PIA 4

Since the first Investments for the Future program (PIA), the Alcimed team has supported public and private players in identifying opportunities related to these large-scale plans, responding to calls for projects and their strategic and operational set-up.

Challenges related to PIA 4 or the Investments for the Future program

What is PIA 4 and what are its priority investment strategies?

Announced in 2020 and with €20 billion over 5 years, PIA 4 is based on two drivers of change: ecological transition (including €3.4 billion for the development of green innovations and technologies such as hydrogen) and the competitiveness of the economy, supported by social and territorial cohesion. It also aims to accelerate innovation across all sectors with strategic and priority investments, as well as sustainable funding for higher education, research and innovation ecosystems. On the healthcare side, the two main areas that benefit from this support are biotherapies and digital health. It is partly funded by the France Relance Plan, a French recovery plan announced in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

What are the challenges related to PIA 4?

There is substantial funding linked to PIA 4. However, benefiting from it can be a challenge for public and private players as this Investments for the Future program includes a wide range of strategies, calls for projects and funding mechanisms for innovation that need to be clearly understood. Three main challenges emerge for those who wish to seize this unprecedented financing opportunity:

Properly calibrate your innovation project

PIA 4 supports technologies of the future and strategic markets for France which set directions for innovation. The project must therefore be aligned at this level. In addition, as PIA 4 largely finances collaborative projects, looking for voluntary and complementary partners in terms of skills is key.

What are the expectations of the funder? Who is the best team to meet these expectations?

Knocking on the right door to choose the right system

It is not always straight forward to choose which calls for projects to apply for, amongst existing ones as well as future projects such as those included in acceleration strategies (e.g: bioproduction) and amongst other regional systems (representing €500 M).

What is the best system to submit your project to?

Prepare an application that will receive funding

Regardless of the system chosen, several shared expectations will be placed on PIA 4, particularly in terms of the scientific and technical quality of the project. To ensure your application is considered favorably, make sure you start the preparations very early on, pay particular attention to the form and the content, and check that you meet all the specific requirements of the system. This process will require a lot of time and research. Ensure that you have enough time before the submission deadline, and team up with reliable partners and proofreaders.

How do you prepare your application and increase your chances of success?

Have a project? Write us!

How do we support you in your projects related to PIA 4 or Investments for the Future programs?

Alcimed gets involved at various levels of a PIA 4 project. Prior to any funding, we can help you identify the right PIA 4 window, anticipate a high added value project (market study, search for partners, etc.) and build a winning application. Further down the process, we support your project in terms of operational deployment (especially commercial deployment, towards a new business flow if necessary). We also help you diagnose your situation and your results, as well as how to redirect your strategy and your roadmap. To that effect, we have an excellent knowledge of PIA 4, of its financing mechanisms and of the expectations of its assessors. We also have expertise in preparing successful applications and are highly experienced in the operational realities of the innovation projects developed.

Very often, the public institutions we support in this process are research centers and institutes, as well as healthcare facilities.

The types of projects we carry out for our clients in this field are:

Product innovation
Valorization
New services
New offers

Dossier creation
Collaborative projects
Search for funding opportunities
Search for partners

Roadmap
Opportunity evaluation
Market study

A project? Contact our explorers!

EXAMPLES OF RECENT PROJECTS CARRIED OUT FOR OUR CLIENTS IN THE FIELD OF PIA 4

Preparation of applications in response to the call for Hospital University Research projects (RHU) of the Investments for the Future programs

We have been supporting the preparation of applications submitted by public-private consortia in response to calls for RHU projects (Hospital-University Research) for 5 years. As the right hand of the supported PU-PHs, our teams have helped with over thirty applications since the first wave, with several significant successes. We get involved starting from the scoping of the application, with consulting services for the development of the scientific roadmap and the consortium, right up to the submission of the application and the preparation for the oral interview.

Definition of the strategy of an Institut Carnot and support for the deployment of its commercial roadmap

Instituts Carnot are powerful tools for promoting research set up within the framework of previous PIAs. At Alcimed, we work closely with the Carnot ecosystem, and we support several institutes in their development strategies. We recently redesigned the strategic activity areas of a leading Institut Carnot, based on an in-depth analysis of its skills and its market potential, and we supported the teams to work on their roadmap and their commercial positioning. Finally, we also generated an first flow of partnerships, directly taking on a business development function on behalf of the Institut.

Identification of opportunities linked to PIA 4 for companies from a large professional federation

Alcimed deciphered the PIA 4 and the France Relance Plan to identify and analyze the financing mechanisms of interest for the companies of a large professional federation. Our team presented over ten mechanisms during a webinar that brought together nearly a hundred participants. We also made our recommendations for taking full advantage of these current and future opportunities, both for the companies in this federation and for the federation itself.

Opportunity studies and market studies for innovative projects supported by Technology Transfer Acceleration Companies (SATT), created within the framework of the Investments for the Future program

Alcimed is identified as a leading firm in supporting scientific project leaders from French research laboratories, in particular those supported by SATT (Technology Transfer Acceleration Companies). We thus support the innovations of tomorrow at the various stages of their development, from market research to fundraising preparation as well as the generation of a new business flow. For example, we work in the life sciences (healthcare, agrifood, biotech), energy, mobility, and digital sectors.

WHO IS ALCIMED?

Founded in 1993, Alcimed is an innovation and new business consulting firm, specializing in innovation driven sectors: life sciences (healthcare, biotech, agrifood), energy, environment, mobility, chemicals, materials, cosmetics, aeronautics, space and defence.

Our purpose? Helping both private and public decision-makers explore and develop their uncharted territories: new technologies, new offers, new geographies, possible futures, and new ways to innovate.

Located across eight offices around the world (France, Europe, Singapore and the United States), our team is made up of 220 highly-qualified, multicultural and passionate explorers, with a blended science/technology and business culture.

Our dream? To build a team of 1,000 explorers, to design tomorrow's world hand in hand with our clients.