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June 3, 2010

French Embassy wins a national prize for new program accelerating the development in the US of the most promising French startups

The New England Technology Venture Accelerator (NETVA), a new initiative of the French Embassy in United States has been awarded “Best Research and Innovation program” at the 7th edition of the Economic Initiatives Competition, hold in Paris on May 28th, 2010. A jury of 70 economic journalists acknowledged NETVA, designed and managed by Yann Le Beux and Antoine Mynard at the Office for Science and Technology of the French Consulate in Boston, for its support to the development in the US of the innovative French start-ups.

Hold since 2004, The Economic Initiatives Competition, or Initiatives de l’économie in French, rewards the best projects fostering competitiveness and partnership. Its objective is to underline the dynamics favorable to economic development, employment and innovation. The Prize was given to Antoine Mynard, the Scientific Attaché at the Consulate General of France in Boston by Bernard Dizambourg, Special Advisor to Valérie Pécresse (French Minister for Higher Education and Research) at the French Economic, Social, and Environmental Council in Paris.

Designed in Boston with a strong support of the Boston area entrepreneurship community, NETVA aims at accelerating the development in the U.S. of high potential French start-ups. It is addressing the need to internationalize budding French high-tech businesses and provides them with a personalized coaching, mentoring and technology partnership program. NETVA also provides a customized support for younger French innovative businesses as they attempt to grow and blossom within the dynamic and competitive environment of the United States.

Selected nation-wide by a Franco-American committee, the six laureates of the 2010 NETVA edition will be granted an intensive accelerator week in Boston in September where they will receive a customized coaching from local U.S. entrepreneurs and experts of early stage international development at Boston University. Moreover, they will be matched with a personal U.S. mentor as well as with some prominent technology and entrepreneurship leaders of the Boston area. A team of American senior MBA candidates will also work for 3 months with each company and provide their expertise to adjust their business plans to the U.S. market. This accelerator week will be preceded in June by a two-day long preparation workshop in France.

NETVA partners with the Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization at Boston University (ITEC/BU) and the French national network of business incubators and science parks (RETIS). The initiative is also supported by the Massachusetts Office of International Trade (MOITI) 2 & Investment and the French-American Chamber of Commerce (FACCNE) and the French Foreign Trade Counselors (CCEF). Boston-based GoToMarket Consulting is NETVA’s first corporate sponsor and further sponsorships are being sought to expand the program. Instrumental in building transatlantic ventures, NETVA provides to its partners connections with high-potential startups and exposure to the French and American entrepreneurship ecosystems.

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To read the press release or for more information about NETVA, please download the file below.

February 17, 2010

The FACCNE is pleased to announce the results of the fifth edition of the Young Entrepreneurs Initiative (YEi). YEi'10 rewards 10 innovative entrepreneurs based in the U.S. who wish to settle in France. Since YEi's launch in 2005, a total of 174 applications have been submitted, 34 of whom applied this year with a common purpose: expand their innovative development in France.

The 10 winners will receive one year of support from YEi and its transatlantic partners. The support will include mentoring, training, free advice (legal, marketing), and access not only to investors, but also to YEi's broad network of innovation and entrepreneurship. Six of them will also benefit from a one-week mission to France financed by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to meet their potential partners and clients.

Please find below the press release from YEi'10: