Invest in France Agency north-america Office

Region / Cities

Champagne-Ardenne, Picardie / Reims, Amiens, Compiègne

Sector of activity

Non-agricultural use of agricultural products: Chemicals, Materials, Textiles

Objectives

• Position the cluster as European leader in the optimization of agro-resources by 2015: utilization of all parts of the plant for industrial, innovative and competitive purposes
• Create an internationally-recognized platform for knowledge and initiatives, and structure innovation in this field on a domestic and European level
• Enable France to achieve a dominant position in the general transition from a fossil-fuels based industry to an agro-resources based industry
• Create jobs and attract businesses in these new markets
• Offer new perspectives for agricultural production sectors in order to optimize rural areas.

Advantages offered by the cluster

• 3 main sites, combining public sector research, private research and structures to accommodate private companies: Reims-Pomacle, Amiens-Sud and Compiègne.
• Agricultural importance of the two regions, which are similar and complementary: 10% of total European wheat crop, 15% of total European sugar production, 80% of total French alfalfa crop
• Agricultural base
  - 29 000 agricultural work units, including 7 500 employees
  - 1 341 000 hectares of agricultural land
  - 16 800 agricultural units 12 000 of which are professional
• Industrial base
  - 2 300 industrial 1st and 2nd stage processing sites
  - 26 000 employees working in companies in the “Industry and Agro-Resources” sector

Main partners

Companies

• Market leaders in their fields:
  Agro-Picardie, Alliance nutrition animale, Alternatech, Bio Attitude, Capsom, CCVE, Céréales Recherche Développement, Cerena, Champagne Céréales, Cohesis, Crédit agricole Nord Est, Coopérative agricole de Juniville, Coopérative agricole Sézanne, Cristal Union, CRITT MDTS, Euroluz, France Luzerne, Nouricia, Océal, Partus Technologies, Préciculture, SCAM, Lin 2000, Smurfit, Soliance, Tereos, Valfrance, Villers Fruits, etc.

Research

• Public sector research
  - 600 full-time research scientists in four universities (UPJV, URCA, UTC, UTT)
  - 3 engineering schools: ISAB, ENSAM, ESIEC
  - 3 research organizations: CNRS, INRA and INERIS
  - The French Alternoval Technological Research Center (Centre national de recherche technologique Alternoval – Agro-industrial alternatives) regrouping Europol’Agro (Champagne) and Alternatech (Picardie).
• Private sector research
  Leading edge dedicated platforms
   - Agro-industry Research Development (ARD – Agro-industrie Recherches Développements) with its 56 full-time equivalent (ETP) research scientists at Pomacle-Bazancourt, and
  - the Center for optimization of carbohydrates and natural products (CVG) at Amiens with its 22 full-time research scientists.

Training

• 36 teaching establishments including four universities
• 3 engineering schools and 2 management schools
• Over 120 different academic and training courses and over 5 000 students studying in the various disciplines each year, including 240 doctorates and 1 600 engineers
• Examples
  Alternoval, Agro-Industrie RD, Center for optimization of glucoses and natural products (CVG), Automotive study and research center, ENSAM, ESC Troyes, IFTH, INERIS, INRA, ISAB, Reims Management School, Picardie University, Reims University..

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