Entrepreneurship
One of the characteristics of ParisTech lies in the importance of relations with companies. This is embodied in the policy promoting the economic benefits of research.
Experience shows the advantage of offering entrepreneurs both accommodation capacities close to the laboratories and locations close to customers and consultants, thus in the city centre. Consequently, the City of Paris supports the expansion and opening of business incubators.
Incubation and seed phase
As part of this plan, which plans to increase twentyfold the areas devoted to support for young businesses in 13 years, the City of Paris finances the ParisTech Entrepreneurs incubator. In 10 years, this incubator has supported the creation of 160 start-ups and 1,000 highly qualified jobs. Its objective is to receive 80 creators of “start-up companies” by 2014. Since the end of 2009, the companies received have also been among the first to benefit from the Paris Innovation Start-up fund established by the City of Paris in cooperation with Oseo.
Furthermore, the City supports Agoranov, an incubator that ParisTech is a founding member of along with the University Pierre and Marie Curie, the École Normale Supérieure and the University of Paris-Dauphine.
These two incubators received the PARIS INNOVATION label in 2009.
Experimentation
The City of Paris and the Île-de-France Region have also launched the Paris Region Innovation laboratory that encourages in situ experiments and demonstrations of urban innovations. “Paris Lab” will work in close contact with ParisTech so researchers and JEI (Jeunes Entreprises Innovantes / Young Innovative Companies) can launch experiments.
Network for industrial innovation
ParisTech plans to develop a reception facility for entrepreneurial exchanges and meetings, which, in particular, will stimulate the activities of its network for industrial innovation, PIMREP (ParisTech innovation management research and education program). The City of Paris supports this project and will endeavour to help see it through to completion.
