June 2019 – In November 2018, the Conseil National de l’Industrie decided to strengthen SMEs’ growth path towards the industry of the future.

The first step is to raise companies’ awareness of these technologies as opportunities, with the stated aim of reaching half of France’s 30,000 industrial SMEs by 2022.

To date, 5,200 French SMEs have already benefited. The aim is to reach 10,000 French SMEs in all industrial sectors.

Numerous initiatives and schemes already exist, piloted in particular by the Regions.

However, the French government, through the CNI, wishes to consolidate and complement these offerings:

By providing additional funding from the Programme pour les Investissements d’Avenir (PIA) to the Regions to reinforce their own schemes;
By federating the actions of the various players involved: Regions, Alliance Industrie du Futur (AIF) Bpifrance, industrial technical centers (CTI), sectors … ;
Above all, by coordinating the manufacturers themselves, in particular the AIF’s “showcases of the industry of the future”.

The aim of the plan to support 10,000 French SMEs is to accelerate the “upscaling” of our industry.