ACQUEAU.

>  EUREKA individual projects - OSEO

Funding contact

EUREKA France
+33 1 41 79 84 38

Patrick Cornet
patrick.cornet@oseo.fr

> more information

General procedures

EUREKA France mainly provides refundable loans without interest. Grants are also possible for industrial research phases. SMEs above 50 employees are the main target.
The procedure is flexible, based on an individual initiative led by an industrial organisation. French candidates (leader or participant) are advised to contact the EUREKA team in France early in the project formulation stage to get advice and support for the labelling process.
The French partner must prepare the following documents: an EUREKA Project Form in English - this is the official EUREKA label request; confidential information for the French authorities - detailed contribution in the project, innovative aspects, economic return, competition position, business plan; consortium agreement draft, notably on collaborative aspects of the project (knowledge sharing, IPR, results exploitation, management organization, etc.).
The French partner then presents its participation in the project to an evaluation committee - representatives from French Ministries (Research, Industry, and possibly technical Ministries) and Agencies (including funding bodies). In the event of a positive response, the project is proposed to the European EUREKA board of High Level representatives for approval. Funding and labelling are synchronised.
OSEO can also provide funding to SMEs for upstream phases of projects, for feasibility studies (grants or loans up to 50 k€) or technological partnership searches (up to 50k€ grants).
For SMEs, a bonus of 15% can be granted for projects labelled by the French "Pôle de compétitivité"

Type of funding

loan

Funding by type of organisation

Type of organisation Funding % of
elligible costs 		Maximum costs
(in EUR) 		Additional
information
SMEup to 50%no limitMainly refundable loans (0 interest) if successful
Large Companyup to 40%no limitFor large companies with less than 5000 employees < > Companies with more than 5000 employees could be funded in the framework of specific funding programmes (with specific funding rules).
University40% of total costsup to 50 K EuroGrant up to 50 K Euros and refundable loan above.
Research Organisation40% of total costsup to 50K EuroGrant up to 50 K Euros and refundable loan above.
Otherno funding

>  Eurostars - (Grants) OSEO

Funding contact

EUREKA France
+33 1 41 79 84 38

Patrick Cornet
patrick.cornet@oseo.fr

> more information

Additional information

Expenses will be taken into account at the date of submission of the funding application at the OSEO innovation Regional Office
See http://www.oseo.fr/notre_mission/nos_equipes_en_region

  • Eligible expenses:
    -     Personal costs
    -      Overheads: 20% of personal costs
    -      Intellectual property, patent extension etc.
    -      market research
    -     feasibility study
    -     experiment
    -      project management and associated costs, namely transportation
    -      development of new or improved products, process or services
    -      design and implementation of prototypes, models, pilot productions, demonstration etc.

    • More Information

    > In France
    >OSEO

    Type of funding

    grant

    Funding by type of organisation

    Type of organisation Funding % of
    elligible costs     		Maximum costs
    (in EUR)     		Additional
    information
    SME30% (*)no limit(*) For Eurostars SME = 40 %
    Large Company30% (*)no limit(*) 30% for Large companies with less than 2000 employees >< no funding for Large companies with more than 2000 employees
    University40%up to 100 000€40% of full costs in the limit of 100 000€ per participant
    Research Organisation40%up to 100 000€40% of full costs in the limit of 100 000€ per participant
    Otherno funding

    >  Clusters - (Grants) Ministry for Economy, Industry and Employment DGCIS

    Funding contact

    EUREKA France

    DGCIS France
    contact-poles@industrie.gouv.fr

    > more information

    General procedures

    Different criteria must be met in order to obtain a Cluster label, compared to the EUREKA label.
    EUREKA Clusters with French support (from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment –MEIE-) are the following: CATRENE, ITEA2, CELTIC, EURIPIDES, EUROGIA+ and ACQUEAU. Guidelines for the preparing project proposals can be found on the relevant websites: http://www.catrene.org/, http://www.itea2.org/, http://www.celtic-initiative.org/, http://www.euripides-eureka.eu/, http://www.eurogia.com/? wwws.acqueau.eu .
    Consortium partners in a EUREKA Cluster project are funded directly by the governments of their respective countries. The partners must make contact early with the relevant public authorities to present their proposal with a view to obtaining public funding.
    OSEO can also provide funding to SMEs for upstream phases of projects, for feasibility studies (grants or loans up to 50 k€) or technological partnership searches (up to 50k€ grants).

    Information on calls

    Calls are specific, even if they follow the main EUREKA common criteria. On average, calls are launched once a year. Proposals must address work areas or themes defined by the Cluster organisation.
    Most calls for proposals are based on a 2-phase process: "Project Outline" (or PO) and "Full Project Proposal" (or FPP). Some calls also include hearing sessions between the PO and FPP to present the project's main issues.
    Projects are most often selected on the basis of innovation, impact, strength of the consortium, R&D capacity, and market potential. Depending on the Cluster organisation, evaluation will be performed either by a technical committee, by a steering Group, or the committee board.

    Type of funding

    other

    Funding by type of organisation

    Type of organisation Funding % of
    elligible costs     		Maximum costs
    (in EUR)     		Additional
    information
    SME30%no limit
    Large Company30%no limit
    University100% of marginal costs50% of real costs
    Research Organisation100% of marginal costs50% of real costs
    Otherno funding