Four calls for projects were launched in 2019 aimed at bringing financial assistance to innovating projects with strong local roots in the eastern ring of Parisian suburbs, the territory of Arc de l’innovation.
Arc de l’innovation is a metropolitan initiative that was begun in 2015 by the territories of Paris, Est Ensemble, Plaine Commune and Grand-Orly Seine Bièvre, and is articulated around a community of places and innovating key players in economic and societal fields. Apur has participated since it started by following its progress as part of its work programme.
This note studies the project candidates and the winners of the Arc de l’innovation call for projects launched in 2019. The analysis carried out was based on information given in application dossiers, which enabled light to be shed on the project dynamics underway throughout the territory and on the key players who are leading them.
A total of 426 projects were submitted, 34 of which were selected. The profiles of project leaders resemble those of inhabitants in the Arc de l’innovation territory, they are very diverse and of all age categories. The projects propose the development of innovative services with a strong local impact touching on various themes such as solidarity economy, making and/or reusing, social links, training and culture. Among the applicants, one out of five (19%) were located in priority neighbourhoods of the Paris City urban cohesion policy.
The majority of project leaders were employed (59%), almost a third were job seekers (30%). Winning projects were spread throughout the territories of the Arc de l’innovation, in the 15 different municipalities.
This first year of calls for projects highlights a new operational approach to services for territorial development, founded on a “bottom up” logic that gives added value to the emergence of local initiatives. The partnership that has been established between the different Grand Paris territories, which includes private businesses that bring funding and become involved in the call for projects, reveals new possibilities for cooperation which could become more widespread in other contexts.
It also raises many challenges: to consolidate projects which have been identified, some of which are fragile and still seeking an economic model, and to spread the initiative (number of winners, amount of funding, territories).
