Business tours. A tour for the delegation from Campinas, the “Brazilian Silicon Valley”

Following a request from the Commercial Section of the Embassy of Brazil (SECOM), the Invest in France Agency (IFA), Paris Développement and PREDA hosted a delegation of Brazilian companies on April 11th, 12th and 13th, 2011 and organised a tour of places symbolising research and innovation in the Paris Region.

Delegation in front INRA research centre in Versailles-Grignon

The tour was intended for a Brazilian delegation from the Campinas region in the State of Sao Paulo, led by José Luis Guazzelli, Honorary Consul of France in Campinas and Director of Techno Park Campinas. The delegation comprised over twenty participants, including officials from the Town Halls of Campinas, Vinhedo and Jaguariuna, and representatives from the University of Campinas and the Institute of Technology of Araraquara, the CPqD Cluster and the CIATEC technology incubator, as well as business leaders from the fields of ICT, telecoms, biotechnology, health, cosmetology and energy.

The tour included a visit of symbolic places in the Paris Region (the Biocitech Science Park, the INRA Research Centre in Versailles-Grignon), presentations of Paris Region and Brazilian clusters, and it concluded with the signing of an agreement at Paris City Hall.

Read full article on PREDA website.

Paris Region mapped out for you :

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• Biocitech Science Park on the map "Discover Paris Region/ Science and technology parks"
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PRIME and Arts et Métiers ParisTech announce a partnership with UC Berkeley, CA

Arts et Métiers Paristech has finalized an exchange agreement for graduate students and researchers with the University of California Berkeley.

The agreement will enable the exchange of graduate students, researchers, and faculty between the institutions. Arts et Métiers students are renowned among our faculties for their scientific excellence and their strong motivation. On the other hand, UC Berkeley graduate students will have the opportunity to enroll in one of Arts et Métiers ParisTech Master's programs and to work on high-stake applied research projects in France thanks to Arts et Métiers ParisTech's strong connections to industry.

The partnership is also mutually beneficial through the development of joint research projects. It strengthens both institutions international posture by enabling research collaboration between world-class research teams.

PRIME, an agency that promotes Paris Region's innovation abroad, is working in tandem with Arts et Métiers ParisTech and the Office for Science and Technology at the Consulate General of France San Francisco on this partnership. The Paris Region aims at transitioning its economy towards sustainability. Cross fertilization and technology and researcher exchange are essential to achieve this goal.

Read more.

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ICT. Spotlight on 3D technologies in Seine-Saint-Denis, from 1 to 3 June

From 1 to 3 June 2010, for the second year running, Seine-Saint-Denis will be hosting Dimension 3 at Dock Pullman – an international forum dedicated to S-3D technologies, augmented reality and virtual reality.

The forum, which is co-organised by the agency Avance Rapide Communication and the economic development agency Seine-Saint-Denis Avenir, comprises three main strands:
-A three-day programme of talks and workshops for professionals in the sector
-An exhibition area for demonstrating and showcasing products
-A film festival, Dimension 3 Festival, the first international festival presenting feature films, short films, documentaries and event broadcasts using 3D technologies.

With Dimension 3, an event designed to promote economic, professional and international development in the technical, economic, scientific and cultural issues relating to S-3D imaging, the Seine-Saint-Denis region is positioning itself in a highly dynamic market – as Marie Hélène Tramus, a lecturer at Paris 8 University in Seine-Saint-Denis and leader of the digital imaging and virtual reality research group in the imaging arts and technologies laboratory, confirms: “For us, Dimension 3 is an opportunity to showcase our expertise and our scientific research in the fields of synthetic and high-tech imaging. We are especially delighted that this year the département of Seine Saint-Denis has given us free rein to celebrate 25 years of our course and our research laboratory as part of this international forum”.

Source: seinesaintdenisavenir.fr

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Competitiveness cluster. SYSTEM@TIC PARIS REGION, the cluster at the heart of the digital revolution

SYSTEM@TIC PARIS REGION develops key tools and technologies in the field of software-dominant systems, focusing its activities on three application markets with a strong social dimension: transport, telecoms and security.
The cluster is based on an ecosystem comprising some 900 SMEs, dynamic drivers of innovation representing more than 35,000 jobs related to the cluster’s core specialisms: software, electronics and optics. They all share certain defining characteristics which mark them out as:

• Innovative – dedicating a significant proportion of their revenues to R&D
• Prioritising a path to growth based on a collaborative approach
• Positioned in the cluster’s target markets and technologies.

Advantages of cluster membership:
• Access to and participation in strategic and specialist projects in each of the working groups
• Participation in R&D projects
• Visibility
• Building contacts (R&D, business, finance, etc.)

In order to help innovative Paris Region SMEs to maintain a global standard of competitiveness and to optimise their innovative capability, SYSTEM@TIC has set itself the mission of supporting SMEs operating in the high-tech fields of software, systems, electronics and optics. The ability to innovate is the key challenge currently facing SMEs in order to maintain their competitiveness in the global marketplace and offer an alternative to delocalisation.

The “AMBITION PME” programme
SYTEM@TIC has been appointed by Paris Region and the French government to lead a programme of initiatives in Optics and Complex Systems, in partnership with the Paris Region network of regional chambers of commerce and industry (CRCIs) and Opticsvalley.
“Ambition PME”, supported by the state and by the regional authorities, aims to help create optimum conditions for the development of innovative Paris Region SMEs with high growth potential working in high-tech sectors: software, systems, electronics and optics. This programme represents an exceptional opportunity to capitalise and showcase one of the region’s key strengths, to support the growth of high-tech SMEs and to raise Paris Region’s profile in the global high-tech sector.

Source: www.systematic-paris-region.com

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Information and Communication Technologies. Digiteo, a leading world-class research park

Digiteo, Paris Region’s research park in the field of information and communication science and technology (ICT), will concentrate the expertise of 1,800 researchers in the Plateau de Saclay campus with effect from this year. The park is focused on excellence, setting itself the goal of becoming the leading international ICT research park. Its fields of excellence are the design and development of software-intensive systems, from system-on-a-chip to supercomputing and major software infrastructures, including embedded systems and robotics.

In terms of the research institutions involved, founding members CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission), CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research), École Polytechnique (France’s premier engineering school), Supelec (engineering school specialising in energy and information science), INRIA (National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) and Université Paris Sud 11 were joined by ENS Cachan, Université de Versailles St-Quentin and École Centrale Paris in 2008. “Institut Telecom should also be included as it will be moving a large part of its research to the plateau in five years’ time, as part of the Campus plan,” explains Digiteo’s Director Maurice Robin, “as well as Mines Paris Tech and ENSTA-ParisTech which are also planning to locate here. Digiteo’s priority is to facilitate the pooling of expertise as well as providing support and additional resources to finance the implementation of specific research projects.”

Building a bridge between fundamental research and industry, and accelerating technology transfer, are core concerns. “Each Digiteo member has its own technology transfer operation and so Digiteo adds value by focusing on activities relating to joint projects involving at least two research laboratories, in order to build synergies and generate projects while creating quantifiable economic value,” notes Digiteo’s Director.

New facilities which will accommodate around 1,000 additional researchers are currently under construction in order to enable Digiteo to continue its expansion and to fulfil its immense potential as a key research hub. Planning permissions have been granted for three Saclay projects: at the CEA site, on Plateau du Moulon and at Palaiseau. These projects are being financed partly by Paris Region, by the Essonne Conseil Général (district council) and the Communauté de Communes du Plateau de Saclay (community of Plateau de Saclay town councils), as well as by the research park’s founding institutions.

Source: RÉUSSIR No.120, January/February 2010

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