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The “Mer PACA” Cluster, in close partnership with the “Mer Bretagne” Cluster via the inter-regional steering and coordination committee, is positioned at the forefront over 5 future themes linked to safety and sustainable development: Maritime Safety and Security, Shipping and Nautical Tourism, Marine Energy Resources, Marine Biology Resources, Coastal Environment and Development.

The cluster has set targets while remaining realistic:

• 200 million euros in investment by the year 2011
• Several thousand jobs to be created or made permanent
• A possible extension to Languedoc-Roussillon and Corsica

Advantages

Oriented toward the ocean for centuries, the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur Region has a network of research organizations and companies capable of developing new products and services on a global market.

Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is the third French region in terms of population and wealth. Its Mediterranean quality of life is highly regarded.

Maritime Activities Direct jobs60,000
Public research2,200 researchers
Education2,000 technicians, engineers and PhD students trained each year

Members

Around 240 members to the cluster

Companies: 160•    French companies: Atos Origin, Bertin Technologies, DCNS, Eiffel, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Port Autonome de Marseille, Segula Technologies, Thalès Services, Kontron, Thalès Safare, Véolia, CNIM, ECA, Principia (Areva) etc.

•    International companies: ERG Holding (Singapore), Sofrelog (United States) etc.

Including 100 SMEs: Acri, Systémique, Chrisar Software Technologies, Comex, Mettle, Moteurs Baudouin, Cannes Aquaculture etc.

Research and Educational InstitutionsOver 80 centers, including the Collège de France (Chaire de Géodynamique), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecole Nationale de la Marine marchande, Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, Ecole de Commerce EUROMED de Marseille, Institut français du Pétrole (IFP), Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique de Sophia-Antipolis (INRIA), Université Sud de Toulon Var, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis etc.
 
Close partnerships have been established with the institutional participants at national and regional levels: the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region, the General Councils of Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, the Township Committees of Pays d’Aix, Marseille Métropole and Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), the Ministry for Defence, DIACT, DGE, the European Union via the fonds européen de développement régional (FEDER) etc.

Current R&D Project Partnerships

92 certified projects, including 61 co-financed and self-financed since December 2005, for an overall budget of almost 231 million euros for the certified projects (refer to appendix).

The public financing for these R&D projects amounts to over 50 million euros, including over 18 million euros via the Single Interministerial Fund (Fonds Unique Interministériel or FUI), the local councils of the PACA region, and the remainder by the National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche or ANR) for ongoing projects.

International Partnerships

Current:•    Research Partnership between the Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER) and the Weigen Institute, Germany
•    Relations with the Schleswig-Holstein Maritime Cluster of Kiel
•    Participation in the European Mytilos and Mytimed projects with the countries of the Mediterranean Basin
•    Partnership with the marine cluster SEEDA in the United Kingdom
•    Research Partnership with the Sud Toulon-Var University in Brazil
•    Partnership with Quebec on marine biology resources, and more particularly on the development of active molecules from the sea
•    Partnership agreement with Libya on the environment, with Tunisia and the Bizerte Cluster.
•    Relations with the Maghreb countries and also with the countries of the EU: Italy, Greece, Germany
•    Mission organized in the United States on operational oceanography

Future:•    Partnerships with the Maritime Safety / Coastal Environment clusters in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Malta
•    “Principia” project partnership in China
•    Partnership with the Biotech Bleues cluster which has just been set up in Hamburg
•    Initiatives launched with Norway on renewable energy themes, and with the Netherlands on maritime safety and security, port developments and construction, and ship repair activities.
•    Partnerships under consideration with Dubai

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