Attract Talent program kick-off in London

For a community of talents around the world

April 27 will mark the London debut of the Attract Talent program which promotes economic development in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region of south-eastern France. This future-minded program that seeks to build a community of talents around the world will be launched at the Google Campus with French Tech London.
Attract Talent is backed by the PACA region and is a French Tech initiative. It is administered by ARII ("Regional Agency for Innovation and the Internationalization of Companies in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur") in conjunction with Provence Promotion. So far Attract Talent has already recruited about 15 businesses and 150 individuals to participate in the event. A network of local economic actors and ambassadors will speak about the region's potential and present investment opportunities. An online "State of Art" digital platform will soon go live to facilitate collaboration. It will enable international talent to work with regional projects and companies by giving them the most comprehensive and most up-to-date information. It is yet another way to persuade bold candidates to join the Attract Talent community.

Provence, a region for the future that attracts and retains talent... That is the hope of Pierre Distinguin, director of the Attract Talent program, which brings together start-ups, SMBs and top-tier talent to advance economic development in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

It will launch in London on April 27, at the Google Campus, the Mecca of high-tech, creativity and innovation. It is a logical, symbolic choice to publicize this initiative which targets individuals working in competitive ecosystems and economically robust regions that are influential on the world stage. The event is organized as an after-work mixer (18:00 to 21:00) with two round table discussions and a networking cocktail hour. The goal is to show that the region offers an exceptional environment to live and work, a lifestyle conducive to success, and also to encourage talent from abroad to engage with the Provence economy.

The Euroméditerranée (Marseille) and Ecovalley (Nice) Smart City projects are examples of developments bound to garner interest from across the Channel. However, there are other investments likely to catch the eye of entrepreneurs, executives and graduates, especially in the field of health and well-being with the Immunopole in Marseille, the Health Innovation and Uses Centre in Nice and Marseille's designation as the 2017 European Sports Capital.

"For some time now, our French Tech-designated region has drawn strength from many tech industries, such as IT, medical technology and cleanteach, but culture and sports have played a role as well. It is a hotbed of skills and innovation. The aims of Attract Talent are to generate more 'impact players' in the region with Provencal businesses and to make matches between talents and start-ups or small businesses. We have already identified 50 French and Francophile opinion leaders among the 400,000 French people living in London who can embody our energy and will help this region grow by investing or working with local companies," explains Pierre Distinguin.

Actions to foster introductions

A network of ambassadors from the realms of innovation and higher education are involved in the Attract Talent program: the four regional French Tech stables for Aix-Marseille, Avignon, Côte d'Azur and Toulon can meet the needs of start-ups and single out high-level candidates while guiding them through a competitive ecosystem in partnership with regional economic development agencies, the major business clusters and top business schools such as Skema and Kedge Business School. The more the community grows, the more attractive the region becomes and the easier it will be for new economic and cultural sectors to grow. Therefore, its role as a project accelerator will increasingly appeal to various local stakeholders (laboratory managers, festival directors, high-level athletes, etc.), as well as major corporations (Pernod Ricard, Airbus Helicopters, etc.).

Some 55 companies have already signed up to join the community -- including Supersonic Imagine (a European leader in medical imaging) and Black Euphoria (which promotes transmedia and storytelling) -- and an additional 100 are expected to join the network by the end of 2017. The conditions are ripe for facilitating productive meetings with the 150 talented people who have already registered who want to invest or develop in this region of the future. To optimize interactions between companies and talent, our "State of the Art" digital platform will soon be launched: it will offer access to pre-screened candidates and data on shared areas of interest.

Other Attract Talent events are ahead, including French Tech Week and Host Talent, which consists of hosting promising individuals at a local business with personalized introductions and presentations on appropriate projects. The first Host Talent event will take place in Vaucluse.

Learn more and join the community: http://attracttalentlondon.strikingly.com/