2026 Finance Bill: JEII, an unprecedented and transformative step forward for the recognition of impactful innovation

‍The creation of the Young Innovative Impact Companies (JEII) status in the 2026 Budget is a major step forward, long awaited and championed by Impact France. It marks a decisive milestone in the recognition of social and environmental innovation and will provide strong support for the development of young impact companies across all regions.

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Better targeting public support for innovation towards impact: a strategic challenge for the French economy

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In a context marked by ongoing geopolitical tensions, an accelerating ecological transition, and weakened social cohesion, France must strengthen its capacity to design and deploy sovereign, resilient solutions that are directly useful to the public interest. Impact companies are now at the heart of this transformation.

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Since its creation, Impact France has held a strong belief: impact innovation must be recognized and supported in the same way as technological innovation or hypergrowth.

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Through its work and sector-specific circles (notably its Innovation Circle and SCESS–ESUS Circle), Impact France has for years been formulating structural proposals to promote the emergence and scaling up of impact-driven companies. Among these, the creation of a specific category of JEI (Young Innovative Company) dedicated to social and environmental innovation is a key lever.

The objective is twofold:

• Better target public support for innovation towards companies that generate a positive social and environmental impact;
• Make the benefits of JEI status more easily accessible to young social economy companies (SCESS) and ESUS-approved companies.

This development should enable the emergence of true French champions of impact, contributing to the competitiveness of the national economy and the country's strategic priorities.

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Five years of campaigning for the creation of the JEII status

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For the past five years, Impact France has been actively campaigning, with each finance bill and each regulatory opportunity, for the creation of the JEII status (2023 Finance Bill, 2024 Finance Bill, 2025 Finance Bill). This proposal has become a major advocacy issue for the Movement and its members. 

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Over the years, our efforts have gained momentum, garnering growing support from both public decision-makers and the business community. 

In 2025, Impact France launched an open letter signed by more than 100 impact business leaders, sending a strong signal in favor of this recognition. The proposal then receivedcross-party support and was adopted at first reading in the National Assembly as part of budget discussions, even though it was not retained by the government.

In 2026, momentum grew with broader support from lawmakers across the political spectrum. The proposal was adopted by the Senate after narrowly failing to pass in a public session of the National Assembly.

This progress is also the result of extensive work with the executive branch and public decision-makers, including meetings at the Élysée Palace and regular exchanges with successive governments and numerous members of parliament.

The final inclusion of the measure in the text for which the Government assumes responsibility through the use of Article 49-3 is therefore a decisive step. It is the resultof long-term collective work and reflects the emergence of a broad consensus on the need to better recognize social and environmental innovation in innovation support policies.

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A new subcategory of the JEI scheme: Young Innovative Impact Companies (JEII)

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The 2026 finance bill thus creates a new subcategory of the JEI scheme: the Young Innovative Impact Company (JEII). 

Unless a motion of censure is passed in the coming weeks, the measure will be definitively adopted and implemented. The final outcome will be known in early February. 

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Click here to find out more about the new JEII scheme.

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