Just imagine... Investing

Are you looking for a new place to set up your business? A place where your dreams and desires can come true?

Located in the very dynamic region of the Pays de la Loire – +3.8% annual growth –, Nantes Saint-Nazaire metropolis has a long tradition of industrial and coastal activities and it boasts major companies specialising in shipbuilding, aeronautics, mechanics and the food industry.

Over the last ten years, the high-tech sectors have blossomed in the area. They mostly focus on complex materials, biotechnology, marine renewable energies, web and social networks and also creative and cultural industries…

These leading industries are supported by competitiveness poles and clusters of European and international dimensions such as:

• Atlanpole Biotherapies
• Atlanpole Bluecluster
• EMC2
• Image et Réseaux
• ID4car
• Novabuild

Some of these clusters are coordinated by the public incubator Atlanpole.

The Jules Verne Institute of Technological Research (IRT), chosen after an international contest, will create the new materials used in the cars, planes and ships of the future. This project will lead to 5,000 new jobs in the area.

Everything is done in favour of entrepreneurship and partnership. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Nantes Saint-Nazaire welcomes entrepreneurs and corporate rescuers and helps them settle in.

Companies also have access to a very rich and dynamic ecosystem, with local business networks such as Atlanpole,  the industrial activity center Neopolia or the network of digital specialists Atlantic 2.0.

WTC Nantes Atlantique offers international class help for firms wishing to expand to foreign countries markets.

The Ile de Nantes restructuring programme is the biggest symbol of these ongoing mutations as it is the most important rehabilitation of industrial wasteland in Europe. The metropolis has adopted a new image with newly structured spaces for the future with:

• The Creative Arts District on the Ile de Nantes, dedicated to creative and cultural activities. By 2014, it will be home to 5,000 students, 150 researchers and provide a thousand jobs in innovation and creation.
• Euronantes business center
• The « Villes-Gare » business district in Saint-Nazaire. 

• Specific expertise developed by local industries (maritime, wind, hydrology, maritime, mechanics, transport and logistics, wood…)
• A skilled workforce in the mechanical, logistic, marine and wood sectors, trained in specialised schools and with experience in internationally renowned companies.
• Excellent graduate schools specialising in engineering, business, communication, design, architecture, arts, etc…
• A wide variety of businesses supported by strong and stable growth that offers a solid economic balance. The metropolis brings together around 45,000 companies that provide about 300,000 jobs.
• Great accessibility: there is already an international airport and a new one is due to open in 2017. The train station will also be redeveloped. All these projects will increase greatly the reception capacity in the region.
• Leading port on France's Atlantic Seaboard and the fourth largest major seaport authority, the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port Authority is linked to 400 other ports worldwide. It is established as a fundamental link in Western France's supply chain. 
• One of the strongest demographic growths in France (+150,000 people by 2030, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies).

• Airbus center of excellence specialised in structural assembly, painting, equipping and testing for nose, forward and central fuselage sections
• The Eoseas concept (the ecoship of the future) is currently being developed by STX Europe in Saint-Nazaire
• The Rion-Antirion Bridge connecting the Peloponnese to Continental Greece was tested at the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel in Nantes