Hardis Group will provide cash, technical and commercial support to high-potential development projects, selected to be supported and housed in the Crédit Agricole Atlantique Vendée start-up incubator.
Hardis Group, a consultancy firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, joins the Nantes Village by CA, a start-up incubator created by Crédit Agricole, as an "ambassador". With this partnership, Hardis Group continues its strategy to support initiatives that promote open innovation, close to its main geographic locations.
Villages by CA: cooperating to innovate
Villages by CA are run by the Crédit Agricole regional banks, in partnership with large companies, SMEs and public bodies. Their role is to support innovation, foster the emergence of innovative projects and to boost the economy in the region, by supporting young companies with strong potential for development. They include both offices, to accommodate the start-ups, and areas for exhibitions, meetings and conferences to promote cooperation, exchanges and the transfer of expertise between the different people involved in the ecosystem. By late 2017, there will be around twenty Villages throughout France, supplemented by premises and services in 25 cities in different parts of the world, such as New York, London, Moscow, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Singapore.
A partnership to locally support high potential projects
As part of its three-year plan, Hardis Group has set itself the strategic objective of developing its ecosystem around innovation, in all the regions where the company is located. "We are convinced that value can be created only by co-creation and the association of talents. The partnership with Village by CA is part of this philosophy", explains Frédéric Barbelivien, Director of the Hardis Group Nantes agency.
As an ambassador partner, Hardis Group participated in the selection of the first nine start-ups that will be hosted in the Nantes Village. Its contribution will then be to focus on technical and commercial support for various projects, in four key areas: agri-food and agriculture, health and aging, sustainable development and housing. The partnership will be officially signed during the inauguration of the Village, on May 16 of this year.