“L’Esprit d’entreprendre” Plan: 24 projects awarded

In June 2020, the French government launched a plan called “L’Esprit d’entreprendre” (Entrepreneurship Spirit) to engage higher education institutions and raise the awareness of even more students about entrepreneurship. The results of this call for projects have just been published and detail which development projects will be funded in priority for the year 2021-2022 as part of the PEPITE project.

The PEPITE project (“Pôles étudiants pour l'innovation, le transfert et l'entrepreneuriat”) was launched in 2014 to support and train students and young graduates who want to materialise a business creation project. Today, 32 PEPITE are implemented on the French territory.

A 5 million Euros fund

Promoters of the project underline that, with an overall 5 million Euros fund spread over two years, the “L’Esprit d’Entreprendre” plan seeks a double objective: increase the number of young entrepreneurs with the status of entrepreneur student to support them in the accomplishment of their projects and, at the same time, fund entrepreneurship development projects in existing organisations.

Beyond this one-time funding, the ministry in charge of innovation reminds the commitment of the French government to student entrepreneurship, and particularly, “its support to all PEPITE projects through base funds that have been doubled in 2020 and the funding of common actions in the network, to an annual sum of 2.5 million Euros in 2021 and 2022”.

24 winner projects, including 9 excellence PEPITE

Of the 31 application files submitted, the jury selected 24 winner projects. Among them are nine “excellence projects that stand out because of their strategic vision, organisation and transformation capacity”. Various PEPITE won a prize in the “Excellence project” category:

- PEPITE BEELYS (Lyon, Saint-Etienne), the “specialist centre for young entrepreneurs support”:  https://www.beelys.org/

- PEPITE BRETAGNE to “Boost your project”: https://www.pepitebretagne.fr/

- PEPITE CENTRE VAL DE LOIRE, a “team exclusively dedicated to entrepreneur students”: http://www.pepite-centre.fr/

- PEPITE ECA (Nouvelle Aquitaine): https://www.u-ldevinci.fr/fr/home/

- PEPITE ETENA (Alsace), for those “interested in entrepreneurship and the universe of startups”: https://etena.u-strasbg.fr/

- PEPITE OZER (Grenoble-Alpes), to “dare to build your project and accomplish your dream”: http://www.ozer-entrepreneuriat.fr/

- PEPITE PEEL (Lorraine), to “start today and succeed tomorrow”: http://peel.univ-lorraine.fr/

- PEPITE SORBONNE UNIVERSITE, a “support and training programme helping you materialise your business creation project”: http://www.sorbonne-universites.fr/actions.html

- The PEPITE Val D'Oise CY: https://www.cyu.fr/

The “Entreprendre en France” Prize

The “L’Esprit d’entreprendre” plan objectives include the acceleration of projects of the most committed students to foster the creation of highly innovative companies with global ambitions. To reach this objective, the Campus France – France Alumni network participated in the last Entrepreneurs Fair in February 2020, an event dedicated to young and future entrepreneurs that welcomed 60,000 visitors. During the fair, Campus France – France Alumni showcased its determination to internationalise entrepreneurship by organising the first “Entreprendre en France” Prize (Create your Business in France) awarding students and young graduates project initiators in France and worldwide.

To know more:

- Results of the “Esprit d’entreprendre” call for projects 

- The PEPITE network 

Photo credit: ©Aida Koric-adobe-stock.com