- Areas of Excellence
- Information Technologies
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- Life Sciences
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- Services and Corporate Functions
- Call Centers
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- Clean Technologies
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- Competitive Clusters
THE CÔTE D’AZUR: A LEADING DESTINATION FOR R&D SET-UPS IN FRANCE
Thanks to its successes in these two fields, Team Côte d'Azur clinched 28 investment decisions by French and foreign companies representing 625 new job creations.
"The impact of the investment decisions successfully negotiated by Team Côte d’Azur over the past three years resulted in an upturn in 2009 despite the global recession. The Côte d’Azur remained one of the leading destinations for R&D set-ups in France in this 3 years period, accounting for almost 25% of the jobs generated nationwide by new investment in the sector" says Jean-Pierre MASCARELLI, President of Team Côte d’Azur.
> 2010 Inward Investments Review
THE CÔTE D’AZUR, FRANCE’S TOP DESTINATION FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN R&D
Global Focus
UNCTAD confirmed a global downturn in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of 39% in 2009.
France experienced a drop of 36% in its FDI, and now ranks third in the world for its capacity to attract direct foreign investment.
In a challenging international climate, the Côte d'Azur, gateway to Europe and open to the world, did more than weather the storm of the past two years. In 2009, we doubled the number of jobs eventually to be created by foreign firms as compared to 2008. In 2009, 21% of all new foreign R&D centers in France were located in the Alpes Maritimes: R&D is a key sector for foreign investors, and Sophia Antipolis heads the list of prime locations. To mark its 40th anniversary, Europe’s leading technology park saw its international reputation given added luster by new investment in strategic technologies such as 4G/LTE with Icera and ultra mobility with Intel, plus investment by a major European pharmaceutical group, Lundbeck. The eco-technologies and environment sector, meanwhile, can look to the National Interest Project French Riviera Eco-Valley development program as a guaranteed source of long-term growth and sustainability.
Regional Focus
The Côte d’Azur: top location in the South of France for number of FDI projects and jobs generated. Almost a third of the FDI attracted to the South of France (PACA region) in 2009 went to the Côte d’Azur, most notably three quarters of all R&D centers and half of all decision centers. The results achieved by the Côte d'Azur contributed substantially to the PACA region’s ranking as one of the front-runners in France (from 4th on 2008 to 3rd place in 2009 in number of projects) in attracting FDI.
They chose the Côte d'Azur
"Sophia-Antipolis is a very attractive region for any semiconductor company, for several reasons. The first one is that in the technology park of Sophia-Antipolis there is a solid tradition of analog and digital design, which is due to the presence of other big companies working in the same or similar markets, like Texas Instruments, Intel, STM and others. The second reason is linked to presence in the technology park of the Polytech'Nice-Sophia and other important schools.
That will guarantee our future growth since the region will always offer both experienced design engineers and you talents to hire."
Interview with Paolo Cusinato, Design Director of MAXIM Sophia-Antipolis design center
Talents
"For me, Sophia Antipolis is unique in Europe because of its multicultural nature which is evident daily, but also the concentration of a multitude of companies from the computing world in a single location."
Interview with Davide NOARO, Computer Engineer, Ausy, Sophia Antipolis
Our Experts
Philippe STEFANINI
•CEO
+ 33 (0)4 92 17 51 60 ↵
He previously contributed to the redevelopment of the Port of Marseilles into one of the largest business and creative district in Southern Europe known as "Euroméditerranée" (10 000 new jobs). He also held positions such as Managing Director of the IT Science Park of Montpellier, and Internal auditor for Thomson.
Graduated from Marseilles Business School, he also holds a Master of Auditing of the University of Aix en Provence. Philippe was the founder of the Montpellier International Conference on Virtual Reality and he published a book on the management of the information technologies.
Philippe SERVETTI
•Business development director
+ 33 (0) 4 92 17 51 60 ↵
Previously, Philippe Servetti was Marketing Director in charge of the Strategic Marketing Policies of Côte d?Azur area and Sophia-Antipolis Science Park .His major tasks included management of the prospection team and supervision of international representatives/consultants (Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris). With more than 20 years of experience in territorial marketing and business economic development, he has been involved in a wide array of projects, including SAP, Siemens, Infineon, HP, Cisco, Icera, American Express, Toyota, thus contributing largely to the technology and business development of the Côte d'Azur.
He holds a Master Degree in Economics with a specialization in Marketing Management from the Nice Sophia Antipolis University (France).
