Competitive clusters in France
Competitive clusters in France
Changes in the international economic environment prompted France to launch a large-scale industrial policy to promote and develop key elements of her industrial competitiveness. The Interministerial Regional Planning and Development Committee (CIDAT) meeting on 13 December 2002 decided on a new industrial strategy based on the development of competitive clusters to increase French industrial potential and create the conditions to foster the emergence of new activities with a high international profile. This strategy is based on active partnership between manufacturers, research centres and training bodies.
A competitive cluster is defined as a geographical concentration of businesses, training centres and public- and private-sector research units working in partnership on innovative projects.
COMPETITIVE CLUSTER STRATEGY
Competitive clusters use a partnership approach and define joint, innovative projects.
This strategy was developed by the CIDAT meeting of 14 September 2004. It addresses three essential objectives:
increase the economy’s growth potential
more effectively combat deindustrialization and relocations
maintain our technological expertise at the highest level.
The strategy of developing competitive clusters is also being conducted at EU level in line with the goal set at the Lisbon summit in 2000 to make Europe the world’s most competitive economy.
Following a call for projects launched on 2 December 2004, the government published a list of the economic development projects granted the “competitive cluster” label by the CIDAT meeting of 12 July 2005. The selected projects cover both emerging technological fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and microelectronics and existing areas such as the automotive and aerospace industries.
Each approved cluster will be individually monitored by a coordination committee set up by the region’s préfet [high-ranking civil servant who represents the State in the region]. This committee will be responsible for drawing up a framework contract to define the cluster’s operations, strategy, research priorities and performance evaluation criteria.
There are two main types of cluster:
Very high-tech clusters with an international profile
Clusters built on an industrial base in French areas of specialization or development.
SUPPORT FOR AND “TRADITIONAL” FINANCING OF COMPETITIVE CLUSTERS
Competitive clusters can take a wide range of legal forms: “association loi 1901” [type of non-profit-making organization], economic interest grouping (EIG) or scientific interest grouping (SIG).
The government has established three public bodies to step up:
Public-sector research in programmes that foster partnerships between public laboratories and corporate laboratories and hence contribute to transfers of the results of public technological research to the business world: the National Research Agency
The development of R&D with projects implementing major development programmes alongside private financing: the Agency for Industrial Innovation
Support to SMEs: the OSEO group [OSEO was established in 2005, bringing together ANVAR (French Innovation Agency) and BDPME (SME development bank), providing assistance and financial support to French SMEs].
A total of €1.5 billion has been earmarked for the clusters from 2006 to 2008, including €300 million in social security and tax exemptions, €400 million from appropriations from different ministries and €800 million to be financed jointly by the National Research Agency, the Agency for Industrial Innovation and the OSEO group.
To find out more
WEBSITES
Site on the promotion and development of competitive clusters, French Ministry of the Economy and Finance
http://www.competitivite.gouv.fr/
LEGISLATION
Circular of 2 August 2005 on the implementation of competitive clusters
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PRMX0508671C
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Les pôles de compétitivité : le modèle français (Competitive clusters: the French model) by Nicolas Jacquet and Daniel Darmon - la Documentation Française, 2005
Les pôles de compétitivité (Competitive clusters) by Daniel Darmon, Regards sur l’actualité, No. 315, la Documentation Française, November 2005
La France et ses pôles de compétitivité (France and its competitive clusters), Problèmes économiques , February 2005
A armes égales (On equal terms), report to the Prime Minister by Bernard Carayon, la Documentation Française, 2006, 118 pages
http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/064000728/0000.pdf
© Ministère des Affaires étrangères / French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2006