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Archive for July, 2010

“France Attractiveness Scoreboard 2010” published

Posted by Invest in France Agency in France's image, Message from the Ambassador; July 23, 2010

France Attractiveness Scoreboard 2010Why have we decided to publish a scoreboard on France’s attractiveness as an investment location?

A great number of benchmarks examining the competitiveness of different economies, tax regimes, tertiary education systems and different business environments already exist, and each of them provides useful information. Yet many of them suffer from methodological limitations and, as such, the rankings they produce can vary significantly from one study to another.

Moreover, attractiveness is ultimately a relative concept as France is compared on a daily basis by foreign investors with its neighbors and rivals.

French aerospace industry taking off again with foreign companies in the co-pilot’s chair

Posted by Invest in France Agency in Sectors of excellence; July 8, 2010

The Berlin Air Show celebrated its 100th birthday this year at a time when things are starting to look up. When it closed on June 13, Airbus walked out the door with US $15 billion of new orders in its pocket, or almost six months of work for the aircraft manufacturer. Its Chief Operating Officer, John Leahy, says he can see “green shoots of industry recovery.” Evidence of these “green shoots” came at the 2010 Farnborough International Airshow where Airbus and Boeing won nearly 400 commitments between them.

Airbus 380
Airbus 380 (Photo credit: Phinalanji on Flickr)

Let’s look at the facts: after a jittery 2009, the French aerospace industry is taking off again. But can we keep calling it a French industry? As we all know, Airbus is a joint venture between the UK, France, Germany and Spain. As well as high-profile national gems like Dassault, Safran, Eurocopter, Arianespace and Thales, France is also home to a number of international players in the sector…

A regional network of excellence for every company

Posted by Invest in France Agency in Innovation and R&D; July 8, 2010
France is becoming more and more attractive as an investment location. Every region and every company, no matter how big or small, is now covered by networks for business, science and technology cooperation. And these networks are not exclusively reserved for French companies. Foreign investors are also very welcome to benefit from an innovation-friendly environment.

The latest creation is a network of business mini-clusters designed just for SMEs. They bring together SMEs and micro-enterprises, usually from the same sector, and unite them around a joint strategy. They are designed to boost competitiveness in France’s rural areas by providing SMEs with pooled facilities and services. The businesses can also align themselves with large companies and stakeholders in training, research and innovation…

Greater Paris: Welcome to a World City

Posted by Invest in France Agency in France and its regions, France's image; July 2, 2010

It’s been approved, signed and ratified: the City of Light is now to become a Greater City of Light. Last May 27, the French Senate passed a bill giving the green light to the ‘Greater Paris’ project. The goal? To create the most attractive city in the world for businesses. How? First, by promoting the assets Paris already has. After all, it is already Europe’s leading economic region in terms of GDP, and according to the 2009 Fortune Global 500, it is home to more headquarters of the world’s largest 500 companies than any other city, bar Tokyo…