Paris Region Innovation Tour. A day to boost clusters

The Paris Region Innovation Tour – PRIT 2009 – coming up on 30 November 2009 at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, is a day to boost Clusters in Europe, to share R&D projects, to discover the innovations underway by participating Paris area and international clusters.

The Innovation Factory will showcase the technological excellence of the Paris area with many illustrations of what collaborative R&D can achieve.

The seven clusters organizing the event will be highlighting their joint research projects in four major fields : the City and Sustainable Environment, Mobility & Transport, NICT and the Digital City, and Healthcare. Tangible results from collaborative R&D projects that will change the way we live tomorrow

Find more informations about Paris Region clusters on Econovista, the economic map of Paris Region

Paris: world capital of mathematics

The Abel Prize is awarded annually for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics and in 2009 it was presented to Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov, a French mathematician of Russian origin. Gromov has been a permanent professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) since 1982, and received the award "for his revolutionary contributions to geometry".

Paris Region holds a special place in the mathematics world as home to many laboratories and specialist universities: IHES, Institut Henri Poincaré, Université Paris VI (300 researchers and teaching researchers), Paris VII and Paris Sud-Orsay (each with 150 researchers) as well as the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris, a world-class network of excellence bringing together nearly 1,000 researchers and 9 research centres. This research foundation has won numerous international distinctions, including 4 Fields Medals and 2 Abel Prizes (the mathematics equivalent to the Nobel Prize), 120 national and international prizewinners, including 3 of the 11 awards presented at the 2008 European Congress of Mathematics.

Photos Crédits : Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6

Find more information about Paris Region Universities and schools on Econovista the free economic interactive map of Paris Region.

La Samaritaine: redevelopment to include 23,000 m² of retail floorspace.

Following several months of uncertainty, the Mairie de Paris has approved the latest plans presented by LVMH for its La Samaritaine department store. The new scheme includes the creation of a retail hub including a convenience food store.

The City of Paris has given the go-ahead for the third redevelopment proposal for the La Samaritaine department store in the 1^st arrondissement. The scheme includes housing, a convenience food store and a crèche with spaces for 60 children. On the Seine side of the building, La Samaritaine will include offices – fewer than in the initial project, but complemented by an international meeting and conference centre.

Find the great Parisian department stores on Econovista, the free interactive economic map of Paris Region

Luc Besson launches his Cité du Cinéma (European film centre).

Luc Besson has officially launched his Cité du Cinéma project in Seine-Saint-Denis. Work on the site is scheduled to commence in December and the centre will host Luc Besson’s own production company, EuropaCorp, as well as ENS Louis-Lumière (the national film, photography and sound engineering school).

Luc Besson first announced the plans for this project at the Cannes Festival in 2005 – and now his Cité Européenne du Cinéma is set to take shape, on the site of a former power station in the Pleyel district of Saint-Denis.

This ambitious project, covering an area of 6.5 hectares, aims to bring together all the various specialist technologies involved in film production, providing the capability to make a film from start to finish without leaving the site.

The facilities offered by the centre will include 9 film sets of 600 to 2,000 m² spread over 13,000 m², set-building workshops, equipment storage, shops and restaurants.

When completed, the complex will also include 30,000 m² of offices, half of them rented by Europacorp. Luc Besson’s company’s head office will be based here, occupying 4,000 m². The remaining area will be divided into offices which can be let to meet the needs of companies involved in film-making at the centre.

ENS Louis-Lumière, the national film, photography and sound engineering school, will occupy the remaining 15,000 m².

Find Seine-Saint-Denis on Econovista, the interactive economic map of Paris Region

Economy: Paris Region economic performance indicators, first quarter 2009

Paris Region economy holds up better than the rest of France

As in the other regions of France and in the rest of the world, in the first quarter of 2009 the Paris Region economy confirmed the sharp slowdown of the final quarter of 2008. Yet Paris Region seems to have held up better than other French regions. Unemployment, for example, has risen significantly in recent months but remains 1.3 points below the national average, standing at 7.4% in Q1 2009 (having been 6.7% in Q4 2008), as compared with 8.7% for France as a whole.

Similarly, the rising number of company failures is less pronounced in Paris Region than in France as a whole. In addition, the introduction of the “auto-entrepreneur” tax scheme for small businesses has, as expected, produced a boom in company start-ups: even though 2007 and 2008 were very good years, company start-ups in Paris Region soared by 32% compared with the same quarter in 2008 and by 45% compared with Q4 2008.

See the latest performance scoreboard online

Explore selected aspects of the region’s economy on Econovista, the interactive economic map of Paris Region

1st quarter 2009 : Paris Region suffers less than others regions

Alongside other French regions and the rest of the world, in the 1st quarter of 2009, the Paris Region economy confirmed the slowdown that hit it in the 4th quarter of 2008. Paris Region, however, seems to have suffered less than other regions. Although the unemployment rate in the region has increased sharply in recent months, for example, it is 1.3 points below the national level; unemployment was 7.4% in the 1st quarter of 2009 (up from 6.7% in the 4th quarter of 2008) compared with 8.7% for France as a whole.

Similarly, the increase in the number of business failures is less marked than it might have been compared with the national level. In addition, as expected, the number of business start-ups has been quite remarkable since the introduction of the French government's new "auto-entrepreneur" stimulus plan for small businesses; whilst 2007 and 2008 were very good years, business start-ups in Paris Region jumped by 32% compared with the same quarter in 2008 and by 45% compared with the 4th quarter of 2008.

Find out the latest economic scoreboard online

Find more information about Paris Region Economy on Econovista the free economic interactive map of Paris Region.

Econovista.com and ASTech Paris Region announce a new map

“Aeronautics, Space & Defense” in Paris Region

Econovista now features a themed map focusing on the businesses in the ASTech Paris Region competitiveness cluster and highlighting the richness and extraordinary density of aeronautics, space and defense industries operating in Paris Region:

- Find out about the competitiveness cluster and its many members

- Locate the major aeronautics, space and defense decision centers in Paris Region

- Discover the key players in the aeronautics, space and defense sector

- Find the R&D, engineering, design research departments and the teaching and training establishments specializing in aeronautics.

For more information go to Paris Region map

www.econovista.com

North Paris Region airport hub promotional drive launched under the name of Hubstar

The international campaign to promote the North Paris Region airport hub was launched on the Paris Region stand at the 2009 Paris Air Show. The brand name Hubstar Paris will act as an umbrella for all future joint promotions.

With more than 260,000 private-sector jobs, the North Paris Region airport hub is one of the region's flagship growth centres for employment. Three départements are involved: Seine et Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val d'Oise.

This initiative spearheaded by the Paris Region Economic Development Agency brings together more than a dozen partners (Aéroports de Paris, ASTech Paris Region, the Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine et Marne and Ile-de-France departmental councils and chambers of commerce and industry, EPA Plaine de France, Fedex, Pays de Roissy, Roissy entreprises, Seine et Marne Développement and Seine-Saint-Denis Avenir) with the aim of bringing more partners on board in due course.

All involved share the ambition of increasing international awareness and boosting the attractiveness of the North Paris Region airport hub in order to stimulate growth, increase employment and diversify the economic fabric.

Discover the hubstar's blog.

Find lots of informations on Econovista, the Paris Region Economic Map.

The hard copy version of the 2009 edition of Paris Region's economic map is available now!

As a complement to the digital web-based version (www.econovista.com), the 3^rd edition of the economic map of Paris Region in large printed format is now available free in French or English from Paris Region Economic Development Agency and its partners.

Previous issues of the map, a valuable promotional resource for Paris Region, have been extremely successful, with more than 20,000 copies distributed in France and internationally.

In addition to its practical use as an "economic road map", it provides a means of understanding the geographic dimension of the economy of one of Europe's leading regions and eases the decision-making process for companies investing in or locating to the region.

The Econovista map of the Paris Region economy has been developed with the cooperation of numerous regional and departmental partners.

Send your contact details to the Econovista team now to obtain one or more copies of the economic map: econovista@paris-region.com.

The map is available in two formats:

- Large format economic map (1.20m x 0.90m) in French or English

- Double-sided map (economic map/road map) in English