France’s NUMA launches IoT accelerator in smart city Angers.
About 90 minutes southwest of Paris, the city of Angers has embarked on an ambitious program to become a model smart city. Almost three years after launching, its efforts are getting another boost thanks to a partnership with the country’s leading startup accelerator.
NUMA, based in Paris, has announced that its newest accelerator will be based in Angers and will focus on Internet of Things (IoT) startups. The program is designed to attract advanced startups from across Europe to this western city to leverage its growing ecosystem of IoT startups and its local electronics manufacturing base.
Dubbed NUMA Angers IoT, the new accelerator has launched this week its first call for applications for a program that starts in April and lasts five months. The goal is to help startups go from prototype to production through mentoring and partnerships with experience manufacturers.
At the same time, the new accelerator is part of NUMA’s emerging strategy to ensure the benefits of the country’s growing tech economy extend beyond the capital city. In the case of Angers, that means attracting and nurturing startups that can potentially help maintain and revive the region’s historic manufacturing economy in addition to creating jobs in new fields.
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