Lack of a global innovation strategy, absence of alignment with European programs, and drawbacks from heavy reliance on subsidies… Halfway through its rollout, France 2030 does not fully satisfy the Court of Audit.
Announced in October 2021, this plan continues the trajectory of the PIA (programmes d’investissements d’avenir). Yet it comes with unprecedented financial means. Specifically, the promise to commit 54 billion euros over five years.
From progress tracking to financial returns, a partial view
Historically, the Court of Audit has repeatedly highlighted shortcomings in the monitoring and evaluation of the PIA. It notes that with France 2030, the State has, overall, not corrected course.
There is a tranche of 51 million euros allocated to strengthening this aspect. The tools have not, however, been developed in step with the plan’s ramp-up. They remain, in the end, “one of the major fragilities.”
Without an automated and centralized tool, it is primarily the CPMO* (operational ministerial steering committees) that carry out this monitoring. They do so from data that the France 2030 operators transmit on demand and according to needs and focal points. Or from more regular but less detailed feedback.
The weaknesses of the information system also hinder the tracking of financial returns. That is, all sums that could flow back to the State in exchange for the funding granted. At this stage, the SI (information systems) do not allow tracking at a granular level (they offer only an aggregated view). Nor is there a reliable distinction of the nature of the recorded flows.
A two-person team without a dedicated budget
The delay in implementing the IT projects partly explains, according to the SGPI, the weak mobilization of funds allocated to evaluation – only 7.5 M€ committed by end-2025 out of the 51 M€ planned.
This delay “is hard to explain” given the financial stakes and the ambition of France 2030, notes the Court. It points out that the SGPI has never established an IT department. And that the human resources devoted to this function are limited to two agents from two different directorates. There is, moreover, no dedicated budget identified.
The bricks of the centralized IT system with the France 2030 operators are only fully operational since March 2025— even though they did not start from zero: they derive from the financial-tracking system of the former PIA. Until then, the communication of tracking data to the SGPI was done by email and by extracts in spreadsheet form.
The current tool is not fed directly. Operators deposit monthly extracts on an intermediate platform. This results in time- and resource-consuming reprocessing operations.
Moreover, the said tool does not cover the entire scope of France 2030. It lacks data relating to projects implemented by secondary operators. The same goes for some startup aids disbursed by Bpifrance.
Do not overlook the articulation of needs and data standardization
The SGPI intends to launch IT projects. But it does not present a coherent, prioritized workload plan that mobilizes the associated resources, regrets the Court.
The Court recommends that the strengthening of IT tools be accompanied by a reflection on the articulation of evaluation needs. And on the standardization of the data collected for this purpose. The project should closely involve researchers… something that did not occur in the first phase of building the plan’s indicators in 2022-2023.
* The CPMOs bring together the competent central administration directorates, the SGPI, and the operators concerned. They validate the specifications, monitor procurement procedures, review laureates’ proposals, and more broadly supervise the implementation of actions.
** The four main operators of France 2030 are ADEME (Agence de la transition écologique), ANR (Agence nationale de la recherche), Bpifrance, and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. ONF (Office national des forêts), GENCI (Grand équipement national de calcul intensif), Andra (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs), CNES (Centre national d’études spatiales), FranceAgriMer and Inria (Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique) are secondary operators.
