43°37′20″N
7°3′0″E
/
43.62222°N 7.05000°E
/
43.62222; 7.05000
Place in Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France
Sophia Antipolis
is a 2,400 hectare
technology park
in southeast
France
, and as of 2021 home to 2,500 companies, valued today at more than 5.6 billion euros and employing more than 38,000 people counting more than 80 nationalities.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
The park is known to be Europe's first science and technology hub.
[5]
The technology park is also a platform, cluster and creation-hub for
start-ups
.
[6]
[7]
[8]
The "
technopole
" houses primarily companies in the fields of
computing
,
[9]
electronics
,
telecommunication
,
pharmacology
and
biotechnology
.
[10]
Several institutions of higher learning are also located here, along with the European headquarters of
W3C
,
ETSI
,
European Society of Cardiology
, etc.
The park is supported by the
Sophia Antipolis Foundation
, which aims to support "technological and scientific innovation and research projects at the service of mankind and our environment."
[11]
The foundation’s honorary chairman is Pierre Laffitte and its president is Jean-Pierre Mascarelli, who is also president of SYMISA, the
Sophia Antipolis Joint Association
, which is "responsible for managing land, equipment, marketing and upkeeping the park and is involved with coordination activities for harmonious development of the technology park."
Naming
[
edit
]
Sophia Antipolis is named after
Sophie Glikman-Toumarkine
, the wife of French Senator
Pierre Laffitte
, founder of the park, and incidentally,
Sophia
, the Greek word for wisdom, and
Antipolis
, the ancient (Greek) name of a nearby seaside town
Antibes
. Many of the roads within the technology park have Greek names. There is a giant sculptured Greek urn as a centre-piece on one of the roundabouts.
The park is also termed a "technopole".
[12]
[13]
History
[
edit
]
Gerald Hanning was the consultant advisor to the
DATAR
for this industrial/scientific complex created 1970 to 1984.
[
citation needed
]
French Senator
Pierre Laffitte
conceived the idea of Sophia Antipolis, calling for decentralization and "rural branch of the capital".
[1]
In 2016, the
Mouratoglou Tennis Academy
was relocated from
Montreuil
to Sophia Antipolis.
[14]
The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the park.
[1]
[15]
Agenda 2040
[
edit
]
An agenda named "Sophia 2040" was created to "restore the former glory of the technology park's historic centre".
[16]
Further novel investments e. g. into
intelligent vehicle technology
have been initiated.
[16]
[17]
Location
[
edit
]
The technology park lies over an area that stretches into 5 municipalities or communes, much of it falling within the commune of
Valbonne
, which lies northwest of
Antibes
and southwest of
Nice
,
France
.
Several neighborhoods within the park area exist, which make the area attractive to live: Garbejaire, Haut-Sartoux, Saint-Philippe and the Place Sophie Laffitte.
[4]
The locations include typical public services such as a post office, shops, hairdressers, a primary school, sport complexes, hotels, church, children play areas, etc. The area is also surrounded by multiple golf courses and located north of the science park lies the large
Regional Natural Park of the Prealpes d'Azur
.
[18]
Public transport
[
edit
]
Several bus routes (27 urban routes and 64 school bus routes) cover the vast area of the technology park. The main bus route (Ligne A, formerly known as Ligne 1), that was redesigned in 2020, connects the central bus station of the park (Gare Routiere Valbonne - Sophia Antipolis) with
Antibes
railway station and
Juan les Pins
, with bus stops at main universities such as
Polytech Nice Sophia
and
SKEMA
. Antibes railway station provides access to the Riviera coastal railway (
TER Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur
) with eastbound trains to
Nice
,
Monaco
and
Ventimiglia
, or westbound trains to
Toulon
and
Marseille
.
The technology park also has special express lines directly connecting the park with neighbouring cities:
- Ligne 230 (Nice - Sophia Antipolis)
- Ligne 232 (St. Laurent du Var - Sophia Antipolis)
- Ligne 530 (Grasse - Sophia Antipolis)
- Ligne 630 (Cannes - Valbonne)
- Envibus Ligne A (Antibes - Valbonne)
The nearest international airport for the general public is the
Nice Cote d'Azur Airport
. Passengers travelling through private jets and
non-scheduled flights
can use the
Cannes ? Mandelieu Airport
as an alternative.
Academic and research institutions
[
edit
]
Companies
[
edit
]
The technology park as of 2021 lists around 2,500 companies.
[12]
The park also benefits from close proximity of other large corporations in the area, e. g.
Thales Alenia Space
(in
Cannes
),
IBM
(
La Gaude
) and
Schneider Electric
(
Carros
). Furthermore, the park is near the large city of
Nice
and its industries.
[19]
The following list is a partial selection without claim to completeness or actuality. For an up-to-date listing and map of "park stakeholders" refer to the main website.
[20]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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