Inspiring programmes coming to the rescue of French companies

Jean-Louis Beffa’s report to the French president a year ago noted that the reason for the French lagging behind in private research was the result of the limited specialisation of their industry in the high technology sectors which drive economic growth. In an attempt to remedy the situation, Jean-Louis Beffa, who remained sceptical about the efficiency of politicians who were purely interested in the development of new companies, recommended the creation of an agency for industrial innovation (Agence de l’innovation industrielle). Having spent seven years as the head of ADEME (Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie : agency for the environment and for the control of energy), François Démarcq joined the management of this new agency. He describes the way in which the programmes that are able to stimulate industrial innovation will be implemented and co-ordinated. He also explains how this operation functions with other public policy methods to encourage innovation (centres of competitiveness, OSEO anvar (French innovation agency), ANR (national agency for research), etc.).