In 2024, 6 new metropolitan innovation districts to join the QMI scheme

Launched in 2022 under the guidance of the Greater Paris Metropolis and run by the Paris&Co agency, the programme is already being rolled out in four metropolitan districts : Sceaux, Meudon, Aulnay-sous-Bois and Noisy-le-Grand. 28 high impact solutions are being developed in the area.

Building on the success of the first edition, the Greater Paris Metropolitan Area has opened the applications for the second edition from 23 October 2023 to 12 January 2024. A total of 22 towns in the metropolitan area have expressed an interest, with 8 applications submitted.

Following the Metropolitan Bureau meeting on 6 February 2024, 6 new municipalities will be joining the second promotion of the Quartiers Métropolitains d'Innovation programme: Athis-Mons, Aubervilliers, Fontenay-sous-Bois, Sucy-en-Brie, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Argenteuil.

6 new challenges at the heart of the urban fabric

Each application focused on a priority challenge that the municipality wished to take up in its future innovation district, which will be the focus of support from the Metropolis and Paris&Co over the next two years :

• Athis-Mons
  - Mayor : Jean-Jacques GROUSSEAU

  - Department : Essonne (91)
  - EPT: Grand Orly Seine Bièvre
  - Challenge: Develop a sports and health hub in the town of Athis-Mons
  - Innovation district: The town wants to revitalise and reprogramme the area around the entrance to the town, with the aim of making sport and health in the town strong identity markers. Both a "gateway to the town" for the municipality of Athis-Mons and a "gateway to Essonne" for the Department, the site is strategically located.

• Fontenay-sous-Bois
  -Mayor : Jean-Philippe GAUTRAIS
  - Department : Val de Marne (94)
  - EPT:  Paris Est Marne et Bois
  - Challenge : Strengthen the district's programmatic mix, improve the quality of public spaces/housing/workplaces, and improve environmental exemplarity.
  - Innovation district : Val-de-Fontenay Alouettes, to the east of Fontenay-sous-Bois. A winner of the Démonstrateurs de la Ville Durable programme, the site is a central business district crossed by the RER A and E lines and the A86 and surrounded by vertical forms of social housing. Today, the municipality and the SPL are demonstrating their desire to restructure a major tertiary centre through a well-thought-out intervention on the urban plan.
• Argenteuil
  - Mayor : Georges MOTHRON

  - Department : Val d'Oise (95)
  - EPT : Boucle Nord de Seine
  - Challenge : Accelerate the revitalisation of economic, urban and residential development projects
  - Innovation district : the Porte Saint-Germain/Berges de Seine sector is one of Argenteuil's 3 business parks. An industrial area (2018) and a district under national interest contract, it covers 75 hectares of run-down, under-dense private housing and an ageing business park.

• Aubervilliers
  - Mayor : Karine FRANCLET
  - Department : Seine Saint-Denis (93)
  - EPT : Plaine Commune
  - Challenge : Redevelopment and revitalisation of the town centre
  - Innovation district : The city-centre, a 44,000m2 site close to the Mairie d'Aubervilliers metro station. Dense, young, with a strong social mix, but high unemployment (20%) and a low standard of living.
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• Issy-les-Moulineaux
  - Mayor : André SANTINI
  - Department: Hauts-de-Seine (92)
  - EPT: Grand Paris Seine Ouest
  - Challenge: Implementation of the first hydrogen eco-district, the "HydroSeine" district
  - Innovation district: Issy Val de Seine, a 6-hectare urbanised site to the north of Issy-les-Moulineaux near the Seine. The aim is to develop a demonstration district, incorporating the standards of a hydrogen-powered, low-consumption or even positive-energy smart city.
• Sucy-en-Brie
  - Mayor: Olivier TRAYAUX

  - County : Val de Marne (94)
  - EPT: Grand Paris Sud Est Avenir
  - Challenge: Strengthen urban, social and economic cohesion in the Cité Verte and Fosse Rouge neighbourhoods
  - Innovation district : Target area based around 3 priority neighbourhoods: Cité Verte, Fosse Rouge and Moulin Touillon. With an ageing population and real needs in terms of inclusion, accessibility and local activities, these neighbourhoods are the focus of a proactive policy by the municipality, which would like to introduce solutions for greening and preserving natural spaces, as well as working on the economic, social and environmental issues.

The next steps

To take better account of the specific features of each of the applications, support for the municipalities will be provided in two phases:

• 3 municipalities will begin the territorial analysis phase with the Institut Paris Région in February 2024
• 3 municipalities will begin this phase in May 2024.

In view of this timetable, the call for projects launched to recruit future experimenters will also be divided into 2 phases: the first part in May 2024, the second in January 2025! 

Since their selection, the 6 new municipalities have already been able to benefit from dedicated training modules on running an urban experiment or project communication as part of the “Pass Expé”, the training programme offered with the support of Paris&Co.