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INNOBIOECO2 project selected following the PIA3 Territoire d’Innovation - Grande Ambition (TIGA) call for expression of interest

Dear colleagues,

The results of the PIA3 Territoire d’Innovation - Grande Ambition (TIGA) [Region of Innovation - High Ambitions] call for expression of interest have been revealed today. This call, published by the Caisse des Dépôts, is intended to identify and select original projects that bring together a high level of innovation and a regional ecosystem. Twenty projects have been selected to move forward to the second phase, from roughly one hundred applications submitted. The final evaluation is scheduled for 2019.

The INNOBIOECO2 project, in which URCA is a major stakeholder, has been selected.

INNOBIOECO2 is the joint application, submitted on 29 September 2017, of the Communauté urbaine du Grand Reims, the Communauté d’agglomération de Châlons-en-Champagne, the Communauté d’agglomération d’Epernay, Coteaux et Plaine de Champagne, their respective main towns and their public and private partners, together with user associations, academic stakeholders and sector representatives.

INNOBIOECO2 brings together 22 stakeholders with a shared ambition: an inclusive, structuring, unifying ambition for the benefit of a regional dynamic, that of the “Marne triangle”; an innovative ecosystem by means of the bioeconomy, capable of overcoming the new challenges of the 21st century.

This selection is a recognition of our region, the performance of its agriculture and winemaking, the exemplary nature of its entrepreneurship, and the dynamism of its research.

Of course, the announcing of this result is a moment of great pride for the university. It encouraged the establishment of this initiative from the start. It was particularly active and a driving force for proposals for putting together the application, and was a catalyst working to bring together the ecosystem as a whole.

Today, I wish to thank all of the staff involved in putting together the application. This strong, unifying dynamic, to which you are contributing, gives us confidence in the direction we are moving in.

This result foreshadows what could be developed on this subject through the pooling of our means and skills: a structured research strategy for increasing scientific intensity, promoting education and training and thus supporting the ambitions and reputation of the whole region in the context of the bioeconomy.

While we must already start looking ahead to the organisation of the co-construction of the last phase of this application, we are all aware that the success of our projects will necessary be collective.

Kind regards,

Guillaume Gellé

President