PIA 2 (Deuxième Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir — Second Future Investments Programme) was France’s second major state innovation investment program, launched in 2014 under President François Hollande with a budget of €12 billion. It ran from 2014 through 2017 and deployed approximately €10 billion in grants, repayable advances, and equity investments before being folded into PIA 3 (2017) and, ultimately, into France 2030 (2021). PIA 2 marks a critical pivot in France’s investment planning tradition: from research infrastructure toward industrial translation.

Historical Context: Why PIA 2 Was Designed Differently

PIA 1, launched in 2010, allocated roughly €20 billion toward France’s fundamental research and higher education infrastructure — Initiatives d’Excellence university clusters (Idex), Equipements d’Excellence (EquipEx) research platforms, Laboratoires d’Excellence (LabEx), and early-stage technology transfer mechanisms. The rationale was sound: France had world-class research capacity but a structural weakness in translating scientific results into commercial products. PIA 1’s theory of change was that strengthening the research base would, over time, improve innovation outcomes.

By 2013, the mid-term evaluations of PIA 1 revealed a more complex picture. The university and research infrastructure investments were performing well — France’s research output had demonstrably improved, and the Idex designations were raising international research rankings. But the industrial translation problem remained acute. The pathway from French laboratory to French company was still far too slow and uncertain. Start-ups were being created but struggled to scale. Large industrial groups were innovating but slowly.

PIA 2 was designed to address this translation gap directly. Its architects — including the CGI under the direction of Louis Gallois, whose 2012 report on French industrial competitiveness had sharpened political thinking on the issue — shifted the balance significantly toward industrial demonstrators, collaborative R&D programs where companies and research labs work jointly on applied problems, and SME support mechanisms.

PIA 2’s Architecture and Key Programs

The €12 billion PIA 2 envelope was organized into three main allocations.

Industrial innovation (approximately €4 billion). The largest single allocation went to programs targeting the industrial translation gap. PIAVE (Projets Industriels d’Avenir) became the flagship: a mechanism for supporting companies building first-of-kind industrial demonstrators — the pilot production lines, the industrial-scale validation facilities, the pre-commercial manufacturing processes that turn research results into viable products. PIAVE’s structure — grants covering up to 40% of eligible costs for projects in the €10–€100 million range — became the direct template for France 2030’s “first factory” and capacity-building competitions.

The i-Nov competition was also created under PIA 2, establishing what became France’s primary startup innovation competition. i-Nov provided €200,000–€600,000 grants to innovative startups in targeted thematic areas, with fast evaluation cycles designed to match startup timescales rather than traditional government procurement timelines. By the time France 2030 launched in 2021, i-Nov had expanded to 13 thematic editions covering every major France 2030 sector.

Higher education and research (approximately €5 billion). PIA 2 continued the research infrastructure investments of PIA 1 but with greater emphasis on IRT (Instituts de Recherche Technologique) — applied research institutes co-governed by companies and academia, modeled loosely on Germany’s Fraunhofer institutes. The eight IRTs operating across France in aerospace, digital systems, energy, materials, health, and other sectors were established or consolidated under PIA 1 and 2. PIA 2 also established ITE (Instituts pour la Transition Energétique) with specific focus on low-carbon technologies — a direct predecessor to France 2030’s clean energy priorities.

SATT reinforcement (approximately €1 billion). The SATTs (Sociétés d’Accélération du Transfert de Technologies) — technology transfer offices created as commercial entities to patent, license, and spin-off university research — were established under PIA 1 and substantially strengthened under PIA 2. Fourteen SATTs now operate across France, handling over €200 million in annual technology transfer transactions. The SATT network represents one of PIA 2’s most durable institutional legacies.

PIA 2’s Cross-Partisan Significance

One of PIA 2’s most politically significant characteristics was that it represented the continuation by a Socialist government of a program created by a center-right government. This was not inevitable. The Hollande government’s initial instinct was to differentiate itself from the Sarkozy investment agenda. The decision to maintain, expand, and rebrand (rather than dismantle) PIA 1 reflected the conclusion that France’s innovation investment framework had achieved genuine technical merit and cross-sectoral legitimacy — including strong support from industrialists, research directors, and regional governments whose political loyalties cut across party lines.

This cross-partisan continuity became a structural feature of the PIA / France 2030 tradition. PIA 3 was launched under Macron. France 2030 was maintained through multiple government changes and the constitutional disruptions of 2024. The investment plan has become, in effect, a permanent institution of French economic governance — not a policy preference of any single government but an institutional fixture that successive governments inherit, modify, and expand.

Governance: CGI Over SGPI

PIA 2 was administered by the CGI (Commissariat Général à l’Investissement), the predecessor institution to the current SGPI. Unlike later programs, PIA 2 was not significantly decentralized to regional governments — a decision that generated criticism from elected regional presidents who wanted more control over investments in their territories. France 2030 has partially addressed this through CPER (Contrats de Plan État-Région) matching arrangements, but the fundamental centralization of strategic decision-making at the SGPI level has remained constant.

Legacy for France 2030

PIA 2’s legacy lives directly in France 2030’s architecture. The PIAVE industrial demonstrator model became France 2030’s first-factory mechanism. The i-Nov startup competition became one of France 2030’s highest-volume programs. The IRT network became a key delivery vehicle for France 2030 sector research. The SATT technology transfer system provides the channel through which France 2030-funded research results move toward commercial application. PIA 2 should be understood not as a concluded historical episode but as the operational template from which France 2030 was built.

Key Facts

• Budget: €12 billion
• Launched: 2014, under President François Hollande
• Duration: 2014–2017 (then absorbed into PIA 3)
• Administrator: CGI (renamed SGPI in 2017)
• Primary operators: Bpifrance, ADEME, ANR
• Key innovation: Industrial demonstrator model (PIAVE), i-Nov startup competition, ITE energy transition institutes
• Total disbursed: Approximately €10 billion by 2018
• Institutional legacy: PIAVE → France 2030 first-factory; i-Nov → France 2030 startup competitions; IRT/ITE → France 2030 applied research network

Related Terms

• PIA 1 — The first investment program (€35B, 2010)
• Plan d’Investissement — The overarching French investment tradition
• France 2030 — The current program that builds on PIA 1, 2, 3, 4
• SGPI — The coordinating body that ran CGI/PIA programs
• Appel à Projets — Competition mechanisms PIA 2 systematized
• I-Nov — Startup innovation competition created under PIA 2