Innovact celebrates its 10th edition by going European
Innovact, the European forum for innovative growth companies, which started ten years ago as a French regional forum for young companies seeking development solutions, has now become the leading European network in this field. 'With this initiative, we hope to help make the 21st century the century of innovation,' said Innovact President François Cravoisier at the launch of Innovact in Europe, which took place in Brussels on 26 May. As Philippe Wittwer, the Director of Innovact, told CORDIS News, the first Innovact forum got underway ten years ago to promote the region of Champagne-Ardennes which, at the time, was famous for its history, its cereals and its champagne, but not for its innovation. 'The idea was to give another positioning and another image to the region,' explained Mr Wittwer. The creators of the forum envisaged Innovact as a provider of concrete solutions to young innovative companies, and it soon fulfilled a unique role in bringing together projects and companies in partnerships not seen anywhere else, even at European level. This year Innovact will bring 200 young innovative companies into contact with some 5,000 professionals from banks, universities, business angels, and public institutions, with participants coming from Belgium, Italy, the UK, Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania and also Lebanon and Morocco. The event will take place on 4 and 5 October in Reims. 'To provide this offer of competence under one roof is totally unique,' said Mr Wittwer. 'There are lots of places where business angels and venture capital investors meet and exhibit, but what we do is original in that we put the projects on top,' he added. The principle of Innovact is simple: young innovative companies looking for help, financing, advice or technological transfer contact the organisers and explain their needs, then the organisers arrange meetings and put them in touch with the right contacts. 'We work through a network action,' Mr Wittwer explained to CORDIS News. 'Companies need support and a good network and this what we provide.' Innovact not only offers companies the opportunity to present their projects in front of venture capitalists, but also offers awards of up to 50,000 euro and the chance to meet and create networks with researchers and companies from other regions. Asked what he hoped for the future, Mr Wittwer explained that although he and his colleagues wanted growth, what they wanted above all was to be identified as the most efficient European innovation forum. 'We are hoping to achieve a better level of participants with more European projects. We want to build an innovative Europe,' he said. 'This type of initiative is very important,' said Jean Paul Bachy, President of the Champagne-Ardennes region, 'because the regional level is increasingly important in the elaboration of the industrial policy of a country.' Philippe Busquin MEP called on the organisers to make their project known not only to researchers but also to politicians. 'The European Parliament should be informed of this type of project that helps to construct Europe,' he stated. 'Europe also gets constructed from the bottom-up, and it is thanks to initiatives that start small like this one that we build it, 'concluded René Silvestre, director of French Magazine, L'Etudiant and one of the partners of Innovact.
Countries
France