Guadeloupe developpement Agency
Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe archipelago) is situated in the Caribbean, to the east of Central America. It lies 7 000 km from France, and belongs to the Antilles Arc.
This archipelago is made up of seven populated islands, with a total surface area of 1 780 km² and a total population of 458 000 (INSEE January 2006). In 2005, GDP was approximately 7 342 million euros (+2.9% compared to 2004), which equates to 16 575 euros per capita.
Guadeloupe’s economy relies on the quality of its road, port and airport infrastructures. It has several strong sectors: agriculture (sugar, rum and bananas), tourism, and services. Between July 2004 and July 2005, approximately 369 950 tourists stayed on the islands and 11 130 tourists made trips there during leisure cruises.
Guadeloupe has approximately 42 000 companies, most of which are small and mid-sized companies with less than 10 employees. 1 500 of these are small and mid-sized companies with between 10 and 500 employees. The services sector (45%) and trade (30%) are largely predominant, followed by construction and industry. There are approximately 112 000 salaried employees.
Over 13 000 students are enrolled at the Fouillole Antilles-Guyana University campus at Pointe-à-Pitre. Educational and research units cover various fields including: legal and economic sciences, exact and life sciences, literature, physical and sports sciences and techniques and a postgraduate course in medical science.
Today, the extensive and relatively varied scientific research activities are characterized by the coexistence of traditional research structures (existing for around 50 years in the field of agronomy in particular) and more recent research structures, particularly within the University. Guadeloupe intends therefore to set up a structure of cooperation between the public sector, research and development organizations, and private companies, in order to create efficient regional innovation systems. The idea is to create a structure and a regional institutional environment that, through the reinforcement of human resource capital, favors the creation, distribution and integration of knowledge into the manufacturing process as a main source of innovation and competitive advantage.
