Provence Mobile Valley

The Secure Communicating Solutions (SCS) World Competitive Cluster

The SCS Cluster -with its motto "From silicon to end-user"- originated from a merging of the driving forces and talents of the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) Regional Authority and the region’s ICT majors, universities, schools and numerous sector SMEs.

Their common ambition, in compliance with the cluster’s "World Competitive Cluster" certification, is to make the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur region the world leader in the field of highly secured and highly reliable solutions for transmitting, processing and exchanging information.

The SCS Cluster’s mission is to provide a major contribution to a policy to boost innovation:
-    by encouraging new collaborative projects in innovation centered on five main themes: connectivity, identity, mobility, traceability and security;
-    by providing support to small business development;
-    by contributing to the creation of an ecosystem to foster development in the region’s ICT sector.

In 2010, the SCS Cluster certified 278 projects. In the same year, total R&D expenditure reached €851 M and subsidies allocated to projects €144 M.
www.pole-scs.org

MedInSoft

A Mediterranean network of software publishers, MedInSoft brings together around a hundred publishers and service providers from the South of France, representing a combined turnover of some €150 M.

Through a pooling of multidisciplinary skills and the creation of synergies, MedInSoft aims to:
- promote the South of France’s image as a center of technology to attract major corporations to the region;
-    communicate within France and internationally about the network members’ expertise and the products they develop;
-    support innovation with a view to enhancing the network members’ competitiveness and productivity;
-    conquer new markets; and
-    stimulate job creation in the Mediterranean Basin.
www.medinsoft.com

The PRIMI (Regional Image, Multimedia and Internet Cluster)

The PRIMI is the PACA region’s network of small and medium-sized digital and multimedia companies. Its aim is to bring together multimedia, image and Internet-sector stakeholders in order to promote the industry at the regional, national and international levels.

The regional cluster’s activity is focused on five main areas of economic development:
- Innovation
- Overseas development support
- Optimizing ICT use
- Training
- Corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The PRIMI’s ambition, even more so in the current economic climate, is to become the benchmark transmedia cluster for Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Its self-imposed mission is to explore new models for the transmedia sector in terms of economics, creation and innovation.

With numerous multidisciplinary skills at its disposal, the regional cluster is well-prepared to open up to new markets and to adapt to the advent of transmedia storytelling, a technique that uses multiple formats and platforms, including television, film, mobile, Web and game console.

In order to encourage new projects and position itself as the Euro-Mediterranean zone leader, the PRIMI works in close partnership with Provence Promotion to promote and organize events highlighting cross-media or transmedia productions, for example the Marseille Web Fest (the first European Web series festival), or the Transmedia International Masterclass Marseille (TIMM). These two events were huge successes in 2011 and served to underline the PACA region’s position as a major player in the multimedia, ICT, film and transmedia sectors.
www.polesudimage.com  (in French)

PACA Labs

PACA Labs was launched in 2008 by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, with support from the FEDER and in partnership with the SCS Cluster, the Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération (FING), together with the DEIXIS team from TELECOM Paris Tech (ENST), and Méditerranée Technologie.

This "life-size" experimental test bed is aimed at promoting and supporting digital innovation and its applications in the region.
The projects undertaken involve a number of stakeholders including municipal authorities, private companies, training bodies, those in the field of innovation and end-users. The SMEs, research centers and laboratories taking part in this open-air laboratory are thus able to test their prototypes in the field.

PACA Labs’ activity is focused on three main points:
- Life-size prototyping of innovative digital technologies and services across the region;
- Cooperation in the design of products and services with an upstream end-user input within the framework of a research and experimentation project involving ICTs;
- Digital ecosystem projects within a defined territory with a view toward a living lab concept.
PACA Labs

Euroméditerranée

Initiated in 1995 by the government and regional authorities, Euroméditerranée is a project of national importance aimed at the urban renewal and economic development of Marseilles’ city center.

The project, which has attracted a total of €7 bn in investment, is being implemented in a zone covering some 1200 acres that has now become a major international services hub.

In due course, the zone will feature more than 10 million sq. ft of office space, 18,000 new homes and 2.1 million sq. ft. of new or renovated infrastructure and will provide 35,000 new jobs.
Set right in the heart of Marseilles, the Euroméditerranée district’s role as an experimental zone for mobile technologies and applications is a perfect example of that strategy.
www.euromediterranee.fr/?L=1

The city of Marseilles

At the forefront of contactless NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies, the city of Marseilles has implemented a strategy designed to make it a "connected, intelligent city".

The main objective of this move towards promoting and integrating information and communication technologies is to make daily life easier for residents and visitors alike.

The NFC services, due to come online at the beginning of 2012, will be structured to address six key areas identified by the city’s authorities:
- Civic services
- Culture
- Local retailing
- Health
- Student affairs
- Transport

Consequently, loyalty cards and travel cards will become dematerialized and users will be able to buy tickets for shows or access official information using a simple cell phone -thanks to contactless technology.

For this ambitious scheme’s deployment, the city has set up broadband links and a network infrastructure to provide the widest possible coverage.

Awarded the title of “Mobile Contactless Pioneer City” in January 2011, Marseilles is ready to host the many visitors attending the various scheduled international events, including the World Water Forum in 2012, the year-long European Capital of Culture in 2013 and the UEFA Euro 2016.
www.marseille.fr

Enterprise incubators

Belle de Mai National Multimedia Incubator

The Belle de Mai National Multimedia Incubator, certified by the Ministry of Education and Research, provides support to innovative project carriers in the field of ICT and its uses. Its aim is to foster the transfer of the results of public sector research to new services and products.
The national incubator is the only one of its type specialized in the multimedia field, hosting projects from many different sources.
Since its opening in the year 2000, 62 innovating enterprises have “hatched” at the incubator, resulting in the creation of 230 jobs.
www.belledemai.org

Marseille Innovation

Marseille Innovation is an association specialized in supporting the creation and development of innovating technology enterprises. The start-ups are provided with tailored support, office accommodation and pooled services.

Marseille Innovation manages three enterprise incubators:
- The enterprise incubator at the Technopôle de Château-Gombert, which provides support to businesses starting out in the fields of engineering science, ICT and freeware. The incubator is based at the Marseille-Provence Technology Park at Château-Gombert, close to engineering schools and research laboratories.
- The Belle de Mai Media Park’s enterprise incubator, situated at the heart of the media park, which specifically targets start-up projects in the multimedia and audiovisual sectors.
- The optics-photonics enterprise incubator, which hosts star-ups in the optics sector. The structure has a three-fold purpose of incubator, business services center and technology hub.
www.marseille-innov.org (in French)

Meyreuil Enterprise Incubator

The Meyreuil Innovating Enterprise Incubator was set up in 2006 on the initiative of the Meyreuil city authorities and the Communauté du Pays d’Aix.
The incubator hosts start-ups working in the fields of microelectronics, computers, nanotechnology and industrial outsourcing. Two thirds of the hosted businesses are in the microelectronics sector and work hand in hand with either the SCS or Optitec competitive clusters.
At the end of the incubation phase, the start-ups have the option of moving into Meyreuil’s technology center, which provides office accommodation for businesses that do not have the financial resources to rent their own office space. 
http://peim-inno.over-blog.com/pages/ACCUEIL-902813.html (In French)