Located in the S-E of France, the Cap Azur metropolitan area comprises 3 urban areas around the iconic cities of Cannes, Grasse, and Antibes, as well as a community of municipalities in the mountains, with a total population of 454,000.
The Climate Solutions Business Matching program connects local authorities, their member municipalities, and industrial businesses of the Cap Azur metropolitan area with innovative start-ups and SMEs, in order to help address the challenges of climate change.
Established in 2021, the program is run in partnership with the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) and leading industrial partners, involving official Greentech labels and both generalist and specialized support organizations.
It feeds into the competitive dialogue process, as defined under the French Public Procurement Code, aiming to accelerate the implementation of solutions through the mechanisms available to local authorities and businesses.
We identify the needs of the region, as well as the key priorities of local authorities and industrial players.
We source innovative start-ups and SMEs capable of delivering concrete solutions to regional and industrial challenges.
We help solutions showcase their value proposition, their benefits, and their ability to partner with large companies and local authorities.
We organize the pitch day and highly targeted one-to-one meetings, connecting solutions with needs.
We provide close, personalized follow-up to turn exchanges into real, lasting partnerships.
When needed, we combine complementary solutions to fully address regional and industrial needs.
We equip stakeholders to communicate the impact of these solutions to the public, strengthening their adoption and visibility.
Local authorities and the industries within their territories recognize that innovative solutions from start-ups and SMEs can be implemented locally to address the challenges of climate change.
The French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) plays a central role in implementing the France 2030 plan, a large-scale strategic investment program overseen by the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI).
ADEME supports businesses, local authorities, and research organizations in innovation projects related to reindustrialization, with the aim of accelerating the decarbonization of the economy.
Large companies help identify innovative solutions and create local value to address climate and environmental challenges.
They help promote Open Innovation across the territory and within organizations.
The "Solar Impulse Efficient Solution" label helps decision-makers find efficient, economically viable solutions to meet their environmental commitments.
The "Greentech Innovation" label from the Ministry of Ecological Transition helps drive the ecosystem of French companies (micro-businesses and SMEs) innovating in sustainable ways.
The Capenergies competitiveness cluster facilitates the emergence of innovative projects and supports their financing and development to accelerate the energy transition across regions.
Le Village by CA — Crédit Agricole's national network of 50 innovation hubs — connects start-ups, major corporations, and local partners to boost business growth and Open Innovation.
Creative Minds catalyzes the collective dynamic of all stakeholders around the Climate Solutions Meetings program, through a signature methodology that is both pragmatic and collaborative, grounded in collective intelligence.
Thanks to their ready-to-deploy technologies, the start-ups and SMEs behind innovative climate solutions aim to scale up as quickly as possible.
Here are some examples
According to experts on the field, individual behavioral changes for the average French person would result in a maximum 20% decrease in personal carbon footprint. This would represent a quarter of the global effort needed to achieve the goal of limiting the average global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
In total, commitment of individuals and households to decarbonize their lifestyles, which is certainly unavoidable, is nonetheless insufficient to achieve the reduction targets and aim for carbon neutrality in France by 2050.
In order to win the battle and the race against time in which we are engaged at the planetary level, it is necessary to transcend individual action and reach a collective level of action, while involving the citizens too.
While the major orientations for the climate (plans, strategies, etc.) are defined at the national level, it is at at the regional and intermunicipal levels that these policies are implemented in order to ensure the coherence of the measures and their implementation in all sectors.
Local authorities are directly responsible for a certain number of local public services that are related to the environment and allow them to contribute to its protection. To meet the challenges of climate change, they are looking for innovative solutions, particularly from start-ups and SMEs, which in turn need to develop rapidly and "scale up".
These solutions, whether they are high-tech, mid-tech or low-tech, are also in the field of social innovation and sobriety of uses while allowing the development of new local jobs and the emergence of local activities.
Initially inspired by TED's OUNTDOWN . program to detect and promote inspiring ideas ("We can change Climate Change"), the Climate Solutions Business Matching works operationally with local authorities and start-ups to enhance the implementation of innovative solutions.
