Space spin-off to create 152 French start-ups

“We are happy to welcome this new ESA business incubation centre – ESA BIC Nord France – to our Europe-wide network of incubators supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups to create new jobs and businesses by spinning off Europe’s investments in space research and development,” said ESA Director General Jan Woerner at the opening of the centre 28 June, at the Toulouse Space Show.

“One of the central roles of Europe’s space programmes is to improve the quality of life on Earth.

“By making our knowledge and technology available to innovative entrepreneurs through our Technology Transfer Programme and its business incubation centres we have already fostered over 600 new companies in Europe, creating thousands of new high-tech jobs throughout Europe.”

“We are also very happy to re-new the contract for ESA BIC Sud France. This centre has already demonstrated a very successful track record and created almost 60 new companies. We look forward to many new innovative enterprises from these two ESA BICs.”

Welcome ESA BIC Nord France

Watch the following video for the presentations by the ESA BIC Nord France partners.

At the opening the Ouest BIC Technopole President Jean-François Balducchi said, “12 years ago as EBN President I had the pleasure to sign an agreement with ESA giving birth to the concept of ESA BICs.

“Thanks to ESA, and to Bruno Naulais here today from ESA, for deciding for a network-based incubation process rather than a single incubator. Since then, the skills capitalized in the EBN network among more than 200 professional BICs have definitely proved to be a major asset with respect to ESA objectives in terms of valorization and applications of space-born technologies to several different other fields.

“That’s is why I am honored to represent today the latest ESA BIC: ESA BIC Nord France, which will consistently complement an already impressive series of successful ESA BICs all over Europe.”

ESA BIC Sud France success to continue

“ESA BIC Sud France has shown its efficiency to support young space-related start-ups,” said Yann Barbaux, Aerospace Valley president.

“We are pleased to pursue this action, in collaboration with ESA, CNES, Safe cluster, and the different local incubators. With the new ESA BIC Nord France and the integration of Auvergne-Rhones-Alpes region to ESA BIC Sud France consortium, all French young companies will have an ESA BIC Center close of them.”

Space creates 75 new companies with high-tech jobs in six northern France regions

The new ESA BIC Nord France is managed by Ouest BIC Technopoles, in association with ASTech Paris Region Cluster and CNES. Ouest BIC Technopoles is an association of Technopoles and the business innovation centres in the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions.

It will provide assistance to 15 start-ups each year over the coming five years.

Partners across six regions in northern France will provide incubation facilities in Brest at Technopôle Brest Iroise (Brittany), in Caen at Normandie Incubation (Normandy), in Lille at eurotechnologies (Hauts-de-France), at Nantes with Atlanpole (Pays de la Loire), in Paris with Val d’Oise Technopole (Île-de-France) and at Troyes with Technopole de l`Aube en Champagne (Grand Est).

The start-ups selected will be hosted at the existing business incubators in six regions. In addition to receiving financial support they will both get technical and business assistance to help turn their ideas into viable companies.

ESA BIC Sud France extension to foster another 77 start-ups

The eighth ESA BIC Sud France opened in southern France in 2013 and has since then supported entrepreneurs to start 60 companies in three regions Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA). It’s managed by Aerospace Valley, in association with CNES and Safe Cluster, and with the support of 6 local incubators.

These companies employ 57 persons (2017) with a cumulative turnover of 17,5M€, and with 15 of the 60 raising investments of €11.3M.

Moreover, as the first space application process to support local entrepreneurship, this ESA BIC incubator programme in southern France has paved the way to other similar projects to support entrepreneurs and start-ups, at local and European scale, like ActInSpace, FabSpace, Astropreneurs.

Recently, ESA BIC Sud France has been enlarged to include also the French Auvergne Rhone Alpes region with two additional local centres at Gate1 and Chambery Grand Lac. The agreement to fund another 77 companies during the coming 4 years was as well signed 28 June 2018.

World's largest ecosystem for space related entrepreneurship

ESA BIC Nord France is the latest to join the par-European network of ESA Business Incubation Centres  operated under the guidance of ESA`s Technology Transfer Programme office.

Already present across 15 European countries – Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK, with two more to join within months in Hungary and Norway – the network is the largest ecosystem in the world for space related entrepreneurship.

Over 160 new start-ups are taken in yearly to be supported under the two-year business development boosting programme.

More on the ESA Business Incubation Centres here.
More on ESA BIC Nord France here.
More on ESA BIC Sud France here.
More on Ouest BIC Technopoles here.