A collective effort to influence decision-makers and opinion leaders in France and around the world

Key initiatives raise Aix-Marseille’s profile in business and media circles

About 30 members of Provence Promotion’s influence program attended the biannual committee meeting held on Friday, 24 March at the Marseille Provence Airport. The influence program is composed of public and private stakeholders and it works to promote Aix-Marseille as a prime alternative to traditional business capitals among opinion leaders, major French companies, global corporations, and the media. The committee meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the initiatives that have already been implemented and look forward to those that lie ahead. In the context of current business trends and new challenges — decentralization, decarbonization, changing ways of working, etc. — the 2023 influence program has been developed to address the needs of Aix-Marseille by focusing on innovation, sports, and inclusive investment.

At the meeting held at the Marseille Provence Airport on Friday, March 24, Provence Promotion and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aix-Marseille-Provence shared the results of the actions carried out by the influence program in 2022 and presented the 2023 strategy to promote the metro area in national and international economic circles and increase the territory’s global influence.

Provence Promotion, which is the economic development agency for Aix-Marseille-Provence, initiated this collaborative influence program in 2019. Now entering its fourth year, it brings together major urban development bodies, public institutions, local authorities, and large companies based in the territory that are active in sectors such as industry, digital technology, services, or aeronautics.

Promoting Aix-Marseille-Provence as a destination for projects and investment

When it comes to influencing decisions about where to open a subsidiary, campus, head office, or R&D center, there are multiple advantages to working as a collective, including creating a bigger impact and improving coordination among local actors. The influence program was created with the goal of attracting emblematic projects to Aix-Marseille as well as more investors and talent. This objective is shared by the committee members, who each year approve an action plan that includes events, speeches, delegation visits, and media operations that will put Aix-Marseille in the national and international spotlight.

In 2022, the influence program enabled its members to:

• facilitate the opening of a direct airline route between Marseille to Cairo by supporting the work of the Marseille Provence Airport;
• help advance the project to create an Indian consulate in Marseille;
• and get important issues for Aix-Marseille included among the recommendations made to the French government by the senior executives of international companies based in France.

The influence program’s efforts to play a role in discussions about France’s economic appeal and promote Aix-Marseille’s advantages at major national events was a notable success, with members participating in the Forum Aix-Marseille economic conference, the 17th edition of the national États de la France conference at the Palais d’Iéna in Paris, and the presentation of economic development recommendations by the Cercle des États de la France business network at the Elysée Palace.

The main priorities for Aix-Marseille’s influence program for 2023

In conjunction with Aix-Marseille’s pioneering digital and tech ecosystem and bolstered by the fact that the metro area has been awarded the title of European Innovation Capital for 2023, the influence program has approached a French innovation network, the Club des Directeurs de l’Innovation, to organize a visit to the territory in 2023.

On a global scale, actions will be carried out in destinations validated by the program’s partners to foster cooperation and raise awareness among international investors about the innovative decarbonization and urban development projects in Aix-Marseille-Provence.

After the success of the inaugural Forum Aix-Marseille, the economic conference will be held again in partnership with the États de la France on September 26, 2023. Another initiative that has already been renewed is the organization of an Invest in France conference at the MIPIM international real estate expo in Cannes under the banner of Choose France and in partnership with The Financial Times and four other French territories, Paris, Lyon, Lille, and Grenoble.

Innovation also means imagining and offering new workspaces for companies and their employees. To showcase these efforts in Aix-Marseille, the influence program will continue to offer its “workplace of the future” workshops, with real estate managers invited to come and discover new real estate solutions in Aix-Marseille that balance societal and environmental issues. The next workshop will take place on April 14, with visits to inspiring locations in Aix-Marseille and meetings with leading executives who will share their visions for the future of the workplace.

A third media trip to Aix-Marseille

In 2023, a third media trip will be organized to Aix-Marseille, and this one will focus on the theme of inclusive investment. The first media trip to the territory addressed the issue of decarbonization with the theme “Aix-Marseille-Provence, at the heart of the energy transition”, while the second trip was structured around the question of companies and talents moving to the regional metro areas with the theme “Leaving the capitals: the Aix-Marseille-Provence metro area as a top alternative”. When it comes to inclusive and sustainable business practices, Aix-Marseille boasts a range of remarkable projects that will interest the French and international media, particularly when it comes to the metro area’s pioneering approach to training young people for the economy of the future.

The So Good positive innovation festival to be held in September 2023 in Marseille will also be an opportunity to discuss this theme.