The “Innovation & Technology” Lab of the International Network of Michelin Cities (INMC) was launched during the 4th INMC Conference in Anderson (South Carolina, USA) in April 2024.
It includes, on the one hand, the Corridor of Incubators (COI), a partnership agreement between incubators from the Network’s cities aimed at supporting startups in their international development, and on the other hand the organization of the INMC startup competition, whose objective is to identify the most promising INMC startups and to foster partnerships within the COI.
This first edition of the INMC Start-Up Award brought together in Anderson 14 companies representing 8 member cities. Two winners were rewarded: CIDECO (Clermont-Ferrand) and Health Evolve Technologies (Anderson). The success of this first edition made it possible to initiate a first partnership within the Corridor of Incubators with the Clermont-Ferrand startup CIDECO, which was hosted in November 2025 in Regensburg by the incubator TechBase, a member of the COI (as a reminder, the INMC financed TechBase up to 2,500 euros for the recruitment of a coach for CIDECO).
TechBase invited the other INMC members of the COI to participate, from 25 to 27 November 2025, in the Cluster Meet Regions event in Regensburg. This major European gathering brings together economic stakeholders, companies, institutions and experts in order to foster innovation and stimulate collaborations for territorial development.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Marek Przeor, Head of Industrial Clusters and SME Policy at the European Commission, followed by speeches from Tobias Gotthardt, State Secretary in the Government of the State of Bavaria, and Prof. Dr. Georg Stephan Barfuß, Head of Economic, Scientific and Financial Affairs of the city of Regensburg.
Cross-innovation, green technologies, artificial intelligence, cluster strategies, smart cities and cultural and creative industries were among the key themes throughout the conferences, B2B networking sessions and visits to innovative sites in the city such as MINT-Labs, BioPark, RUBINA House of Sustainability and Kreativareal.
Numerous INMC partners were present at Cluster Meet Regions: Ignite Atlantic, representing the city of Bridgewater, Pictou County Partnership, Clermont Auvergne Innovation, Entreprendre Sherbrooke, as well as CIDECO.
Among the networking moments, a COI Lab organized by TechBase brought together the member cities present and enabled work on the 2nd edition of the INMC startup competition, which will take place in Cuneo from 5 to 9 October 2026, during the next official INMC meetings. Other INMC cities and partners joined the COI Lab online: Gemma Venture (Cuneo), Magog Technopole, the Mobility Lab and the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, as well as the City of Bridgewater.
During the four hours of discussions, several topics were addressed, including the presentation of the Clermont-Ferrand startup CIDECO, which generated strong interest and opened the way to future cooperation.
Finally, the members of the COI worked on the development of a provisional calendar for the startup competition, defining the eligibility criteria for startups as well as the composition of the jury.
The COI is open to all INMC member cities wishing to join it. New partners recently involved, such as Ignite Atlantic, Entreprendre Sherbrooke and Gemma Venture, expressed during this meeting a strong interest in active participation in the project.
