A top location for the leaders in today’s higher tertiary sector
TEAM CÔTE D'AZUR, the regional economic development and service agency for the Côte d'Azur, helps corporates to tap all of the available resources on the Côte d'Azur to make business more efficient.
The Côte d’Azur has today become a strategic location for technology and service companies, as a European bridgehead between southern England and northern Italy, and a vantage point on the horizontal axis between Barcelona and Milan. The easily accessible Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport provides a gateway to the world, with over 95 destinations and 9.5 millions passengers per year.
Today, the Côte d'Azur is firmly positioning itself in the higher sector, attracting key enterprise functions, such as:
- R&D centers: The Côte d'Azur is home to the leading SCS (Secured Communication Solutions) world competitive cluster, with all the advantages brought by R&D zoning.
* IBM, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Philips Semiconducteurs...
- Central functions: Arkopharma, Alenia Alcatel Space, ASK, ETSI, Koné, ProBTP, Virbac...
- International functions (customers centers, marketing centers, training centers): Accenture, Amadeus, European Heart House, ETSI, Sciences Po, Stryker, Unisys...
A Côte d’Azur Metropolis is now taking shape: it links a continuous string of coastal towns, all famous and varied, whose synergy and impact have reinforced each other (Cannes, Antibes, Grasse, Vence, Nice, Monaco et Menton). And the synergies which will be created as this new metropolis emerges can only add to the strengths and attractions of individual cities and the region as a whole. The result – an area with unrivalled pulling power for major French and international service, R&D, and high tech companies.
The Côte d'Azur is among the richest regions in Europe, with high net worth value clients and infrastructure of the very highest quality, a proven entrepreneurial spirit, an attractive setting, and international investors.
The prestige of the Côte d’Azur as a business and technology mecca is illustrated by the presence of leading international companies as well as that of smaller, highly dynamic enterprises. Internal audits conducted recently by a number of leading industrial groups have further revealed the competitive advantage offered by the Côte d'Azur in terms of operating costs – and of a qualified and cosmopolitan workforce.
Among the companies to have located their head offices on the Côte d’Azur are KONE, ALCATEL ALENIA SPACE, AMADEUS, and GSF...
Nowhere is this dynamism better symbolized than the Sophia Antipolis technology park. The biggest and best of its kind in Europe and one of the continent’s hottest locations, Sophia Antipolis is both driving and benefiting from the ambitious service development projects of the Nice and Côte d'Azur authorities.
The Nice Côte d'Azur Urban Authority (CANCA)
Two flagship projects now nearing completion will equip the region with even more quality enterprise real estate products which are sure to attract investors and end users alike: NICE PLAZA and AZUREA. Both are located in the heart of the Arénas business park opposite Nice-Côte d'Azur airport. Once completed they will offer a total of 190,000 sq.m. floor space (115,000 sq.m. have already been completed) over 17 hectares of land.
Both initiatives come fresh after completion of the latest project in the 400 Promenade des Anglais development programme. (The owners of the programme are COGEDIM and TERTIAL, the architect is Jean-Philippe Cabane from Villeneuve-Loubet firm ABC Architectes, and the investor is Crédit Suisse Asset Management).
In addition, NICE MERIDIA project, a new Business Site Concept. NICE MERIDIA combines a variety of functions with urban quality, and heightens the economic appeal of the Nice Côte d'Azur urban area. It will occupy a site of 22 hectares with 190,000 m² to be built.
Among other projects developed by the Nice Côte d'Azur urban authority:
TECHNOPOLIS in Cagnes-sur-Mer, and the Activity Park of LA GAUDE PLAN DU BOIS where IBM La Gaude is currently set up.
Information: www.agglo-nice.fr - info@agglo-nice.fr
Sophia Antipolis Science Park
The Sophia Antipolis science park, the first of its kind in Europe, is home to a great number of high-tech enterprises from across the world: over 1,200 companies (mainly in the high-tech sector) with over 27,000 employees (more than half of whom are executives) on 2,400 hectares in a well preserved natural setting.
Alongside these enterprises, the presence of numerous research laboratories and higher education establishments (including the Nice-Sophia Antipolis University) makes this one of the most sought-after sites in Europe.
The creation of a network of associated sites based right along the Côte d’Azur coastline will increase what Sophia Antipolis has to offer and enhance its overall integration on the Côte d’Azur.
Information: www.sophia-antipolis.net
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Team Côte d'Azur is a joint initiative of the Alpes-Maritimes county council |
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