Brittany Maritime Cluster - Pôle Mer Bretagne

The Brittany region “Seanergie” and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur “Sea, Safety and Security” clusters are principally dedicated to maritime safety and security, engineering, maintenance and shipyard services, leveraging marine energy sources, recycling marine biological resources, environment concerns and coastal engineering. These two geographical clusters also concentrate almost all France’s naval tests.

Brittany Development Agency

Region / Cities

Brittany, Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur / Brest, Toulon

Sector of activity

Marine science and technology applied to security, defense and sustainable development.

Budget

180 million euros of investment

Objectives

Position the cluster as a leading player worldwide and the European leader in the fields of:

Maritime security and defense
Naval engineering, maintenance and services
Marine energy resources
Optimization of biological resources
Coastal environment and engineering
Enable the creation of 2 000 new jobs in Brittany and contribute to the transformation or maintaining of 10 000 traditional jobs.

Advantages offered by the cluster

Inter-regional: partnership with the PACA Maritime cluster
Approximately 50 000 jobs in the maritime sector in Brittany
A third of total sea fishing and maritime activity in Brittany
Brest, leading French port in terms of military fleet maintenance (DCN) and leading port for civil maritime repairs (SOBRENA)
Brittany: leading industrial network in terms of marine biotechnology, accounting for approximately 90% of total seaweed processing activity.
European leaders in maritime security: Thalès, 3rd leading industrial group worldwide and 1st in Europe for electronic technology for defense and security purposes.

Main partners

Companies

France offers the 2nd biggest marine economy in the world in terms of surface area: 11 million km², including the Dom Tom (French overseas departments)

Major companies : Thalès (European leader in maritime security), DCN, Véolia, Timac, Société Bretonne de réparation navale, Plastimo, SECMA Agro Fournitures, Codif International, Société Métallurgique, GIE France Thon, Goemar, SNEF, Martec Serpe IESM, SA Chantiers Piriou, Barillec, Compagnie des pêches Saint-Malo, Total, Haliod (small and mid-sized business partnership)
A network of innovative small and mid-sized companies and industries : IXSEA, PLASTIMO, MARTEC, ECA, etc.

Research

2 900 research scientists and engineers working in maritime research and development. IFREMER, CNRS, Marine Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service, IPEV, IRD, Seaweed study and optimization center (Centre d’études et de valorisation des algues).