2023-12-11 14:01:53
Emmanuel Macron is in Toulouse, this Monday, December 11, 2023, on one of the Airbus sites for an assessment of the France 2030 program. It was launched two years ago with the ambition of supporting research and innovation In France. The ambition to catch up with French industrial delay, can we say that we are on the right track?
We know that there is a race across the world to be leader in certain key, so-called strategic, areas, notably electronic chips. The president, through this France 2030 plan, had listed ten areas of action as varied as the production of electric cars, carbon-free planes, but also space, energy, medical, agriculture… In short, this plan, endowed with 54 billion euros, wanted to strike hard and in all directions. This is also what some criticize it today, perhaps too many objectives and not enough structural reforms, particularly in the field of research which must be more selective.
Emmanuel Macron wants at all costs to show his desire to move forward. Last Thursday, December 7, he brought together several hundred researchers at the Élysée and the day before, he received managers of start-ups in the nuclear and space fields. International competition is strong from China, the United States, and India, which have taken a head start in all these areas. So, could this France 2030 plan be France’s instrument in the trade war which is currently taking shape against a backdrop of the energy crisis? It’s to do.
And precisely, one of the objectives of this France 2030 plan was also to supervise the energy transition, France wants to be in a leading position in green technologies.
Moreover, the first transformations, in hydrogen for example, are well and truly underway. The Élysée affirms that the production of one million electric cars per year is now secure out of the two million hoped for by 2030. But according to an evaluation report released this summer, there is still a lot to do. France 2030 credits have only a limited impact on the decarbonization of the economy. The real crux of the matter is in reality the capacity that this France 2030 plan will have to mobilize private capital. Because without private investment, the public funds allocated to these future technologies are insufficient.
Emmanuel Macron, this Monday, December 11, 2023, announces new projects, new challenges for entrepreneurs, as he likes to say, with the underlying theme of France’s technological sovereignty, no less!
Is this plan for French innovation and research ultimately up to par with the industrial plans implemented by other countries?
In the government’s speech, the plan was in fact intended to respond, at least in part, to the American protectionist measures contained in theInflation Reduction Act. The massive nature of American aid could cause France to lose ten billion euros in investments and 10,000 potential job creations, according to Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. Competition also comes from Asia, China, but also Japan and South Korea are accelerating very strongly on innovation.
Added to these challenges is a new risk, that of rising rates, which makes it more difficult for governments to finance innovative companies or projects. All eyes will therefore be on the European Central Bank this week, even if a rate cut is not expected before next March.
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