News About France

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StoreXperience Partners With PICOM to Develop and Showcase Innovative Mobile Commerce Offerings in Europe

StoreXperience, a company that provides mobile shopping solutions for retailers, brands and consumers, today announced its membership in the International Retail Industry Cluster (PICOM). The announcement coincides with Microsoft's decision to join PICOM, a retail technology center based in Lille, France.

Founded in July 2005, PICOM is a retail technology organization sponsored by 40 top European retailers. The organization analyzes, develops, tests and validates creative retail solutions, aiming to define the store of the future and accelerate the transfer of new technologies from the research lab to the retail floor. Among PICOM's most
prominent projects currently underway is L.M.U. (Lille Metropole Ubiquitaire), an urban shopping center with over 130 stores that will serve as a large-scale testing ground for new retail technologies.

For more information: http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080430/0391822.html

France is well positioned to be one of the most dynamic countries in terms of research and development (R&D) in coming years.

Innovation is a longstanding French tradition – and France has a significant scientific culture. For example, among the 44 Fields medal winners rewarding the work of young mathematicians, France placed second in the final standings (nine medals, including one in 2006) after the United States (13).

Today, within the context of the globalisation of research and international competition, France is an attractive country with decisive advantages for establishments R&D activities: high quality scientific manpower, more autonomously reformed universities and renowned research teams, competitive clusters connecting companies and research centres, and competitive business costs.

Boosting business potential by going green

 

Technology Review, the magazine published by MIT, and Invest in France Agency have teamed up to provide a new look at green France.

 

See for yourself: http://www.technologyreview.com/france/

Austin-based St. Edwards University establishes European campus in Angers.

The St. Edward’s University, based in Austin (Texas) decided to open its European campus in Angers, Western France. As it wants to offer a possibility for emersion in European culture to its american students, a European campus was necessary. Of course, the university in Angers will also be open for European students preparing their entry to an American university. Angers houses a French university institute with which St. Edwards will be sharing some common courses. Twenty American staff will come to Angers, and twenty will be recruited locally. Courses will start in September 2008.

Which country gets you up to 50 million euros if you invest 100 million in R&D?

France caters to innovative companies and, effective January 1, 2008, offers the best research tax credit in Europe. This public assistance facility aims to improve France’s competitiveness to attract new R&D centres and further develop existing ones.
In France, the research tax credit (Crédit Impôt Recherche – CIR) represents a reliable element of an innovative company’s financial plan, and is particularly well adapted to the needs of SMEs. This tax incentive enables companies to increase their competitiveness by supporting their Research & Development efforts.
The French Government has undertaken a major reform of the research tax credit by means of the Financial Law of 2008, which is in line with the "Lisbon strategy" (knowledge-based economy) and the "Barcelona objective" (3% of total GDP dedicated to R&D).

Attracting investors from abroad is a major priority for the government. An initial range of measures designed to boos the economy was introduced in the summer of 2007.

They make France more competitive and attractive. A second set of reforms is now been brought in, affecting businesses and taxpayers.

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, to honor Edmund M. Clarke, E. Allen Emerson, and Joseph Sifakis with Turing Award

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Edmund M. Clarke, E. Allen Emerson, and Joseph Sifakis the winners of the 2007 A.M. Turing Award, widely considered the most prestigious award in computing, for their original and continuing research in a quality assurance process known as Model Checking. Their innovations transformed this approach from a theoretical technique to a highly effective verification technology that enables computer hardware and software engineers to find errors efficiently in complex system designs. This transformation has resulted in increased assurance that the systems perform as intended by the designers. The Turing Award, named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation and Google Inc. Clarke of Carnegie Mellon University, and Emerson of the University of Texas at Austin, working together, and Sifakis,
working independently for the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at the University of Grenoble in France, developed this fully automated approach that is now the most widely used verification method in the hardware and software industries.

Dr. Sifakis is the founder of Verimag Laboratory, a leading research center for embedded systems in Grenoble, France, where he was director from 1993-2006. He is Research Director of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Director of the CARNOT Institute on Intelligent Software and Systems in Grenoble. Dr. Sifakis is a member of the editorial board of several journals, and the scientific coordinator of the Artist2 and ArtistDesign European Networks of Excellence on Embedded Systems Design. He is co-founder with Edmund Clarke, Robert Kurshan, and Amir Pnueli of the International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV). He earned a degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Athens and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Grenoble.

ACM will present the Turing Award at the annual ACM Awards Banquet on June 21, 2008, in San Francisco, CA.

For additional information, visit http://awards.acm.org/turing.

The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) of Caen, a university teaching hospital and the largest hospital in the West of France, and Therapharm, a large, private contract research organization founded in 1980, have joined forces to form the first public-private partnership to conduct early phase clinical research in France.

The clinical research center is called Centre de Recherche Clinique-Basse Normandie (CRC-BN). The center conducts phase I and II clinical trials that are industry-sponsored, investigator-initiated and government-sponsored.  Initially it will focus on oncology, neurology, infectious diseases (including HIV), and cardiology.

The revolutionary joint venture is just one example of several organizations in France that are working to make France an ideal location for clinical research.

For the full story:

http://www.clinicaltrialstoday.com/[...]revolutionary-p.html

News lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Nersac, France, built to increase production capacity as demand increases

 

U.S. automotive equipment company Johnson Controls Inc. ( JCI) and French electric battery specialist Saft Group SA (1020816.FR) said a jointly owned company, Johnson Controls-Saft, has opened a new lithium-ion automotive battery manufacturing facility in Nersac, France.

The plant will make advanced lithium-ion batteries for hybrid, plug-in, fuel cell and electric vehicles and is the first of its kind in the world, the companies said.

Johnson Controls-Saft has invested €15 million in the facility, which is producing batteries for global automotive customers.

It has been built to be scaleable, so that as demand increases it can increase production capacity to meet customer and market demands.

 

 

France’s research tax credit is now the best in Europe, following a recent reform that raised it from 10% to 30% of yearly R&D expenses, up to €100 million.

Beyond the maximum limit, a rate of 5% is applied, and the previous €16 million limit no longer applies.

This article is only available in french for the moment. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

2008-01-24

Number of the Month

321,000

The number of new companies started in France in 2007

 

Source: France's INSEE (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies)

 France ranks among the top 10 greenest countries in the world--outshining Germany, Spain, the U.K., Canada, Japan and Demark--according to Yale University's recently published Environmental Performance Index,

 

The recently published ranking is based on carbon and sulfur emissions, water purity and conservation practices.

 

For the third consecutive year, France is the leading country in the world for the quality of life!

France is ranked first before Switzerland and the United States, according to International Living Quality of Life INdex 2008. Germany is ranked 5th, Italy is 7th, whereas the United Kingdom is far behind at the 37th position. This index takes into account different indicators such as the cost of living, economy, health, infrastructure, risk and safety or leisure and culture, environment, freedom and climate.

In 2007, France attracted some 123 billion dollars of inward international investment, which is an increase of 52% compared to 2006!

This is the conclusion of initial estimations by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). France stays in the top three, headed by the United States (probably helped by the drop in the value of the dollar) and the United Kingdom.

Globally, according to UNCTAD, international investments in 2007 reached the record level of 1 538 billion dollars, which is higher than the last peak of 1 400 billion dollars in 2000, just before the Internet bubble burst.

The EU-25 alone attracted 40% of global investments, which is an increase of 15%. However, China and India experienced slight decreases in their levels of inward investment (-3% and -9% respectively compared to 2006).

France 24 Invest in France Agency and France 24 developed a partnership to broadcast a series of 30 interviews with foreign managers of international companies.

This programme will last from December 7th, 2007 to March 9th, 2008.

More information in French. Text in English available soon.

 

A research tax credit reform program to improve the current system and make France’s research tax credit the best in Europe is expected to be proposed under the finance law for 2008.

The program should involve 30% of yearly R&D expenses, up to a limit of €100 million. For companies taking advantage of the research tax credit for the first time or those who have not used it in the past 5 years, the tax credit should be calculated based on 50% of expenses allocated during the first year.
The €16 million limit should no longer be applicable.
The measure is expected to cost an extra €800 million more in 2009, or almost double what it is now, and could reach €2.7 billion in 2012, according to Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment.

Morale among American investors in France is at its highest since 2000!

According to the 9th edition of the annual Barometer on the French investment climate published by the Franco-American Chamber of Commerce and the consulting firm Bain & Company, 58% of businesses canvassed in July 2007 said that they were expecting a major improvement in the economic environment in France. 57% thought that the trend would continue into 2008-2009.

There was a similar positive view of the labor market, since 52% of those businesses canvassed expected to increase their number of employees in 2007 and 46% expected to do the same in 2008-2009. The previous record was 35% in 2001.

The Bain & Company barometer also surveys American investors’ perceptions of France’s strong and weak points.
France’s traditional strong points such as geographical location, infrastructures and qualified manpower are once again recognized.
Investors also demonstrate their confidence in the new French Government and favorably view the proposed government measures in the fields of labor law and taxation. Unlike previous years, according to the 2007 report, taxation is not perceived as a negative issue, thanks to the Research Tax Credit reform and the introduction of a ceiling for business tax in particular.

According to Francis Bailly, President of AmCham “on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Lafayette, France is back in vogue in America”, whereas Bertrand Pointeau, Partner at Bain & Company underlines the fact that “the barometer indicates quite spectacularly the impact that the presidential elections have had on the morale of American investors in France. France is very much back in vogue among American investors”.

The barometer is based on a survey carried out among the management of French subsidiaries of US companies, representing a total of 78,500 employees and a global turnover of 27 billion euros.

Today, attracting international investors is a top priority for the French government, with foreign direct investment (FDI) targeted to boost growth and generate jobs.

France already offers many attractive benefits, and President Sarkozy is making the business environment more friendly than ever with new economic reforms. These changes give France a stronger competitive edge, and are driving closer ties with its principal global investors.


- Foreign investment is welcomed freely in France.
- International investment is an important growth factor for the French economy.
- French companies are becoming more and more global.
- France is a top world business destination of choice.

 

Contrary to popular belief, France is not experiencing a “brain drain”! This is the outcome of a recent study by two research students at the Paris Ecole des Mines. Within Europe, France is the country that is the least affected by the brain drain phenomenon.

Only 4% of qualified French individuals are expatriates and less than 2% of French scientists migrate to North America, which is a significantly lower rate than our European neighbors, and one which has remained stable since 1990.

The “rate of international mobility”, the official term for the brain drain phenomenon, is therefore 4 to 8 times higher in other European countries. It is estimated at 30% in Ireland and over 15% in Greece, Austria and Great Britain. Only the United States have a brain drain rate that is lower than in France (0.5%).

At the same time, France continues to attract foreign students. With 106 000 foreign students, and 500 000 postgraduates from Africa, there is a positive trend in France’s attractiveness, particularly among Eastern European and South American countries. The incoming-outgoing ratio is balanced between France and Germany, but is slightly imbalanced in favor of Great Britain.

Finally, France attracts more talented individuals than it loses in the “new fight for talent”. France’s “brain gain” is higher than its “brain drain” and “only the United States are better “brain gainers” than France, both in terms of students and postgraduates” according to the authors of this study.

Paris remains the second most attractive city in Europe after London, according to an annual survey carried out by the global real estate advisor Cushman & Wakefield.

The survey is based on the opinions of the heads of the 500 biggest European companies regarding the attractiveness of Europe’s major cities, as well as their companies’ future location strategies.
Investors base their location strategies on four main criteria: the availability of qualified manpower, the ease of market access, the quality of telecommunications networks and the quality of transport networks.
Although London scores higher than Paris in the overall ranking, the French capital is rated much higher than the British capital in terms of “employee quality of life”: Paris is ranked fourth whereas London is only ranked in 27th position. Similarly, Paris is largely in the lead in terms of location strategies for the next two years. This is one of the results of a wider variety of businesses located in Paris and in the Ile-de-France region, whereas London remains more specialized in finance.
Moreover, according to the study, Marseille is gaining in importance in France and is on the way to becoming one of the 33 most attractive cities in Europe.

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded last Tuesday to the Frenchman Albert Fert and the German Peter Grünberg, for work that has revolutionized the technology used to read data from hard disks and radically miniaturize electronic equipment.

Albert Fert is the tenth French research scientist to receive the Noble Prize for Physics.
Born in 1938 in Carcassonne, and awarded a doctorate in Sciences in 1970, he has taught at the Paris-Sud University at Orsay since 1976, and since 1995 he has headed the joint CNRS/Thales physics unit at Orsay that combines public research and private enterprise.
The French Prime Minister, François Fillon stated that “this wonderful achievement by French research demonstrates the importance of a close relationship between research and technological development, as well as the partnership between public research and private industry”.
Earlier this year, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg already jointly received the Japan Prize and the Wolf Prize. The last Frenchman to be awarded the Prize was Claude Cohen-Tannoudji in 1997, with American colleagues Steven Chu and William Phillips.

The American magazine Fortune published its index of the 50 most powerful women in business in the world today. France is well represented, with 9 French women included in the index – compared to 5 in the 2003 survey.

Two French women are included in the “top ten”: Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva, the nuclear power company, is ranked in second place after the British businesswoman Cynthia Carroll, Executive Chairman of the Anglo-American mining company; and Anne-Marie Idrac, President of the SNCF, who is ranked in 6th position.
Other French women in the Fortune top 50 include, in order: Maureen Chiquet, CEO of Chanel (13th), Patricia Barbizet, CEO of Artémis Holding (22nd), Françoise Gri, President of Manpower France (37th), Barbara Dalibard, Executive Vice President of Corporate Solutions at France Télécom, in charge of corporate communications solutions (40th), Dominique Hériard Dubreuil, Chairman of Rémi Cointreau (42nd), Dominique Reiniche, President of the European Division of Coca Cola (44th), and finally Clara Gaymard, Chairman of General Electric France (47th) and former President of the Invest in France Agency (IFA).
The CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, Patricia Russo, who ranked 1st in the 2006 index, is ranked 4th this year.
Fortune’s index is based on the social, cultural or economic role of these women in business, rather than their position, their personal revenue or their company’s turnover.

France has ranked well in a new index, the Global Talent Index, published by Heidrick & Struggles and the Economist Intelligence Unit. This index measures the potential emerging talent of 30 different countries.

Overall, France ranks 9th in the world in 2007 and should maintain this position up to 2012. By comparing various data such as population perspectives, the quality of the educational system, mobility and accessibility of the job market, or the capacity to attract foreign investment, this index measures the capacity of individual countries to generate strong potential for the job market. France’s strong points include its primary and secondary educational system in particular and its ability to attract foreign talent. The director of Heidrick & Struggles in Paris, Pascal Gilbert, considers that “France appears to be on the right track on a macro economic level in terms of developing and holding on to its talent. However, on a corporate level, more effort should be made to attract and integrate international talent”. The firm’s findings are encouraging since they indicate an improvement in France’s economic vitality within 5 years.

Once again, this year sees France’s business schools at the top of the European rankings for Masters in Management published by the Financial Times.

This year, France has 6 business schools ranked among the top ten in Europe! These are, in order, HEC (1st), ESCP-EAP (European network), Essec, EM Lyon, Grenoble Graduate School of Business, Audencia Nantes (8th). Edhec is ranked in 12th position in Europe. A total of 13 French business schools are ranked among the 40 establishments that make up the tables. Two new regional schools are among the 13, ICN (Nancy) and ESCEM (Tours-Poitiers).
The Financial Times’ ranking is notably based on professional criteria: student placement, salary, international mobility… In this respect it adopts a different approach to the uniquely “academic” approach used in other rankings.

France’s government has recently launched several key initiatives that will fast-track the French economy and make the country’s business environment even more competitive.

The new measures defined in law n°2007-1223, dated August 21, 2007, introduce significant labor and social contribution reforms that have been eagerly awaited by businesses in France. The law also strengthens the nation’s buying power and economic growth with major income tax cuts and inheritance tax exemptions.

According to a study by Eurostat, the European statistics office, the Ile-de-France region alone accounts for 4.32% of total jobs in the high tech sector in the European Union, with approximately 400 000 people employed in this sector.

This is followed by the Lombardy region in Italy, and the Madrid Comunidad in Spain, with 2.52% and 2.06% of the total high tech jobs in the EU27, which represents 233 000 and 193 000 employees respectively. All the other European regions score below 2% of the EU total, which is the equivalent of 9.26 million.

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FAVRE Philippe
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