Invest in France Agency north-america Office

The cluster’s ambition is to become a global reference for its capacity to offer solutions for vehicles and mobility of the future on 3 key themes:

• Clean Vehicle   

• Intelligent Networks and Vehicle

• Excellence of Companies

These themes come in 7 programs: Fuel cell and engine environment, Comfort and safety in the cabin, Innovative vehicle, Mobility services and systems, Design process, Material and Processes, PerfoEST industrial excellence.

Advantages

Industrial base:
•  6 manufacturers (PSA Peugeot Citroën, Bugatti, FAM Automobiles, Dangel Automobiles, Lohr Industries, Alstom Transport)
•    58 equipment manufacturers
•    400 supplier companies
•    90,000 employees, which is 21% of the automobile workforce in France.
•    1 million vehicles produced

Private R&D:
•    No. 1 region, excluding the Paris (Ile-de-France) region, for private R&D (Source: OST)
•    445 million euros devoted to private R&D on automobiles
•    6,100 people employed in R&D
•    20 global R&D centers
•    Presence of the biggest motor vehicle development center outside the Paris (Ile-de-France) region

Public research:
•    54 public research teams
•    4 universities including ULP (ranked No. 1 university for regions outside Ile de France and No. 3 French university in the 2004 ranking of the University of Shanghai)
•    7 engineering schools
•    INEVA/CNRT fuel cell systems

Available Training:
•    Almost 200 higher education courses on the theme of the cluster

Members

Almost 180 members
Companies 140 of which 110 are small and medium-sized enterprises
•    French groups: PSA Peugeot Citroën, Faurecia, Legrand, Gefco, subsidiary of PSA, 
•    International groups: Honeywell (United States), Johnson Controls (United States), Hope Global (United States), Key Plastics Interiors, subsidiary of Carlyle Group (United States),

Research and Training Centers
- 9, including Universities of Franche-Comté, Haute-Alsace, Louis Pasteur Strasbourg, Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Strasbourg (INSA).
- 30 other organizations are also partners of the cluster, including Agence Régionale de Développement de Franche-Comté, Alsace International, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Technopole de Mulhouse, Plasturgie Grand Est.

Current R&D Partnerships (refer to appendix)

- 43 projects have been certified and financed between 2005 and mid-2008, for a total budget of 84 million euros
- 40 other certified projects are pending financing and represent almost 100 million euros in additional investment
- Public support examples:
•   5 million euros paid by the National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche  or ANR) between 2005 and 2007
•  Almost 13 million euros awarded by the Single Interministerial Fund (Fonds Unique Interministériel or FUI) between 2005 and 2007

International Partnerships

Current
Partnership with South Germany
Partnership with Austria
Partnership with Switzerland and Italy
Participations in the Motor Show of Geneva, Switzerland, the SAE in Detroit, United States, the JAEE, Japan
Missions in Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada

Future
Participation in the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris in October 2008
Electric and Hybrid Mission in Detroit and Chicago, United States
Merger with the German, Austrian, Italian and Swiss automobile clusters

Appendix: Examples of Certified R&D Projects

• More information on Véhicules du futur