Introduction
The Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency
Innovation at the heart of the construction of the new Marseille
The MED’INNOVANT competition is organised by the urban and economic development agency Euroméditerranée (EPAEM), the largest city-centre urban renewal and economic development operation in Southern Europe.
For 25 years, Euroméditerranée has been designing, developing and building a comprehensive model for the Mediterranean sustainable city. Spread over 480 hectares in the centre of Marseille, France’s second city, the development programme brings together public services, retail, office space, housing, transport and parking infrastructures, public parks and more to create a new way of ‘living together’. Home to over 5,300 businesses and 45,200 jobs, Euroméditerranée is now France’s third-biggest business district.
Awarded the ‘EcoCité’ label, the regeneration project is a test bed for urban planning where innovative services and technologies can be assessed, developed and deployed in order to simultaneously meet objectives such as connectivity, convenience, quality of life, cost efficiency and environmental performance. To supports its ambitious plans, Euroméditerranée decided to proactively seek out innovative companies and, over 10 years ago, created MED’INNOVANT: : an innovation competition designed to help start-ups accelerate their eco-innovation projects that offer solutions in line with the new development and sustainability objectives pursued by Mediterranean regions.
The actors of the Mediterranean sustainable city
EPAEM has developed a comprehensive approach to open innovation that encompasses the following areas:
- Multi-energy smart grids
- Urban digital services
- The natural city and public spaces
- Demonstrator buildings
- Optimisation of the water cycle
- Waste management
- Soil and materials management
- Soft, low-carbon transport
MED’INNOVANT is part of an operational strategy to launch, in the short- to medium-term, pilot and demonstration projects within the Euroméditerranée Eco-City, (a test bed spread over 480 ha in the heart of Marseille, France’s second-biggest city) and more broadly the Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolis. The competition also has the backing of industrial partners that support Euroméditerranée in its pursuit of an open innovation approach and are looking to team up with innovative and creative enterprises!
Innovators: invent solutions for our rapidly changing world!
Tackle one of six challenges to win a year’s sponsorship by one of the competition partners!
The list of 2021 challenges is as follows:
Challenge #1 : Design and build tomorrow’s urban developments alongside users
Theme : Mastering use
Sponsor : Etablissement Public d'Aménagement Euroméditerranée
Challenge #2 : Develop mechanisms to promote a circular economy in city planning
Theme : Land and materials
Sponsor : Saint-Gobain Bâtiment Distribution France
Challenge #3 : Support residents in new ways to reduce the energy footprint of housing
Theme : Energy
Sponsor : ENGIE
Challenge #4 : Design comfortable, low-carbon buildings at an affordable price for buyers
Theme : Construction
Sponsor : REDMAN - EIFFAGE - Saint-Gobain Bâtiment Distribution France
Challenge #5 : Use social innovation as a lever for a more resilient, productive, and inclusive city
Theme : Economy and urban inclusiveness
Sponsor : ICI MARSEILLE

What are the benefits for the winners?
High-value packages offering a year of assistance combining a CASH INJECTION and BUSINESS SUPPORT to build concrete foundations for your business, make targeted connections and DRIVE YOUR PROMOTION! |
FINANCIAL BOOST : €54,000 split between the winners of the 5 Challenges 5 "JURY AWARDS’"
REGIONAL ACCESS PASS:
- A laboratory for testing and demonstrating the innovative solution: the Euroméditerranée Eco-City*
- A personal tour of the Euroméditerranée catchment area with a representative of the urban development agency to access the potential scope of application for the award-winning innovation;
ACCELERATION PACKAGE:
- A two-hour work session with the Business Development Director and the Innovation Manager of Euroméditerranée to define the ways in which the award-winning solution will be implemented in the Euroméditerranée Eco-City
- A two-hour meeting with the key sponsor of the challenge accepted (monitoring of the award-winning solution at an ad hoc steering committee, etc.)
- Free soft landing for three months at the accelerator P.Factory
- Legal support from FIDAL law firm: a two-hour training session covering intellectual property and information technology law, contract law, company law and property law
- A dedicated plot in Connectwave’s showroom*** at La Coque for projects integrating contactless (excluding payment) technology and business connected devices
- Three months’ access to the ICI Marseille collaboration factory and its “Helping Hand” support programme for the winner of Challenge #5 (one month for the winners of the four other challenges)
- Targeted introductions with the competition partners and associated organisations (incubators, accelerators, competitiveness clusters, etc.)
- Integration with EMUL (Euroméditerranée Metropolitan Urban Lab), a network of industrial partners working to develop innovative solutions on the themes linked to the resilient and sustainable Mediterranean city
- Free one-year membership to La Cité des Entrepreneurs d’Euroméditerranée (association co-financed by Euroméditerranée and the CCIMP, which organises and networks over 250 business entrepreneurs who wish to be associated with the economic dynamic driven by Euroméditerranée.)
* 480 hectares within the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Marseille.
**for a total of 6 hours, usable within a period of 6 months from the date of the award ceremony.
***Digital Innovation and Event Centre of Aix-Marseille !
PROMOTIONAL PUSH:
- 5-minute pitch delivered to an audience during the 2021 Challenges - Jury Awards ceremony (23 November at La Coque - Marseille)
- Communications: press and social media, website, trade fairs, etc.
- A video interview with the winner presenting their innovative solution broadcast on the Euroméditerranée YouTube channel
Organiser
For the past 20 years, the Euroméditerranée Urban Development Agency has been designing, developing and building the sustainable Mediterranean city of the future, right in the heart of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis. This “operation of national interest”, State-run in partnership with local authorities, has created over 37,000 private-sector jobs and 6,500 public-sector jobs and led to the establishment of more than 5,300 businesses. The impact of Euroméditerranée extends beyond the international business district and its 650,000m² of offices. Piece by piece, the puzzle is being put together, involving public and private facilities, shops, residential buildings, transport and parking infrastructure, parks and public spaces. The scheme is therefore not yet complete. It is now being continued over 170 hectares to the north of the original 310 hectares, and has entered a new phase. Labelled “EcoCité”, this new area is intended as a testing ground for urban planning, in which innovative services and technologies for smart, sustainable cities are tested, deployed and developed.
Winners and finalists
Winners
An annual event, the MED'INNOVANT competition organised by the Euroméditerranée Urban & Economic Development Agency (EPAEM) rewards start-ups inventing the sustainable, smart and resilient city of tomorrow. In 2020, six companies will be singled out for their innovative solutions: Nauvelis & GEOGRAM, Panga, ENTENT, BACKACIA, Urbasense and Marklix.

An innovation contest now in its ninth year
The call for applications for this 9th edition of MED'INNOVANT was launched in September 2020. In less than a month, 86 French start-ups sent in their application to Euroméditerranée. For the first time, this latest competition invited tomorrow’s talents to take up six themed challenges. After the finalists presented their solutions to the jury, composed of financial and funding partners (Saint-Gobain Bâtiment Distribution France, EIFFAGE Immobilier, Engie, Marignan, La Cité des Entrepreneurs d’Euroméditerranée, CIC, Redman, ICI Marseille, P. Factory, Fidal, CCI Aix Marseille Provence), six projects were singled out as winners.
For more information, read the press release and press kit
Through MED’INNOVANT, Euroméditerranée offers innovators the chance to test their solutions on an experimental area in the heart of France's second largest city!
For Euroméditerranée, innovation has always been a “marker”, thanks to its experimentation work in thalasso-thermal loops, developing a platform for processing and recycling polluted soils and producing the functional mixed city of today by imagining the hybrid city of the future.
Since 2010, over 500 project leaders have been put to the test by a panel of experts, and 25 winners have been rewarded for their innovation.

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“Nauvelis and Geogram digitalize space management thanks to an interactive digital twin. This enables all the equipment installed to be viewed and controlled in a 3D environment. The simulation also makes it possible to plan and optimise future developments. The Euroméditerranée project integrates the smart city concepts right from the design stage, so it seemed appropriate to us to propose a tool that would allow to exploit its full potential ”
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“Graffiti is a vision assistant. When you’re out and about and you’re wondering about something, you can take out graffiti, scan the things you’re wondering about and you instantly have the answer. We applied for Med’innovant for two reasons. The first is that it makes perfect sense to integrate Graffiti into smart city projects. The second is because we have close links with Marseille and we thought it would be a good idea to connect with local organisations.”
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“Qarnot Computing’s business consists of providing heating by reusing waste heat from IT computations. We offer large companies the chance to decarbonate their IT processes. And then we also heat homes for free using green energy As new building regulations aim for very comprehensive energy efficiency, Qarnot’s solution can definitely be adapted to the Euroméditerranée project.”
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Discover all our winners:
Finalists
Discover the Med Innovant 2017 finalists.
Discover the Med Innovant 2016 finalists.
Selection committee
Members of the selection committee
Official partners:
Hugues PARANT, CEO - EPA Euroméditerranée
Michel DANIEL, Director of Regional Strategy and CSR - Saint Gobain Distribution Bâtiment France
Hervé GATINEAU, Major Real Estate Project Director - Eiffage
Ludovic PARISOT, Regional Director South Corsica Monaco - ENGIE
Sandra CHALINET, President - La Cité des Entrepreneurs d'Euroméditerranée
Yann GOZLAN, Business and Innovation Manager - CIC Lyonnaise de Banque
Rémy LAGARRIGUE, Asset Developer Innovation / Training - Complex projects & Real estate - REDMAN
David BEN HAÏM, Co-founder - ICI Marseille
Philippe DE MATTEIS, Operations Director - ConnectWave
Patrick SIRI, Co-founder and President - P.Factory
Cyril CHAUVIN, Manager of the Intellectual property/Technologies & IT cluster / Mediterranean regional director - Fidal Société d’avocats
Official partners
With Med’Innovant, theinnovative solutions competition, Euroméditerranée is keen to assert its leadership and specialist expertise in the sphere of sustainable urban planning in the Mediterranean.
Euroméditerranée has many strengths to promote, above all as “a unique testing ground for urban innovation in France and experimenting with market approaches that represent business opportunities for your organisation”.
Why support the competition?
- Stand out as a local actor in contact with tomorrow’s innovation leaders
- Develop your business network and share your expertise in the sphere of the sustainable Mediterranean city!
- Sit on the jury to choose the winners
Premium media exposure
- Euroméditerranée is present at industry trade fairs and business events: Viva Technology Paris, Forum des entrepreneurs de l’UPE13, Emerging Valley, Grand Opening evening of French Tech Weeks, and more
- Media advertising in the economic and specialist press
- Press relations
- Communication plan rolled out on social media
- Awards ceremony on 23 November at La Coque
Join us and get involved at grass roots level with the innovators of tomorrow!
dominique.brunet@euromediterranee.fr
Saint-Gobain Distribution Bâtiment France
Saint-Gobain Distribution Bâtiment France, part of Saint-Gobain’s Building Distribution branch, is today the leading distributor of construction materials in France, supplying the construction and home improvement sectors.
Eiffage Immobilier
Eiffage Immobilier est une filiale du groupe Eiffage, 3ème acteur français de BTP et de concessions, qui compte 70 400 collaborateurs dans le monde dont 700 dans le sud-est de la France. Elle opère avec un modèle de constructeur-promoteur unique en France. Eiffage Immobilier fédère de multiples activités : logements résidentiels, résidences dédiées aux seniors, étudiants ou jeunes actifs, résidences de tourisme ou d’affaires, hôtels, immobilier d’entreprise, urbanisme commercial et aménagement urbain.
Engie
Engie puts sustainable growth at the heart of its business areas (electricity, natural gas and energy services), in order to rise to the key challenges of the energy transition towards a low-carbon economy: access to sustainable energy, climate-change mitigation and adaptation, and responsible resource use.
La Cité des entrepreneurs d'Euroméditerranée
Créée il y a 20 ans, la Cité des Entrepreneurs d’Euroméditerranée fédère les entreprises autour du projet d’aménagement et de développement économique : Euroméditerranée.
Ce réseau économique incontournable apporte à ses 250 adhérents une opportunité unique de participer à la mutation de ce territoire à travers des actions de networking où l’innovation tient une place prépondérante.
CIC
“Let’s build in a changing world”
Local presence, responsiveness and competence make CIC the bank for professionals, businesses and their owners, with an ongoing desire to adapt its solutions in line with the priorities of its customers, a capacity for innovation, and expertise from its training centres.
Press contact:
Romain Lessard
romain.lessard@orange.com
Redman
Founded ten years ago, Redman is an economic actor specialising in complex property transactions. In practice, it is the combination of an independent organisation with multidisciplinary competences that enables it to innovate to resolve the complexities of a project.
ICI Marseille
ICI Marseille est une manufacture partagée implantée dans le nouvel écoquartier « Les Fabriques ». Sur 3 500 m², elle permet à plus de 200 entrepreneurs de concevoir, prototyper, fabriquer et s’entraider au quotidien. En échange d’un abonnement, les designers, artisans, ingénieurs, makers peuvent prendre un atelier et accéder à un parc de plus de 50 machines professionnelles (bois, métal, fabrication numérique, maroquinerie, usinage…), des formations, de l’accompagnement au développement grâce à la communauté du réseau Make ICI et le soutien de Linkcity & UrbanEra. »
P.Factory
Créé par 60 entrepreneurs expérimentés, P.FACTORY est une SAS qui fait grandir les startups à fort potentiel de croissance en leur apportant du chiffre d’affaires, en les aidant à obtenir des financements (subventions, prêts, capitaux) et des avantages (privilèges, accompagnement).
Fidal
The Fidal legal practice has put in place an offering of legal and tax services dedicated to the boldest, most talented start-ups, giving them the opportunity to take advantage of its expertise in the field of intellectual property strategy as well as comprehensive legal and tax expertise, particularly with regard to investment capital.
Press contact:
Romain Clerc
romain.clerc@fidal.com
Partenaires relais
Emerging Valley
AMFT
Medinsoft
Capenergies
Pôle Mer Méditerranée
Provence Business Angels
Anima
The Next Society
Linxeo
FBTP13
Grand Luminy Technopole
Marseille Innovation
Arbois Méditerranée
EA Eco Entreprises
Incubateur Belle de Mai
Le Club Immobilier
Citeos Ingénierie Méditerranée
Urban Wave
Région Sud
Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence
Ville de Marseille
risingSUD
UPE13
Provence Promotion
Citeo
Make it Marseille
E-couveuz’
Photos & Vidéos
Edition 2020
Galerie photos de l'édition 2020
Edition 2019
Galerie photos de l'édition 2019
Galerie photos de l'édition 2018
Vidéo de l'édition 2018
Galerie photos de l'édition 2017
Vidéo de l'édition 2017
Galerie photos de l'édition 2016
Playlist vidéo de l'édition 2016
Contact, Gallery & Press
Euroméditerranée Urban & Economic Development Agency
Dominique Brunet Marketing, Economic Communication and Employment Project Manager
Tel: +33(0) 491 144 504,
Email: dominique.brunet@euromediterranee.fr
Press review
Press packs and releases:
2020 edition
2019 edition
2018 edition
2017 edition
- Med'Innovant guide
- Med'Innovant 2017 press pack
- Med'Innovant 2017 press release
- Press release: call for applications 2017
2016 edition
Apply
END OF APPLICATIONS
SELECTION CRITERIA
- Expression of need: applicant’s ability to explain the need they have identified.
- Proposed solution to solve the problem: value proposition.
- Impact on the testing ground: the solution must be feasible for implementation within the Euroméditerranée Eco-City.
- Business model: applicant has provided a cohesive and realistic business model, technical feasibility, income projections.
- Technological maturity of the solution: the solution has moved beyond the ideation phase and presents developments in a significant environment or, at minimum, a working prototype (technological maturity ≥ 6).
- Quality and credibility of the team: the project team has the relevant skills and is able to conduct the project.
- Innovative nature of the solution: innovative product, service, or process, social or organizational innovation, etc.
The contest is open continuously from September 1 at 8 am to September 30, 2021 at 11:59 pm (UTC+1), for start-ups, micro-enterprises and SMEs based in France and abroad. Temporary consortia are permitted (see terms in the contest rules)
CALENDAR
During the week of October 1, the contest organizer will open the applications and confirm their eligibility(applications must be complete, cohesive, and easily understood by a person outside of the project)
September 1-30: Applications submitted
October 8: Pre-selection of eligible applications
October 29: Selection of a shortlist of 10-15 applications
November 23: 2:00 pm-6:00 pm: Finalist interviews (EPA Euroméditerranée)- 7:00-10:00 pm: Grand awards ceremony honoring the winners at La Coque http://lacoque-numerique.fr/ http://lacoque-numerique.fr/
CONFIDENTIALITY
The documents transmitted in the context of this competition are subject to the strictest confidentiality and are only communicated to the members of the jury. The information will only be used to judge the project owner's application.
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