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Information Technology Landscape in Nations

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Technopole Sophia Antipolis

Location: Technopole Sophia Antipolis is located in the south of Europe on the French Riviera between Nice and Cannes and spans 9 French cities.1

The above maps show the approximate location of Technopole Sophia Antipolis as well as a more detailed map showing the 9 cities surrounding the technopole, the existing technopole and the planned expansion for the technopole.  (Maps from Technopole Sophia Antipolis.)

Year founded: Planning efforts began in 1960 but the first company did not appear in the Park until 19742

Focus: Information technology, Electronics and Telecommunications (26% of businesses, 44% of workforce)3

Size:  The technopole presently covers about 5,700 acres.  It is about one-fourth the size of Paris. A planned expansion to the north of the present Park in the near future will increase this area to about 11,400 acres. 1,164 companies, 20,530 engineers and technicians, 5,000 researchers and students reside in the technopole currently.4

Infrastructure:   Competition in all French telecommunications infrastructure officially began on January 1, 1998.5  The major providers in France currently, however, are France Telecom and Alcatel.6

Residents of Technopole Sophia Antipolis benefit from advanced fiber optic infrastructure based on SDH optical technology.  An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) platform providing data speeds of 155 Mbps was added in 1996.7

An incubator, called "pépinière," (French for green-house nursery) was established in April of 2000 and is funded by many venture capital groups. 8

NavLink (a venture partly owned by AT&T and British Telecomm) opened a state-of-the-art data center and network operations center in February of 2001 in Sophia Antipolis.9

The technopole is conveniently located 10 miles from the Nice Riviera Airport, a 40-minute drive from the Nice high speed train station, and 1 mile from a major European highway.  The technopole also has a heliport for helicopter access.10

Universities:  There are 66 institutions of higher education are in the area currently.  However, much of the research and technology efforts center on the following universities and national laboratories:

Government Funding: France spends approximately $30 billion per year on research and development.11  CNRS, France's national center for scientific research receives about $12 billion annually of the allocation and is the largest R&D lab in Europe.12  15% of the world's patents are granted to French inventors.13

In 1997, France spent 2.2% of its GDP on domestic investment in research and development.14  During the same time period, the United States spent approximately $205.6 billion, or about 2.8% of GDP.15  In 1998, France granted 46,213 patents, 12,068 (or 26%) of which were to French inventors, while the United States granted 147,520 patents, 80,292 (or 54%) of which were to U.S. inventors.16  Interestingly, if you divide $30 billion by 12,068 and $205.6 billion by 80,292, you get $2.49 and $2.56 billion respectively.  This tends to indicate that France and the United States receive approximately the same return on their R&D investments.

Measures of Success: While over 20,000 jobs have been created in the Sophia Antipolis region, about 40% of the Park's executives are foreigners.17  France's 35-hour maximum work week might have something to do with the large number of foreign executives.18

Click here for more statistics on the growth rates of Sophia Antipolis, jobs created, and composition of the Park.

Notable Tenants: IBM, France Telecom, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Oracle France, Qualcomm

Composition:  Of the 1,181 companies listed on the Technopole's website,19 36% are research and technology-oriented companies.  The remaining 64% are subclassified into: "Associations and Clubs," "Professional Corporations," "Services and Manufacturing," "Sundries," or "Trades," which includes a broad range of companies, from doctors, lawyers and banks to hotels, patisseries, hair salons and pet cremation services.  Graphically, the Technopole's composition is as follows:

Governing Body: There are essentially two governing bodies that oversee the technopole's activities.  The SYMISA (Syndicate of Sophia Antipolis) has 44 members who are responsible for general management, financial policy, promotion and services to corporation.  One of the major functions of the SYMISA is to decide whether to approve an application for technopole residency.  In making this decision, the SYMISA considers the following four factors.20

  • the technological nature of the activity
  • the absence of pollution or other nuisance factors
  • the type and number of jobs created
  • the proportion of surface area occupied to the number and type of jobs created.

A second body, the SAEM Sophia Antipolis Cote D'Azur, acts as the authorized agent for SYMISA and governing body.  Functions of the SAEM Sophia Antipolis Cote D'Azur include negotiating the initial land sale or lease contract and assisting a company in obtaining government permits.21

Financial Incentives: Technopole Sophia Antipolis offers a variety of financial incentives to attract business, including European, French and regional subsidies and loans, whose amounts vary depending on the amount invested and the number of jobs created and the level of technology transfer involved.  Also up to a 50% reduction in corporate taxes is available for a period of 5 years and businesses are exempt from local improvement taxes.22

A note about real estate in Sophia Antipolis: One interesting point about Technopole Sophia Antipolis is its emphasis on preserving green space in its technology metropolis.  Building restrictions allow only 1/3 of the technopole land to be developed while the remaining 2/3 is reserved as green space.  Buildings must be made in "harmony with the landscape" and cannot be taller than the hills in the surrounding area.  This "Developmental Philosophy" supposedly helps to preserve the character of the Park as combination work and recreation space.23

REFERENCES

1. Home page of Technopole Sophia Antipolis, http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/frame.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

2. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Historical Background, 1960-1972 and 1973 - 1986," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/histo1.htm and http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/histo2.htm, visited December 10, 2001.  See also History of Valbonne - Sophia Antipolis, http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.alpes-azur.com/vsa/hist oire.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtechnopole%2Bsophia%2Bantipolis%26hl%3Den.

3. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Information Technologies," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/entreprise/TechInfo.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

4. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "General Information," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/frame.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

5. U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of Communications Technologies, Telecommunications Country Profile: France, http://infoserv2.ita.doc.gov/ot/mktctry.nsf/504ca249c786e20f85256284006da7ab/ea4a 45bef90aece18525695f00516d56!OpenDocument, visited December 10, 2001.

6. Bonnet, Berengere, "Landscape of Information Technology in France: Telecommunications Infrastructure," http://www.american.edu/carmel/bb5414a/telecom.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

7. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Success in Sophia Antipolis: Means of Communication," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/succes6.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

8. Sayer, Peter, "Sophia Antipolis: IT on the Med," June 29, 2001, http://iwsun4.infoworld.com/articles/ca/xml/01/07/02/010702cacity3.xml, visited December 10, 2001.

9. NavLink News: NavLink Opens Internet Data Centre & NOC in Southern France, http://www.navlinkllc.com/navlinknews/navlink_news_3e.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

10. "To get to Sophia Antipolis," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/pratique/acces.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

11. Invest in France, "Research & Development," http://www.investinfrance.org/StrategicFunctions/r_d.html, visited December 10, 2001.

12. Id.

13. Id.

14. CORDIS, the France R&D Information Service, "French Research and Technology: Principal Research Statistics," http://www.cordis.lu/france/en/techno-2.htm, visited December 10, 2001.  See also French Ministry of Research, "Main Scientific Abbreviations," http://www.recherche.gouv.fr/english/sigle.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

15. National Science Foundation, Data Brief, "R&D as a Percent of GDP is Highest in Six Years," http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/sdb99302.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

16. WIPO, Industrial Property Statistics, Publication B, 1998," http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/publications/b/index.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

17. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Success in Sophia Antipolis: A Cross-Road of Nationalities and Cultures," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/succes4.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

18. CIA World Fact Book: France, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html, visited December 10, 2001.

19. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Companies," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/entreprise/frame.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

20. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Approval Procedure for Buyers and Lessees," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/implanter/implanter2.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

21. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Three Options to Settle Your Activity," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/implanter/implanter1.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

22. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Financial Incentives," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/implanter/implanter4.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

23. Technopole Sophia Antipolis, "Development and Life Style," http://www.saem-sophia-antipolis.fr/anglais/infos/amenag.htm, visited December 10, 2001.

 
Copyright 2001.  Anne Theodore Briggs and Stephen Watt
This report was created in Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business, an MBA class of American University, Washington, D.C.