Since Pépite Pays de la Loire was founded in 2014, around 20 students from the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers have received support, including three projects led by seven students this year. This fruitful partnership enables students to develop their skills, adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, and gain a better understanding of how a business works.
What is Pépite Pays de la Loire?
Pépite (Student Center for Innovation, Transfer, and Entrepreneurship) Pays de la Loire is a public initiative launched in 2014 and attached to the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation. Open to all students from high school level onwards, this program aims to support those who wish to develop an entrepreneurial idea or project.
The main objective? To enable each student to develop their skills: understanding how a business works, acquiring knowledge in marketing, finance, human resources, entrepreneurial mindset, ability to pitch, sell, listen, and adapt to the real needs of the market.
Support is based on:
- group sessions and personalized follow-up,
- a network of mentors and professionals,
- an online resource center (videos, tools, webinars),
- in-person workshops,
- a free coworking space at Weforge, immersed in a stimulating entrepreneurial ecosystem,
- Participation in the Les Entrep’ program, an intensive six-month training course in a multidisciplinary team, with dedicated support before and after.
Students can also enroll in the Student Entrepreneur Diploma (D2E): a 200-hour online course consisting of 22 à la carte modules, which allows recent graduates to retain their student status for an additional year (cost: €300 + CVEC).
A dynamic collaboration with Arts et Métiers
The partnership between Pépite Pays de la Loire and the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers is enriched each year by a seriesof educational and immersive activities, accessible free of charge to students, teachers, and staff:
- Serious game about creating a team project,
- Testimonials from young entrepreneurs and engineering alumni,
- Participation in the Hackathon in partnership with Alstom,
- Escape game planned for spring 2026,
- Awareness of entrepreneurship at the beginning of the year,
- Participation in the "Free Fall" orientation week,
- Three half-days of design challenges.
Teaching rooted in reality
A key aspect of the program is immersion in real-world issues. Each year, challenges proposed by the city enable students to identify a real need in the local area. Pépite then brings together students from different schools to work in multidisciplinary teams. The aim is to combine skills, propose viable solutions, and test them in the field. This approach is particularly well suited to engineering, which is based on the analysis of complex problems, prototyping, and experimentation.
An open door to employability and innovation
Joining Pépite means training in active listening, sales, financial strategy, public speaking, and more, but also learning to understand the language of other departments within the company. This is a real added value for students' professional futures.
Engineers are among the most entrepreneurial profiles: Pépite supports more than 7,000 young people each year in its 31 centers across France. Their methodological rigor and ability to solve complex problems make them natural candidates for entrepreneurship.
Pépite also allows you to apply for the Prix Pépite, a national initiative in partnership with BPI that rewards promising projects each year.
"During my first year, I threw myself into it, telling myself, 'Either I succeed, or I learn.' Well, I learned a lot. This experience enriched my understanding of the world and of business, and today sets me apart from other candidates." Thibault HAGUET, former engineering student at the Angers campus.
👉 For more information or to apply: https://www.pepite-france.fr
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