Successful local milieux and the Lisbon process
Good practice case study
Sophia Antipolis Foundation, France
Sophia Antipolis was created in 1969, the vision of Pierre Laffitte who wanted to create a ‘city of science and wisdom’. Laffitte came from the Antibes/Nice part of France, and this is where he wanted to realize his vision. The idea ran contrary to other thoughts at the time, because the economy around Nice/Antibes was almost wholly based on tourism. The Foundation Sophia Antipolis was created in 1984. It leads the scientific and cultural activities and aims to facilitate exchanges and prospective reflection, at the French, European and international levels, in the fields of science, industry and culture.
Currently the Foundation is developing the area as a centre of tele-working and tele-centres. The venture only allows implantation of companies whose activities are focused on research and development. But while the research is undertaken by many different sectors, the Sophia Antipolis Foundation encourages ‘cross-fertilisation’, i.e. networking among these companies to encourage the sharing of ideas. There is recognition that ideas can be shared across sectors or even combined to foster further innovation, and encourage networking via a number of means, such as the holding of informal get-togethers over breakfast, seminars and forums, etc. Not only does this cross-fertilisation help in getting different sectors of research to interact, but it also helps to add to a sense of community for the people who work in Sophia Antipolis.
One of the key lessons of the success of Sophia Antipolis Foundation is that, while the individual leader of a project has a crucial role, his/her actions need to be embedded within a coherent framework that engages local actors and institutions and has them buy into a coherent and evolving strategy.
Case study
Sophia Antipolis Foundation: developing teleworking and telecentres, Provence-Alpes Cote d’Azur (PACA), France [pdf, en, 25kb]
