Essonne: key figures

Essonne is the leading French region (not counting Paris) in terms of research and development.

High concentration of researchers in Essonne:

	Regional share	National share
Business	10.1%	4.4%
Business + academic	25%	10%

 

Economic data

Strong growth in paid employment and lower unemployment rates:

	Essonne	Ile-de-France (Paris region)
Increase in paid employment 1989-2002	+19.4%	+8.3%
Unemployment rate 2005	8%	10.1%
Active population 1999	562,400	5,492,000
Average net annual salary	23,200	26,200

(In euros; source: INSEE)

For more economic data relating to the Essonne region, download the following document: Essonne key data.

Major companies and innovative SMEs

Essonne is home to several major companies and a number of innovative SMEs within the high-tech sector.
Below are just a few examples of the 44,000 companies located in Essonne:
HQ : head office
R&D : Research and Development Centre

* Examples of major companies:
- SANOFI-AVENTIS (R&D),
- ALCATEL (R&D),
- THALES (R&D),
- GSK (R&D),
- ERICSSON,
- RENAULT (R&D),
- RENAULT F1 (HQ, R&D),
- DANONE (R&D),
- SAFRAN,
- MOTOROLA, ALTIS (HQ, R&D),
- ACCOR (HQ),
- CARREFOUR (HQ),
- FAURECIA (R&D)

* Innovative SMEs:
- NOVAGALI : biotechnology company focused on ophthalmology. Funds raised: 17.8 million euros, including 14 million in January 2005.
- ABAG : biotechnology company specializing in protein chips. Funds raised: 8 million euros, including 6 million in January 2006.
- INTEGRAGEN : biotechnology company focused on diagnostic kits for complex illnesses. Funds raised: 20 million euros, including 8 million in November 2005.
- BIOMETHODES : biotechnology company developing technologies to optimize proteins in a range of fields (health, chemistry, agro-food). Funds raised: 5 million euros, including 4.5 million in 2003.
- IMAGINE EYES : a developer of ophthalmic and optometric instruments, the company won the Innovation Award at BioRIF in October 2005, and was honoured with a Silver Medal at OPTO 2005 for its MIRAO mirror technology.
- AMPLITUDE TECHNOLOGIES : manufacturer of lasers for the industrial community.
- MISTER GOOD DEAL : major player in the French e-commercial sector; 2 million visitors to its site every month and 300,000 customers.
- ARCHOS : one of the world’s leading portable digital product manufacturers (sales growth in 2005: Asia +75%, Europe +41%, USA +35%).
- FROGS 2000 : winner of the Innovation Award 2004 for its latest bodywork treatment process.
- SINOVIA : publishers of software solutions. Named Young Innovative Business 2005. The company raised over 1.2 million euros in 2002 and 2004.

Property data

Map of clusters accounting for 99% of transactions performed by the seven leading real estate agencies in 2005.

Essonne ranks eighth out of all French regional urban areas in terms of property transactions.

* Massy Saclay Courtaboeuf cluster
Offices: 33,000 sq.m
Activities – combined: 22,800 sq.m
Warehouses: 800 sq.m

* Evry cluster
Offices: 13,000 sq.m
Activities – combined: 23,500 sq.m
Warehouses: 45,400 sq.m

* Orly cluster
Offices: 2,000 sq.m
Activities – combined: 2,400 sq.m
Warehouses: 28,700 sq.m

* Francilienne (Paris region) cluster
Offices: 1,200 sq.m
Activities – combined: 4,500 sq.m
Warehouses: 39,500 sq.m

Competitive clusters

Essonne plays a significant role in two international competitive clusters:
- System@tic
- Meditech Santé

* Meditech-Santé
The Ile-de-France region represents:
- 50% of national academic research potential in the field of life sciences.
- Nine universities offering comprehensive degree courses in biology and related sciences.
- Students: 19,000 life-sciences students, 30,000 medical students, 5,300 pharmacy students.
- Two prestigious “grandes écoles” for researchers, plus several elite engineering colleges, including the Polytechnique, Ecole des Mines, Centrale and CNAM.
- Almost half of all French high-tech biology companies.
- More than 50 pharmaceutical manufacturers, including three of the “Big Five” or G5 (Sanofi-Aventis, Servier and Ipsen).
- AP-HP (Paris public hospitals), Europe’s leading hospital network bringing together over 39 establishments and representing a total of some 25,000 beds.

For more information, visit www.genopole.com/meditech-sante/fr

* System@tic
- 320,000 jobs are based within the System@tic competitive cluster in the Paris region, including 100,000 in the telecoms sectors, 100,000 in transportation and 50,000 in security and defence.
- 42,000 R&D jobs, including 11,000 in the optics, electronics and software sectors (>25% of employees in France).
- More than 100 specialized training establishments and 50,000 manufacturing jobs in 800 companies that represent the cluster’s technological base and complete the cluster’s “ecosystem”.

For more information, visit www.systematic-paris-region.org and www.opticsvalley.org.