DEV'UP CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE

Their core work

DEV'UP Centre-Val de Loire is a French regional economic development agency that supports SMEs through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). They deliver innovation management services — specifically Key Account Management (KAM) and Enhanced Innovation Management Capacity (EIMC) — helping small businesses access EU funding, find international partners, and improve their R&D processes. Their work spans the Centre-Val de Loire region and extends to Île-de-France, French Polynesia, and New Caledonia, bridging local SMEs with European innovation ecosystems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Early projects (2015-2018) focused on building foundational EEN innovation management services, with explicit mention of KAM and EIMC capacity for individual SMEs across French regions and overseas territories. From 2019 onward, the language shifts toward broader European-level EEN delivery and inter-agency collaboration, suggesting DEV'UP moved from implementing basic services to optimizing cross-border SME support at scale. The CollSupportSMEs project (2018-2020) marks a diversification into agrofood sector specialization and R&D system improvement.

DEV'UP is maturing from a regional EEN service provider into a more integrated European SME support hub, with growing sector specialization in agrofood.

How they like to work

DEV'UP has never coordinated an H2020 project, always participating as a partner in Coordination and Support Actions (CSA). With 10 unique partners across 5 countries, they work in moderately sized consortia typical of EEN service delivery networks. This profile suggests a reliable implementation partner rather than a project initiator — useful for consortia needing regional SME access points in central France.

DEV'UP has collaborated with 10 distinct partners across 5 countries, reflecting the distributed nature of Enterprise Europe Network operations. Their geographic connections likely span other French regions and EEN nodes across Europe.

What sets them apart

DEV'UP offers direct access to the SME ecosystem of Centre-Val de Loire, one of France's key agricultural and industrial regions. Their unusual geographic reach into French overseas territories (New Caledonia, French Polynesia) provides a rare bridge between European innovation programs and Pacific markets. For consortium builders, they bring established EEN infrastructure and hands-on experience delivering innovation services to non-research SMEs who typically struggle to engage with EU programs.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TOPIC2INNO 2020-2021
  Largest funded project (EUR 103,275), representing the most mature iteration of their core EEN service delivery model.
• CollSupportSMEs
  Only project outside the TOPIC2INNO series, marking a strategic diversification into agrofood sector and inter-agency R&D collaboration.