Opportunities in the French Design, Digital and Health Sectors
As part of its ambition to invigorate the French economy and boost France’s international competitiveness, the French government has identified several business sectors that it deems essential for success in the 21st century. Amongst the top priorities are the design, digital and health sectors. Paris is the nexus for each of these sectors in France and is therefore allocating resources to help promote, develop and stimulate these sectors.
Digital: Digital technology is at the heart of the 21st century. Paris’ digital companies are amongst the most innovative in the world. The city boasts world renowned savoir faire in:
Multimedia
Video game design and software
IT services
Telecommunications
Today the sector forms a trade cluster which actively supports innovative companies and has a stated objective of increasing international links.
Design: Paris and its regions boasts over 9,000 designers and 20,000 people employed in Design industries, representing more than 2,000 design companies. These companies cover essential services and products including; textiles, packaging, graphics, environment, sensory, interactive, global and ecological as well as many others.
Health: While France has a long history of excellence in the medical fields, it has lost out in recent years due mainly to a lack of funding. This began to change in 2002 with a series of government initiatives to encourage health sciences and biotech in particular. The French biotech sector is a distant third in Europe, after the UK and Germany but the sector has seen strong growth in recent years and has narrowed the gap. Paris is the geographic centre for the health sector, capturing over 45% of France's, public and private sector health-related research. This concentration and high level of research ensures a technical competence giving Paris all the ingredients to be one of Europe’s leading Health and Biotech clusters. Even more focused, in terms of Biotech, 43% of all French Biotech companies and 62% of all Biotech research is conducted in Paris.
Paris Innovation Tours 2007
Paris Innovation Tours is a two-day event hosted by the Paris Development Agency. The third annual Paris Innovation Tours will focus on three sectors:
Digital
Design
Health
The first day of Paris Innovation Tours will include a plenary session, 6 themes addressed in round-table discussion groups, conferences and one-on-one meetings. The second day, 26 Oct, is dedicated to one-on-one meetings and focus groups. Industry “champions”, from top research labs, corporations, SMEs, education institutions will host open-house events at their headquarters throughout the city.
One of the key attractions of Paris Innovation Tours is that international participants can submit a list of individuals or companies that they wish to meet and the conference organisers will arrange an itinerary.
Venue:
Paris—Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie / Parc de la Villette
As part of its ambition to invigorate the French economy and boost France’s international competitiveness, the French government has identified several business sectors that it deems essential for success in the 21st century. Amongst the top priorities are the design, digital and health sectors. Paris is the nexus for each of these sectors in France and is therefore allocating resources to help promote, develop and stimulate these sectors.