Alpes-Maritimes: the pioneering experience of Sophia Antipolis
"As early as the end of the 1960s, we were already convinced that the coming globalisation was unavoidable. This is why early on we set such store by grey matter as a factor in economic development for the region," explains senator Pierre Laffitte, who was behind the creation of Sophia Antipolis in 1969, which was initially centred on telecommunications. Today, this industrial, academic and scientific complex concentrates 1,300 businesses and 30,000 jobs in an area of nearly 2,300 hectares. It exports its know-how and is building up its scientific cooperation with other science and technology parks throughout the world. It has just signed an agreement with the laboratory at Poona in India, which specialises in research and development in the automobile industry, and is now turning towards sustainable development, health and biodiversity.
Julien Nessi
Journalist
Print version