The aids of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region - www.laregie-paca.com


A.R.I. (Regional Aid for Innovation)

www.cr-paca.fr

The ARI supports a technologically innovative programme concerning a product, a service or a procedure of a company that is still in an industrial preparation phase.
Recipients must meet the following criteria:

- employ less than 2000 people;
- belong to the industrial, or tertiary industrial sector;
- have a healthy, regular financial position with regards to fiscal and social obligations;
- not belong to a group where the total workforce is superior to 2000 employees.

Methods:
The amount of aid represents 50% of the expenses. The aid is granted in the form of an interest free loan.

www.anvar.fr

L’ANVAR, (Agence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche), the French Agency for Innovation is a public institution with an industrial and commercial character, (EPIC), operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (MINEFI), and of the Ministry responsible for Research and New Technology.

For more than 20 years, ANVAR has supported innovation projects of a technological nature, presenting potential for marketing both in France and abroad.
The innovations can be new inventions (breaking new technological ground), or contribute to improving existing techniques that allow products to be used in new ways, or to maintain a company’s competitive edge, or workforce.

The Agency intervenes at a point when finance is the most difficult to raise, and when potential risks are highest. In this way, the agency allows innovators to progress with their projects, and in some cases, it approaches investors looking for companies with a strong growth potential.

Through its know-how, the agency can provide engineering and support services to innovators – people from small and medium-sized businesses and industrial companies, laboratories, or those setting up their own companies. In the framework of a global approach to a project, the agency can offer:

	Personal support - expertise and help with project management, assistance in finding suitable partners, promotion of the project;
	Risk-sharing financial support - an interest free loan that will be reimbursed if the project is successful, or capital financing (stock purchase warrants - BSA) can be arranged in association with the private sector;
	Specific action - for the development of new products, procedures or services, the creation of innovative companies, recruitment (R & D staff), the transfer of technology, the raising of finance (new markets, FCPI – A French venture fund dedicated to making investments in innovative companies...) and European and international partners (PCRD – European Reference Research Programme, EUREKA – the European Inter-governmental Programme for Technological Co-operation and Support).

What exactly is the ANVAR aid for innovative projects?

This aid is part of the public support action plan for innovative technology, and is available to companies employing less than 2000 people. The company cannot be a subsidiary of a company employing more than 2000 people.

The aid for innovative projects aims to promote innovation and technological progress, and can concern all stages of the innovative process.

The amount of the aid cannot exceed 50% of the cost of the project. It takes the form of a grant, a loan, or sometimes stock purchase warrants (BSA). An agreement with the company receiving support specifies the exact nature of repayment to ANVAR, if the project is successful.

CNC (National Cinematographic Centre) aid for digital creation

www.cnc.fr

Aid for new technology in production, administered by the multimedia management and technical industries of the CNC, has been introduced. The aid is to encourage « cinema » film producers to use digital technology in an innovative manner to produce short and feature films, which contribute to enhancing the know-how of the French service companies.

An administrative and technical committee of six members has been set up, and eligibility criteria determined.

The National Cinematographic Centre can therefore support cinematographic projects that use innovative digital technology. The proposal is to be examined by a specialised committee who will give their opinion to the CNC director-general who will then make a decision.

To be acceptable, applications must be lodged by a short or feature film company holding a filming permit issued by the CNC.

When the application is made to the administration office of the multimedia and technical industries, the sequences of work relevant to the digital technology that is put forward for assistance must, under no circumstances, have already been produced.

The committee takes the following eligibility criteria into account:

	a genuinely innovative use of digital technology, at one stage of production;
	the length and budget for the sequences using this digital technology must be sufficiently representative of the total length of the work and overall budget;
	the artistic approach must be perfectly adapted to the technology used.

Conditions of payment of the aid are specified in the agreement between the CNC and recipient company.

No payment can be made to a company before the CNC has issued:

	a production permit for a short film;
	investment approval for a feature film.

Generally speaking, the principle of the payment is linked to written evidence justifying expenses relating to the use of specific technology.

RIAM national aid

www.cnc.fr/riam/

The RIAM (The Audiovisual and Multimedia Network) network aims to federate and support the entire community concerned by the research and development activity in the cinema, audiovisual and multimedia sectors. It encourages public research laboratories and each year invites projects to be submitted..

Four types of aid can be granted:
(following the authorised decision of one of the network members) :

	Aid from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry. This aid takes the form of either a loan, or a straight-out grant;
	CNC aid for research and development is limited to 50% of the total funding and is designed to help individual companies or consortiums. This aid takes the form of a grant;
	Aid from the Ministry of Research;
	Aid for the organisation of events.

The network can also fund studies that highlight the economic, legal, social and technical trends in the sector, both in France and abroad.

Project criteria:

	objectives must correspond with those outlined in the call for proposals;
	the possibility of developing the know-how, with long-term implications;
	advanced technical quality;
	technical, industrial, commercial and financial capacities to be successfully managed;
	possibilities of creating companies and/or jobs;
	economic interest of the developed product.