A determined Agency, built on solid foundations, at the service of economic development and regional economic attractiveness
The year 2022 has been marked by a succession of crises with European and global consequences. Nevertheless, the solid structuring of excellent industrial sectors, the development of the hydrogen sector and the emergence of the Cycle sector are all proof of the regional ecosystem’s ability to adapt and resist. In order to face these challenges, AER BFC remains close to companies and territories to maintain and develop economic activity and employment.
A useful and recognised agency
- In 2022, the Agency’s strategy and actions are part of the application and implementation of the new SRDEII 2022-2028, the Regional Economic Development, Innovation and Internationalisation Plan, which has reinforced its missions.
- Thanks to its territorial anchorage, the Agency now has 73 EPCI shareholders alongside the Region, with some twenty additional EPCIs applying to become shareholders in the SPL in 2023.
- In 2022, the Agency continued its ISO-9001 Quality Certification process, initiated in 2018. It has also initiated a process of reflection for the implementation of a CSR approach.
The number of completed projects has been maintained
The economic development unit carries out daily project engineering work with regional companies, future companies and territories with :
- 648 projects in portfolio at the end of December 2022
- 49% exogenous projects
- 81 projects completed and 2 351 jobs created or maintained
- 117 projects, 2 548 jobs
- 49% of regional projects in production (3rd region in France)
- 11% of regional projects in R&D (5th region in France)
Prospecting for investors and promoting regional know-how
After a year 2021 marked by the cancellation and postponement of numerous events, 2022 saw a return to activity in line with the pre-crisis health years, with the Agency participating in 35 events and trade fairs around the world. These included:
- Hyvolution, the must-attend hydrogen exhibition
- SIAL, the international food trade fair
- Micronora, International Microtechnology and Precision Exhibition
- SIMI, the business real estate exhibition
The economic promotion of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté involves the implementation of an economic promotion plan defined by the Prospection-Promotion unit and which uses all communication tools:
- Production of 6 media plans for strategic regional sectors
- Organisation of the event Créer Demain, 2 jours pour innover, which rewarded 3 regional companies during the 1st edition of the Innov’BFC Prize: Ecollant, Pixee Medical and Sintermat
- Communication management of the Hydrogen Business For Climate Forum, which brought together 450 participants and 30 journalists.
- Organisation of the Eco-innovez 2022 Trophies, which rewarded 5 companies with exemplary projects in terms of ecological transition: FIMM, Amiroy, 2nd Chance, Pôle IAE BFC and Mobil Wood.
Promoting the economic attractiveness of the region and its territories
The Agency provides the Region with its expertise in researching and formalising arguments designed to promote the region’s economic attractiveness. To do this, it works with the various tools for promoting the attractiveness of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, with:
- The production of 5 portraits of local territories
- The production of 12 portraits of ambassadors of the region and the publication of the ambassadors’ magazine “Ma vie en Bourgogne-Franche-Comté”.
- The organisation of the Talents of Luxury and Creation at the Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans, which brought together 450 participants and 60 personalities from the world of luxury. The event rewarded 18 talents from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
- The publication of 2 magazines influences : influences n°6 and Influences special Talents of luxury
Constant support for innovation and ecological transition
The Innovation and Ecological Transition cluster has played its role in helping companies to be agile, responsive and resilient, continuing to innovate to meet new challenges and pursue their development.
- The regional event “Create Tomorrow, 2 days to innovate” mobilised more than 310 participants, of which more than 45% were companies
- Co-organisation of 30 promotional and awareness-raising actions, including 3 innovation hubs, enabling companies to work together on eco-design projects
- Animation of the regional innovation ecosystem with 2 meetings and 1 plenary session
- 1 new incubator with the “High level of service” label: INKUB in Nevers, bringing the number of incubators with the label to 15.
- 305 visits organised with companies and project leaders, in connection with innovation, eco-design, renewable energy and heat recovery
- 77 companies received funding and/or in-depth technical monitoring in eco-design/renewable energy/heat recovery
- 70 Presta’INNO files were examined. 63 received aid for a commitment amount of 407,300 euros
- 2022 also saw the creation of ACTES, an association that supports economic actors in a trajectory towards new economic models under the prism of the Economy of Functionality and Cooperation (EFC)
Develop and share regional economic knowledge
The Economic and Territorial Intelligence unit supports territories and economic development actors in terms of socio-economic knowledge and by proposing tools adapted to their expectations:
- More than 1,100 users and 300 regional publications on Décidata, the regional observation platform for data on the Economy-Employment-Training fields
- 117 exclusive ads and 35,000 visitors on the real estate opportunities showcase
Raising awareness of the region’s EPCIs, enabling them to better understand and manage their economic land and business parks. + Visual: “1600 ha of available land, within 313 ZAEs; + SIMI map) - Production of 30 socio-economic sheets for shareholder EPCIs and production of a map illustrating the territorial assets in favour of economic development. + visual: POSTER map
- Carrying out 3 sector studies to improve knowledge of regional ecosystems and contribute to the definition of strategies and action plans + visual: terms “Automobile”, “Textile”, “Cycle” (display the terms “Partnership” with Automobile (+ visual of the study), and “Panoramas” with Textile and Cycle)
- Monitoring of companies at stake, in difficulty, with external capital… + visual: map of companies with foreign capital + figures: 800 foreign groups, i.e. 75,000 jobs
The Regional Economic Agency of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, an agency at the service of businesses and territories.