Satt Paris-Saclay, École Polytechnique and National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research have joined forces for an aerospace and defence accelerator.
Satt Paris-Saclay, the French regional tech transfer office for the Paris-Saclay University ecosystem, has backed an accelerator called Blast aimed at coaching 20 space and defence startups each year, Maddyness reported yesterday.
The initiative is also supported by École Polytechnique, the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research (Onera), and accelerator and venture firm Starburst.
Blast will get started in January 2021 with the aim of spurring more aerospace and defence innovation in France to rival peers such as the US and Israel.
The programme will invest from €2m to €3m ($2.4m to $3.6m) in seed-stage technologies such as autonomy, low-carbon aviation, urban air mobility and secure cloud services.
Blast hopes to align its startup pipeline with the priorities of the aerospace and defence sector in order to facilitate commercial partnerships with both industry and academic partners.
The accelerator is one of 10 initiatives to receive funding through state-owned investment bank Bpifrance’s Investments for the Future Programme, which will cover 50% of costs during the first two years.
