Marseille Provence Technology Park in Château-Gombert is an operation being managed by the Marseille Provence Métropole Urban Community in partnership with the City of Marseille and the support of both the Bouches-du-Rhône Department Council and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region.
A comprehensive innovation ecosystem: Higher training, Research, Entrepreneurship
Together with Marseille Luminy Technology Park and the Florides activity park in Marignane, Marseille Provence Technology Park is one of the privileged areas of economic development in the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolitan area. It lies at the crossroads of the economic world and the university resources in the Etoile cluster, which includes the Saint-Jérôme and Château-Gombert campuses.
Today the Château-Gombert Technology Park is the leading French cluster in mechanics-energetics research after Paris: it concentrates in the very same place the four laboratories of the Fabri de Peiresc Federation and the Mechanics and Complexity Laboratory of Excellence (Labex MEC) that have been selected within the scope of the Investments for the Future programme. Closely linked to the Region’s key industrial projects such as the Henri Fabre project, the Château-Gombert Technology Park is host to over 8 laboratories and 15 technology platforms, which are open to cooperative projects with all innovative companies. The on-site scientific fields of expertise can be consolidated into three key strategic fields. See the RESEARCH section
Situated in a privileged 180-hectare site at the foot of the Etoile Massif in the 13th district of Marseille, the Technology Park is also a site dedicated to higher training and business accommodation, mainly in the digital and hi-tech sectors. The Park offers land and real estate solutions geared to all stages of business development, as well as residential dwellings, student housing, shopping facilities and daily services.
Key figures:
- 180 hectares
- 380,000 sqm built-up usable space, including 196,000 sqm dedicated to economic and academic activities
- 170 businesses including over 50 start-ups
- 4,016 private and public jobs, including 660 teaching researchers
- 2,600 students
- 2 engineering grandes ecoles: Centrale Marseille and Polytech Marseille
- 8 public research laboratories: LAM (Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory), IM2NP (Microelectronic Materials and Nanosciences of Provence Institute), LIF (Fundamental Computer Science Laboratory), I2M (Marseille Mathematics Institute) and the four “Labex MEC” laboratories, LMA (Mechanics and Acoustics Laboratory), M2P2 (Mechanics, Modelling and Green Processes), IUSTI (University Institute of Industrial Thermal Systems), IRPHE (Institute for Research of Non Equilibrium Phenomena)
- 15 technology platforms
- 2 departments from the Science Training and Research Units of Aix-Marseille University: the mechanics department and the mathematics department
- 1 interuniversity incubator: IMPULSE
- 1 European Business and Innovation Centre (CEEI) with two business incubators: Marseille Innovation, accommodated in two onsite buildings, the Technology building and the Technoptic building
- 1 Carnot Institute: Carnot STAR Institute
- 1 FabLab: FabLab Marseille
- 3 private computer science schools: Supinfo, Institut G4 and Esimed
- Second only to the Paris region as the leading French research centre in mechanics/energetics
- Network head of the competitive cluster in optics and photonics: OPTITEC
Innovation at the heart of Aix-Marseille Metropolitan Area’s development strategy
Aix-Marseille Provence Metropolitan Area has made its support to scientific and technological innovation a priority in its economic development strategy, which focuses on knowledge economics:
- support in creation and assistance to innovative companies through the Impulse incubator (www.incubateur-impulse.com) and the Marseille Innovation business nurseries (www.marseille-innov.org) as well as the Grand Luminy Association (www.grandluminy.com)
- development of such privileged sites as the Marseille Provence Technology Park in Château-Gombert (optics / engineering sciences), Luminy Technology Park (biotech / health), the Florides business Park in Marignane (aeronautics) and the Belle De Mai Media Centre (multimedia)
- support for the structuring and organisation of the competitive clusters and funding the R&D projects originating from the centres
- support for the organisation of event management
- development of real estate projects to accommodate innovative businesses
Within the scope of the Aix-Marseille University Campus scheme, a 720-million Euro investment made it possible on 1st January 2012 to assist the birth of the largest university in France: Aix-Marseille University.
The former Marseille Provence Metropole Urban Community also funded the service coverage of the site with the High Service Level Bus (BHNS) that now links the Technology Park with the underground in less than 5 minutes (line B3B). Further information at www.rtm.fr
