The start-up ION-X wins EIC Accelerator funding
On 28 February 2024, the European Innovation Council (EIC) announced a new set of 42 companies which have been selected to receive funding as part of its Accelerator programme. ION-X is one of the six French start-ups to be awarded funding.
Created in 2021, ION-X was born from a collaboration between the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N - Univ. Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Univ. Paris Cité) and Airbus Defence and Space (ADS). The start-up, which aims to develop a new concept of spacecraft propulsion, was launched by Jacques Gierak, a research engineer at C2N, in partnership with François Auque, the former director of Space Activities at Airbus (2000-2016), president of Airbus Ventures until 2018, and who is currently a partner at InfraVia Capital and advises the start-up on a voluntary basis, as well as Jean-Marc Schmittbiel, business manager at CNRS Innovation.
Thanks to the EIC’s accelerator’s programme, ION-X will share a total of €285 million in funding with the other winning companies.
Find out more about the EIC Accelerator programme: https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-funding-opportunities/eic-accelerator_en
