On the 14th and 15th April 2014, Marseille has hosted the third meeting of the “Programme d’aide à la création d’entreprises innovantes en Méditerranée” (PACEIM). Nearly 150 people attended the event organized by the “Institut de Recherche pour le Développement” (IRD) in partnership with Marseille Innovation and fifteen institutions of the southern Mediterranean. At the end of these days, 28 new winners have been selected and will receive individual coaching and a seed funding to start their own business in Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia.
PACEIM: from research to business creation in the Mediterranean
Coordinated by IRD and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PACEIM addresses scientific and technical diasporas in France. It aims to support the creation of innovative companies in all business sectors in the Southern Mediterranean by researchers, engineers, PhD students, university home in France and Nationals of Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco or Tunisia.
As part of this innovative program, the winners receive individualized support for 15 months in the north and south of the Mediterranean to perform the basic steps of creating their business, technical and financial support (ranging up € 35 000) in France and hosting in the country where the maturation of their project is the most viable.
Review of the third edition of meetings PACEIM
In the opening statements, Michel Laurent, President of IRD, and Marc Trouyet, Deputy Director of the Democratic Governance at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated the importance of the French action aimed at foreign students in France and the leading role as an ambassador of French culture abroad.
Then a round table on the tools needed to start-up an enterprise in the Southern Mediterranean helped in showcasing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Exchange was also held between the winners of the previous edition and the local coordinators of the project: the National Agency for exploiting the results of research and technological development (ANVREDET, Algeria), the Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (API, Tunisia), the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST, Morocco) and the incubator Berytech in Lebanon.
Finally, fifty shortlisted candidates after the call for proposals launched in December 2013 (nearly 100 candidates selected) was heard by the selection committees. The jury selected 28 winners (7 from Algeria, Lebanon 2, Morocco 7 and Tunisia 12), 30% of women. Graduates of the French higher education, they have graduated from institutions in the regions of Alsace, Aquitaine, Bretagne, Centre, Ile de France, Nord Pas-de-Calais, Languedoc-Roussillon or Rhône-Alpes (postdoc 4 %, 20% doctoral license and 76% master degree).
Thematic diversity of entrepreneurial projects, in the field of technology or innovation, reflects the existing potential in these areas: energy, pharmacy, health, cosmetics, biotechnology, food, business services …. Have been used on intelligent medical sensors on the biogas or organic waste on new Internet services or software projects.
The winners of the third class will soon meet for a seminar of intensive formation and accelerated training on entrepreneurship, designed to give them the keys to understanding the new environment and learn the postures of entrepreneurs.
Since its launch, PACEIM allowed to accompany nearly a hundred projects of entrepreneurship co-incubation between the two shores of the Mediterranean: already 19 and have already started their business, 11 are being filing of articles, 13 projects are housed in incubators, 14 are in the process of fundraising and more than one third continue the maturation of their projects.
→ Press Service IRD Cristelle Duos | presse@ird.fr | T: 04 91 99 94 87
