Foncier+: the French public network supporting the economic attractiveness of your area

From finding sites to building a shared network

Launched in April 2024 as a joint initiative of the French State, Caisse des Dépôts and Cerema, the France Foncier+ portal quickly established itself as a national showcase for business sites, particularly for industrial and logistics use, with more than 1,000 sites listed and more than 8,000 hectares identified across France.

But a simple showcase is no longer enough, given the growing scarcity of land and France’s sustainability targets (“Zero Net Land Take”).

To scale up and respond directly to local needs, France Foncier+ is becoming Foncier+, a public-interest non-profit organisation.

What’s changing for your local authority:

• Service continuity guaranteed: your business site inventory (e.g. Economic Playing Field inventory service) and site listings remain fully active.

• From using the platform to shaping it together: Foncier+ does more than simply display your data. Its public-interest non-profit organisation status provides a stable legal and operational framework for bringing together institutions, local authorities, public operators and industrial companies.

• A central role in governance: joining the “Collège des Collectivités territoriales” (the membership group for local and regional authorities) gives you an active role in Foncier+’s strategic decision-making. You can help shape feature priorities and data requirements to match your local needs and maximise Foncier+’s impact on companies’ site-selection decisions.

Our ambitions for Foncier+

Foncier+ is designed to support local authorities (regions, inter-municipal authorities, metropolitan authorities and economic development agencies) without replacing local support. Our ambition is built around three key commitments:

1. Unlock the full potential of your land inventory

Foncier+ aims to become your national reference for business and industrial site data. Foncier+ helps you identify potential development opportunities at an early stage, rather than simply showcasing available plots.

By making your data more reliable and comprehensive — including information on utilities, water, electricity, planning and ICPEs (facilities classified for environmental protection) — you can prepare tomorrow’s opportunities and give manufacturers and investors a solid basis for decision-making.

2. Provide complementary tools connected to a national platform

Enter your data once. Foncier+ connects to your existing tools and GIS systems, provided they use common data standards suited to the needs of businesses. You can share your data with the national platform without entering the same information twice.

Stronger national and local coordination. Foncier+ bridges the gap between local initiatives and national organisations promoting investment in France, including Business France and the national “Territoires d’Industrie” programme. We make it easy to share information with the full range of partners, while fully respecting your local or regional governance and never replacing it.

3. Connect the right projects with the right local teams

Greater visibility. Through an optimised digital platform, Foncier+ gives your available sites maximum visibility in France and abroad.

The “Every project gets an answer” commitment. Foncier+ aims to ensure that every site enquiry is followed up in close coordination with your teams, so that projects that cannot proceed can be redirected to other locations.

A sector-based approach. Targeted pre-qualification ensures that only mature projects that match the characteristics of your sites reach your teams. Foncier+ follows up every site enquiry in close cooperation with your teams.

Reporting and follow-up. End-to-end information is shared with the Foncier+ team so that we can track the progress of qualified connections together.

How to join Foncier+?

Membership of Foncier+ is free and open to all local authorities, EPCIs (public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation), economic development agencies and other local public operators committed to resource efficiency and economic development.

A 5-step process:

1. Application: submit your membership application to the President and Chief Executive Officer, providing details of your legal representative (or a resolution from your executive committee authorising membership).

2. Foncier+ Board review: the Board of Directors approves the application and formal affiliation with Council 4 – Local & Regional Authorities.

3. Notification and membership agreement: you receive the decision along with a membership agreement for both parties to sign. The agreement sets out our mutual commitments, including roles and responsibilities for data monitoring and updates, update frequency and target response times for enquiries.

4. Initial setup: tailored support from our team to set up your site data and promote your sites, either by connecting your existing tools or managing your listings directly.

5. Governance and co-design: take an active role in the local authorities’ council. You can contribute directly to the association’s work, help define land data standards and shape strategic decisions about the platform, ensuring that it meets your local needs.

Maximise the potential of your business sites. Whether you want to build an inventory of your business areas (ZAE), showcase your sites nationally and internationally, or join the Foncier+ association, our team will support you every step of the way.