The north-eastern suburbs of Paris are characterised by immigrant populations and unemployment. To change this, the EU-funded Bond’Innov incubator provided immigrant entrepreneurs with the support they needed to launch innovative, successful small businesses.
Incubating innovation in Paris’ eastern suburbs
- 21 August 2018
Bond’Innov is giving the Seine-Saint-Denis department a renewed image in terms of innovation and research. Since 2011, we have supported 83 innovative projects and businesses, most of which were start-ups, while at the same time boosting the local economy and employment rates.
The Bond’Innov project helped re-establish the economic development and attractiveness of the Seine-Saint-Denis area by promoting innovation and research among its immigrant populations. Specifically, the project encouraged the neighbourhood’s residents to build links with public research institutions, entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations.
To do so, the project established a business incubator designed to support a wide array of sectors, including health, biotechnology, environment and agriculture. By offering immigrant entrepreneurs a complete range of business support services, the project has helped ensure the development and economic viability of 83 innovative projects – the majority of which are start-ups.
Incubating success
As one of Europe’s most dynamic, diverse and multicultural capital cities, Paris is faced with the challenge of integrating and employing its many immigrant populations. This challenge is particularly prevalent in such suburbs as Seine-Saint-Denis, north-east of the city.
The Bond’Innov incubator was launched to help better integrate immigrant populations while also supporting the neighbourhood’s economic development. Set up by a small conglomerate of universities, local authorities and research institutions, the incubator is housed in the North France Research Institute for Development in the city of Bondy.
Participant projects were selected based on their maturity, innovative nature and potential for economic development. Although organisers did not initially expect to attract many innovative projects, they were quickly proved wrong. Bond’Innov received far more applications than it had the capacity to support and was only able to select around 10 % of them. Since then, the incubator has extended its capacity by adding 10 new offices, with more in the works.
Once selected, project initiators followed a so-called ‘journey of progress’, receiving hands-on support with financing, fundraising, operations and logistics. They also had access to the incubator’s facilities, including its online resource centre. The resource centre is comprised of two components: Bondibox, which serves as an online repository for the documentation that all start-ups require, and Africabox, a management kit for incubators and start-ups that also have branches of their business in Africa. Other services offered included: office space within the incubator; assistance with public authorities; use of high-tech labs; and access to funding and mentorships. The project also co-organised an event aimed at encouraging and promoting encounters between immigrant entrepreneurs.
Successfully helping entrepreneurs since 2011
Since its launch in 2011, the Bond’Innov incubator has successfully helped entrepreneurs with ties to African, southern European and other French-speaking countries to set up innovative businesses in Paris. For example, the founder of EthicPhone, a project that was incubated at Bond’Innov, says that when he first tried to start his company he wasn’t able to open a bank account due to his immigrant status. However, thanks to Bond’Innov, he not only officially opened a business, he also raised EUR 125 000 in funding in just 18 months.
Success stories like these give Seine-Saint-Denis a new image as a hub for innovation and research. The Bond’Innov incubator has showed that immigrant-focused incubators are a viable means of creating jobs and promoting integration.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Programme for Structuring Provisions of Services to Innovative Entrepreneurs is EUR 1 950 000, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 760 000 through the “Ile-de-France et Seine-Saint-Denis” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period.