Pays de la Loire Europe is an association that represents the French region Pays de la Loire and its stakeholders in Brussels. It is the direct contact point of the Regional Council, the five departments composing the Region, as well as three cities (Angers, Saint Nazaire and La Roche-sur-Yon) and the regional Chambers (Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Trade and crafts, …). Beyond these actors, the office in Brussels also works with clusters, Universities, research institutes and other public and private actors from the Region on various key topics relevant for R&I development: manufacturing, vegetal issues, agriculture (e.g. proteins, digital transition), circular economy, bioeconomy, offshore renewable energies, hydrogen, ICT, robotics, algae, Smart city, climate adaptation, health, cultural and creative industries, … Our key priorities at the moment are the energy and digital transitions, as well as climate adaptation, in particular in agriculture and transport but also at the urban level. Issues such as microalgae, plant-based proteins, carbon-neutral farms in agriculture, circular solutions in agrifood, water and soil management, or the development of hydrogen in Pays de la Loire remain major focuses as well.
Rondpoint Schuman 14
1040 Brussels
Belgium
The Smart Specialisation Strategy of the Region Pays de la Loire is currently being revised but you can find below some information about the priorities of the 2014-2020 strategy. The S3 is namely divided into 6 key areas, representing 22 regional economic sectors:
- Advanced production technologies: equipment, electronic components, conception/production/recycling, manufacturing plant of the future, wood and biobased materials, etc.
- Maritime Industries: shipbuilding, marine renewable energies, marine bio-resources, and products, etc.
- Food and bio-resources: agri-food, health and nutrition, agri-food of the future, precision agriculture, sustainable agriculture, products traceability
- Informatics and professional Electronics: components, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing systems, logistics, virtual reality, etc.
- Design and Cultural and creative industries
- Tomorrow’s therapies and health: biotherapies, ageing, etc.
Smart Agri Hubs is a European innovative project aiming at fostering the digital transition in agriculture. Supported by 107 partners dispatched into regional clusters, it has two main objectives: supporting the development of projects and developing a network of skills through the creation of Digital Innovation Hubs.
WEBSITE>The CLIPPER project brings together 7 European partners with the overall aim to develop better public policies to support the competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) working in Maritime Industries in Europe. The Pays de la Loire Regional Council coordinates the project.
WEBSITE>The Regions4Food project brings together 7 European partners eager to work on the use of data in the food industry. Overall, the programme works on specific integration and management procedures to make the most of new economic opportunities based on information, data and cognitive technologies and promote innovation-driven growth.
WEBSITE>“SOS PROTEIN” stands for “Sustain Our Self sufficiency Protein Research to Overcome the Trend of European Import Needs”. This collaborative project between the Pays de la Loire and Brittany regions supported research projects on plant-based proteins for animal feeding. Despite ending in 2020, the objective is to follow-up and keep supporting research on this topic and beyond.
WEBSITE>This Cofund is an initiative of eight national and regional government agencies from six European countries (France, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Sweden). The aim is to coordinate support for R&D in ocean energy, to encourage collaborative projects that tackle some of the key challenges identified for the sector as it progresses towards commercialisation.
WEBSITE>The association "Collectif T’Cap", along with local partners (ADAPEI Loire-Atlantique, Cercle Karré and Pickup Production) are looking for partners to participate in two Erasmus+ cooperation projects in the field of adult education. The first one aims at developing a network of hybrid places mixing cultural and economic activities for less engaged audiences, while the second one targets autonomous housing for people with disabilities.
During the recent European Research and Innovation Days, the European Commission announced the 2nd wave of signatories to the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change Charter, with a further 100 regions and local authorities signing. Of the now 215 signatories, a staggering 100 are associated with ERRIN member cities and regions.
The University of Angers is actively seeking for partners for a medium-scale cooperation Creative Europe project. The aim of this project is to involve young Europeans to create and co-produce new ideas of projected utopia. Through cultural and social diversity of historical or actual concrete utopias in Europe, the generation of new ideas will allow/induce new practices between young Europeans in term of cooperation, exchanges and experimentations. The productions will be valued in transnational immersive and inclusive digital supports, disseminated and promoted, in order to become cultural and creative levers to “make in another way”/ “make otherwise” and innovate in the Europe of tomorrow.
The Universities of Angers and Nantes, in Western France, have each released a call for manifestation of interest for MSCA postdoctoral fellowship. The call is open to post-doc researchers of any nationality, looking for expanding their experience and boosting their career with a stay in a French research group. Both universities are among the 592 organisations that have received the HR Excellence in Research award.
Building on two former Creative Europe cooperation projects, Trempo and its partners have developed a program named Slash - Transition aiming to experiment how musicians should integrate transition issues within their career development models. Slash -Transition also offers to rethink the role of music, and then, musicians in the cities and districts in transition. Slash is a project combining musicians’ career development and future-proof projects for cities, based on a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach.
Already involved in previous Horizon 2020 projects, the multidisplinary unit of research SPHERE (University of Nantes) is seeking to join a consortium where it could offer its expertise in psychometrics. In this respect, SPHERE has identified the Mission Cancer call regarding quality of life and patient preference measures for cancer patients and survivors.