Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) established in France have access to exceptional financial support to strengthen their intellectual property (IP). This assistance is provided through initiatives by INPI (PASS PI), the EUIPO (SME Fund) and BPI France (IP Strategy Diagnosis).

To help you navigate these opportunities, we’ve prepared a comparison table outlining the three key funding schemes currently available. You can explore further details about each program in the sections below to discover how they can support your IP development while reducing costs.

---

INPI

Under the PASS PI scheme of the INPI (www.inpi.fr), your start-up or SME can benefit from financial aid to carry out intellectual property (IP) actions to enhance the value of your innovations at the various stages of your project:

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for the PASS PI, your company must:

• be a legal entity (SA, SAAS, SARL, etc.) and have a business purpose;
• employ less than 1000 employees;
• be registered in France;
• not over 25% of its capital is held by an ineligible entity.

Maximizing your grant amounts by coupling the PI PASS with the SME Fund grant scheme is possible. To do so, you need to provide the acknowledgment of receipt of the grant application to the SME Fund (Voucher 2).

Eligible services

• The elaboration of your contracts
• Searching for patent and/or trademark information
• The protection of your digital creations
• The elaboration of your international protection strategy
• Estimating the value of the IP assets
• Valuing and enforcing your titles

The drafting and filing of a patent application in France are now eligible for the PASS PI, even though it may not be the first time that you have filed a French patent application, provided that you can demonstrate a willingness to build a patent portfolio.

Amounts financed

The INPI will finance up to 50% of the IP services.

This funding is available up to a maximum of 3 000€ per service, with a total limit of 5 000€ for up to three services completed over the lifespan of your company.

Example of an expense program financed at 50% by 3 PASS PI :

• A prior art search for a total amount of 5 000 € to file one or more patent applications
• A study of the freedom to exploit your invention billed at 4 000 €
• The drafting of a contract billed at 1 000 €

---

EUIPO

Under the EUIPO SME Fund scheme, your start-up or SME can benefit from financial support for intellectual property (IP) actions to enhance the value of your innovations at different stages of your project.

Eligibility and prerequisites

To be eligible for the SME Fund, your company must:

• be a legal entity (SA, SAAS, SARL, etc.) with a business purpose;
• be registered in the European Union (EU); 
• provide the VAT certificate or tax identification number (TIN); the bank account certificate and; a declaration of honor (for external representatives).

The SME Fund is now coupled with the INPI’s PASS PI to maximize your grants.

Eligible services

The benefits subsidized by the SME Fund apply only to official fees, excluding any type of fee, for patents, trademarks, and designs.

For example, the PASS PI will subsidise the drafting and filing fees for a new patent application in France, while the SME Fund will subsidise the filing and examination fees.

Amounts financed

The SME Fund subsidises official fees up to :

• 50% for patent applications (up to a limit of 750 € TTC/year)
• 75% for EU trademarks and designs; and 50% for non-EU trademarks and designs (up to a limit of €1000 incl. VAT/year)

You can cumulate INPI and EUIPO grants, until 7350 € over 3 years.

---

BPI France

Within the framework of BPI France’s “IP Strategy Diagnosis” scheme, your company can benefit from subsidies for providing services as part of a global audit based on an existing portfolio of IP titles to be adjusted according to your needs.

Eligibility conditions

To be eligible for the IP Strategy diagnosis, your company must be:

• a start-up 
• or an EPI

Eligible services

Protection and acquisition

• review of the rights to protect intellectual assets
• inventory of assets and IP rights
• analysis of the IP strategy and inventory of the IP ecosystem

Valorization and exploitation of IP

• valorization of intangible assets
  know-how management and technology transfer strategy

Licensing strategy and respect of rights

• counterfeit protection strategy
• licensing and protection strategy

Amounts financed

The services are subsidised up to 50% for a maximum expense of 10 000 €.