Aix-Marseille receives “French Tech” Label

Recognition that will boost the local digital technologies sector

Officially launched by the government in January 2014, the “French Tech” label program has just entered a new phase with the awarding of the new label to nine French areas on November 12 last. 

Aix-Marseille is one of the first areas to be certified. Selected from a list of around 15 applicants, the “Aix-Marseille French Tech” candidacy was chosen for its ambitious and coherent project for the future that brings together all the digital technologies sector stakeholders (enterprises, local government, higher education, research entities…).

Nine private-sector business accelerators backed by leading companies have proposed innovative measures to boost growth in the digital sector. Voyage Privé, Jaguar Network and TelFrance have even suggested setting up specific facilities such as The Camp to assist enterprise creation in their specific fields (e-tourism, smart cities, big data and transmedia). They see this as investing their know-how in the next generations and promoting the emergence of new skills by helping high-potential entrepreneurs to build international companies.

Aix-Marseille also underlined the importance of its digital technologies sector and the quality of its existing facilities, obviously. The digital-sector companies are mainly concentrated in four geographical zones, in Aix-en-Provence at the Constance Digital Hub and the Arbois Méditerranée Environment and Technology Park, and in Marseille at the Belle de Mai Multimedia Park and the Château Gombert Technology Park. Business incubators provide support for project carriers and encourage cross-fertilization within innovative collaborative projects, in particular those linked to the region’s competitive clusters (SCS, Risks, Pégase, Capénergies, Optitec, Paca Marine, Eurobiomed and Pass). 

The “Aix-Marseille French Tech” label also allows the spotlight to be directed on other new initiatives, for example Pfactory, a private-sector business accelerator launched recently, in September 2014, that aims to transform start-ups into prime assets.

For Provence Promotion, this label is a tremendous promotional tool that adds to the region’s attractiveness, in particular with regard to the Start in Provence program, which will be scaled up to cater for the increasing demand from French-based companies. Each year, more than a third of all inward investment handled by Provence Promotion in the region concerns the digital technologies sector. Provence Promotion will be taking part in a series of presentations overseas organized by Ubifrance in conjunction with the French Tech France team, with the first episode taking place in Madrid on November 13 as part of  the “France-Spain: Digital Sisters”  event.