Aix-Marseille French Tech counting on cleantech and sustainable mobility

Eighteen months after obtaining the French Tech certification, the region is pressing ahead with its adventure. Not only has Aix-Marseille Provence retained its certification but, since July 26, 2016, it has officially been allocated four specialist networks: Sports, IoT & Manufacturing (connected objects, drones), Health Tech (health, medicine, biotechnology...) and Cleantech & Mobility, designed to structure French start-ups by industry.
The Cleantech & Mobility network comprises around sixty local businesses in the fields of energy, sustainable development, mobility and smart cities.
Supported by a consortium that includes the Capenergies competitive cluster, Thecamp and the Technopôle de l’Arbois technology park, the network's aim is to stimulate growth among its members and to promote their innovations both in France and overseas. Provence Promotion will be working alongside a number of other economic stakeholders to both promote and enlarge the network.

The French Tech family is expanding! Since the summer, the number of industrial domains receiving support from the Ministry of the Economy and the Digital Sector has increased to nine, continuing its strategy of bringing together businesses within a same sector to enhance their competitiveness and visibility on the international scene.

With its certification in four areas, Aix-Marseille French Tech (AMFT) will be showcasing its specialist networks at the third edition of the French Tech Weeks, being held in mid-September in Aix-en-Provence and lasting five weeks.

"Being part of the Cleantech & Mobility network represents a great opportunity for the region," says Céline Auger, project manager at the Capenergies cluster. "The businesses in the Aix-Marseille Provence area offer a huge amount of expertise (photovoltaics, green building, intelligent waste recycling…), expertise that we need to promote. We need to find synergies within networks and to give all our skills in this sector of the future better visibility; moreover, Capenergies acts as the principal advisor for the same network on the French Riviera and is a candidate for the role of secretary-general."

Cleantech – A market with huge potential

Aix-Marseille French Tech (AMFT) henceforth will be working alongside twelve other metropolitan areas in France within the nationwide #Cleantech#Mobility network. With a market growing at an average of 8% per year (cf. study by Ernst & Young and GreenUnivers 2014), cleantech aims to develop products and services that are environmentally friendly.

Around sixty start-ups in the metropolitan area, including 16 tech champions, have been earmarked. The work of this local ecosystem's piloting consortium –led by the Capenergies competitive cluster, the Technopôle de l’Environnement Arbois-Méditerranée environmental technology park and Thecamp, which focuses on training, innovation and digital transformation– will have three priorities: supporting and promoting SMEs internationally, providing enterprise creation support and attracting new talents and entrepreneurs to the region.

"To achieve these three priority goals, we are bringing together local players involved in promoting attractiveness and the green economy. Provence Promotion will contribute by showcasing the ecosystem and highlighting the favorable conditions offered to new cleantech projects setting up in the region."

The prominence afforded by this new #Cleantech#Mobility label should attract new start-ups and further boost the momentum already gained since the French Tech certification. The Aix-Marseille metropolitan area harbors the ambition of creating more than 10,000 jobs in the "cleantech city" sector within the next fifteen years.