Marseille Provence: gateway to France

Marseille is at a turning point in its history. The cradle of a unique type of multiculturalism, France’s second largest city is undergoing significant expansion. These days, Marseille is known not only for its southern lifestyle, but also as a dynamic and evolving area, taking its place as a top-flight Mediterranean and global city.

Following major urban renewal, Marseille was named "European City of the Year" at the "2014 Urbanism Awards".
A city on the doorstep of the calanques, in 2015 it also joined National Geographic’s list of the top 10 seaside cities to visit.

Attracted by the city’s dynamic appeal, many investors now wish to set up business operations in Marseille. Whether in the commercial, real estate, hospitality or sports sectors, each of these projects will contribute to enhancing the face of Marseille without obscuring the city’s existing appeal.

The City of Marseille and the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis are committed to anticipating and supporting urban and economic projects. This will therefore help entrepreneurs and galvanize employment.

^{Sources : Métropole Aix-Marseille Provence}

[title]Sectors of Excellence[/title]Marseille is ranked 40th in the OECD’s list of the 445 most innovative cities, ahead of Milan and Barcelona. With almost 20,000 companies founded every year, the Metropolis now sits among the topflight enterprising metropolitan areas.
20 minutes from Marseille, The Camp is a new generation campus which is designed to help businesses – as well as start-ups, students, and experts work together on technology and the “city of tomorrow”. 
The site was unveiled on Thursday 28th September 2017: “A base camp for exploring the future”. This is how The Camp, a new complex dedicated to studies and entrepreneurship in the digital field, is defined.
A fertile pasture for entrepreneurial activity, Aix-Marseille-Provence is already the birthplace of long-established businesses such as CMA CGM and Daher.
The region is also home to emerging start-ups, some of which have risen to become global leaders in digital services, health and fashion (High Co, Innate Pharma, SMC, Sessun, American Vintage, Voyage Privé, etc.).

[title]Marseille’s digital sector[/title]Marseille is at the forefront of providing community-level digital services designed to improve urban living. In particular, the city leads the world in NFC technology and secure payments and transactions.

Marseille has invested heavily to develop a comprehensive policy for training and employment in the digital sector. It is home to 40,000 employees within 7,000 companies, for a total turnover of €8 billion.
The digital sector also boosts related jobs, and helps to accelerate the development of new structural projects in the region.

Boasting a rich network of dynamic and innovative companies, the City of Marseille and its partners actively support the development of this sector by providing:

• a favourable environment for business setup and development
• incentivizing financial tools
• personalized support and guidance

For years, the city has supported digital companies within:

• the Belle-de-Mai incubator (the largest national incubator dedicated to digital industries)
• the “Marseille innovation” business accelerator
• and the “Prides Primi” and “Medinsoft” clusters

The digital industry therefore now constitutes one of the pillars of our regional economy, thanks in particular to the emergence of four major and interconnected sectors : big data, telecoms networks and data centres, transmedia, and digital marketing (which includes e-commerce, e-tourism and the production of audiovisual and multimedia content).

These hubs benefit from:

• European recognition
• a smart specialization regional strategy, specifically regarding a strategic area of activity based around the cultural, tourism, and content industries
• a high concentration of interconnected skills : software and services, microelectronics, content production and transmedia, e-commerce and e-tourism, home to 55% of digital jobs in the PACA region.
• global leadership in NFC (contactless) technology and secure payment systems.

The information highway linking Europe with the Middle East and Asia extends over almost 20,000km, and runs through the Mediterranean. Some of these pathways end in Marseille.
These optimum conditions for ultra-connectivity and Smartdata have enabled the development of a dense network of high-performance Data Centres.
After €45 million of investments, the company Interxion thereby opened its data centre in the heart of the Euro-Mediterranean region, with 8 submarine cables landing in Marseille and serving as transit nodes for 60 network providers, enabling them to access new markets. When completed, the facility will provide 6,200m2 of fully-equipped space, offering its clients a minimum of 6MW of electrical power.

[title]Marseille organizes or participates in major digital events[/title]
Marseille now hosts a number of major digital events, including World Smart Weeks, the CNRFID, French Tech Weeks, the Fiber to the Home Forum, Devops Day, and Ripe, etc.

Aix-Marseille French Tech contributes to promoting the digital potential of our local region, through participation in major international events such as the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, at which the AMFT delegation featured no less than 30 local start-ups.

[title]Certified “French Tech”[/title]
The Aix-Marseille region is one of 9 metropolitan areas in France to carry the “French Tech” label, which is awarded to areas with a rich network of innovative startups.
The project is an example of successful investment undertaken as part of a collaborative process, involving the City of Marseille, the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and nine accelerator projects and their partner organizations.
In recognition of the concrete commitments made by our local region in favour of the digital sector, the certification was renewed in 2016 for a further 3 years.
A number of new sub-sectors have also been defined on a national scale: HealthTech, SportTech, Iot Manufacturing and CleanTech Mobility.

[title]Marseille’s “Mocap & VFX” Post-Production Studio[/title]
The 23,000m2 Media Hub, dedicated to the audiovisual and digital sectors, is home to 5 film studios and more than 50 creative companies which help to make Marseille the second largest French hub for digital and TV content production. For the last 7 years the Marseille Webfest, an international digital series festival, has been helping to strengthen Marseille’s offering of new content.
The Belle de Mai Media Centre is home to a special effects and motion capture (Mocap) studio run by the Newen company, a major name in French audiovisual production and distribution (including the iconic daytime series “Plus Belle la vie”).
With 600m2 of space and 6-metre ceilings, this studio allows users to digitize natural movements using 3D software, enabling producers and directors to create new characters and surroundings.
The technology has been used in films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Little Prince.
The only facility of its kind in the south of France, Mocap allows production teams to create fictional or animated scenes requiring special effects or motion capture on site.
Equipped with new technological tools, the Marseille region can now provide users with everything necessary for a production, from filming locations through to post-production.