Title Corporate

At the heart of Western Europe, close to the major economic centers of Paris and London, the Brittany region offers quality infrastructure that are constantly being upgraded. There are daily airline services between Brittany and Paris, London and Lyon departing from Brest, Rennes and Nantes. There are 19 high speed TGV railway stations in the region, and the region has a dense, fluid road network (free expressways, rapid links to the Le Havre and Saint Nazaire seaports, and a North/South Europe motorway route).

Brittany has a 1.2 million strong workforce, with high levels of general and scientific training. The proportion of students enrolled in engineering schools in the region is higher than the national average. This solid base of scientific and technology expertise gives the region an advantage for manpower, energy and real estate costs that are below average for Western Europe.

Brittany has 4 designated clusters in its particular fields of excellence: meeting points between private businesses, research centers and academic institutions working in the same sector of activity, designed to encourage innovation, these clusters are a key factor in the economic attractiveness of the region. The two international clusters “Images and networks” ("Images et Réseaux") and “Brittany Sea” ("Mer Bretagne", marine activities) demonstrate the level of expertise in the region. Brittany is the 2nd leading French platform for IT activities, and the region has a tradition of excellence in the fields of naval construction, maritime security and maritime resources (internationally renowned naval construction sites and leading French ports for civil maritime repairs).

Brittany is also France’s leading region for the agro-food industry, with 4,600 companies, and the “Valorial” industry cluster. Finally, the automotive industry is represented by approximately 200 international-level companies, such as PSA Peugeot-Citroën. La Janais at Chartres-de-Bretagne is also a platform for industrial excellence that has its own cluster dedicated to the luxury automotive sector.

Brittany is the 4th leading region for patents registered and 6th for R&D activities. It also has 16 technology innovation centers, 7 “techno-hubs” and approximately 14,000 employees working in R&D.

Open to the international economy, with over 200 internationally owned companies, employing 30,000 staff (Motorola, Texas-Instruments, Sanden, Renesas, Visteon, Pfizer, Wind-River, Hill-Rom, Linpac, etc.), Brittany was the 6th leading French region for inward FDI in France in 2006.

Brittany has strong regional identity that links it to its Celtic heritage, which results in a high level of social cohesion and a strong sense of enterprise, both individual and collective. This gives the region demographic and economic vitality, resulting from its economic attractiveness.