In 2004, France re-established an industrial policy aimed at stimulating the country’s capacity for innovation. With that goal in mind, it defined regional actions plans based on the idea of competitiveness clusters. To use the official terms, a "competitiveness cluster” for a given region is:
> An association of companies, research centers, and training institutions
> Engaged in a partnership
> Meant to create synergies in innovative joint projects.
In particular, the missions of a cluster are to:
> Develop and implement the cluster’s overall strategy
> Coordinate and select ("certify") research projects that are suitable to receive government financing specifically set aside for clusters
The Finance Innovation cluster is the only one dedicated to financial sector. To put it in the cluster‘s own words, “Finance Innovation is a collective approach by all those involved in the financial sector—banks, insurers, management companies, professions serving financial institutions, universities, and research clusters—that utilizes the strong support and skills of the financial sector to achieve its goal of creating new added value industrial and research projects in order to develop employment and increase the market share of the French financial industry in Europe.”