The programme, promoted by CDP, Bpifrance, ELITE-Euronext Group and Team France Export, aims to boost business development and the international expansion processes of companies in the two countries

Rome/Paris, 20 September 2023 - Supporting the development of international expansion processes and promoting business relations between Italian and French companies. This is the objective of the second edition of the French-Italian Accelerator, supported by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), Bpifrance, the French Investment Bank, ELITE-Euronext Group and Team France Export, to which Business France, Bpifrance, and CCI France Italie (the French Chamber of Commerce in Italy) belong.

The programme, lasting one year, will enable the selected companies to participate in dedicated growth processes that include training activities and bilateral business matching meetings.

The initiative allows Italian and French companies to identify and seize sustainable growth opportunities in both countries. The renewal of the programme, building on the success of the first edition, is further evidence of the fruitful collaboration between CDP, Bpifrance, ELITE-Euronext Group and Team France Export to accelerate business growth.

The 27 companies that will take part in the programme are active in different industrial and service sectors with a strong focus on exports. The Accelerator will count six sessions which will be held alternately in France and Italy. The first day of each session will be dedicated to training, while the second one will be focused on business matching meetings. In particular, training sessions will be run by SDA Bocconi School of Management and Sciences Po, a university specialising in social sciences and internationally recognised for the quality of its scientific research, which will host workshops to improve corporate strategies and leadership skills. In addition, companies will benefit from both an online learning platform with courses, workshops and web conferences organised by Bpifrance Université and SDA Bocconi School of Management, and from the ELITE Digital Compass, the business tool for identifying company's strengths and growth priorities.

The companies will also be able to liaise with players in the reference markets thanks to bilateral business meetings, organised on the basis of their specific needs to support the development in their respective markets and participate in networking opportunities to strengthen transalpine partnerships and promote cross-border investments.

"The second edition of the French-Italian Accelerator aims to support and prepare French companies to develop their businesses in Italy. This acceleration programme allows entrepreneurs to change their perspective and think big", explained Guillaume Mortelier, Executive Director of Bpifrance in charge of the Support Department. "Gathering both French and Italian companies, this edition successfully brings together the two ecosystems with the aim of becoming more efficient together.”

“With this joint initiative between Italy and France, which features top-level institutional partners, we aim to encourage companies’ growth from the two countries by strengthening their cooperation and synergies. In this perspective, the new edition of the French-Italian Accelerator will further boost the dynamism shown in recent months by Italian companies in their expansion towards international markets and it will enable new development opportunities, impacting managerial, technical and financial skills”, commented Andrea Nuzzi, Head of Corporate and Financial Institutions at CDP.

Marta Testi, Chief Executive Officer of ELITE, stated: “Welcome to the companies joining the second edition of the French-Italian Accelerator and representing some of the best and most ambitious companies of the two countries. This initiative enables unparalleled synergies for companies’ growth and international expansion, transforming the corporate vision into strategic plans and tangible results for the companies participating in the programme. Skills, relationships, and capital to serve real economy growth, key driver for the European growth.”

"The entrepreneurial synergy between Italian and French companies is today more than ever a unique opportunity to affirm the growth of the economies and the value creation for our two countries", said Denis Delespaul, Chairman of CCI France Italie. "The Accelerator acts as an additional and important tool to multiply business opportunities and to develop cooperation between Italian and French companies by fostering new and unexplored opportunities for expansion and, consequently, job creation.”