Grenoble cluster prevents brain drain

Under the first measure, twenty Soitec employees were transferred early October and it is anticipated that they will return to Soitec in January 2011, Corinne Margot, Soitec's vice president, human resources, explained to EE Times.

She commented: "It is a good measure for the company to prepare the end of the recession since it is anticipated that these employees will return to Soitec within a few months. Those employees are very qualified, and the company will benefit again from their skills and experience."

Margot added: "This measure is adapted to help people remain in their professional domain and enlarge their experience. It is thus very efficient for their career security. This innovative agreement launched by the Grenoble Cluster under the December 2006 law on career security helps to thin the labor market within the Grenoble region and encourage innovation within SMEs."

Questioned about the competencies that the twenty Soitec employees would bring to the research institute or the company that will temporarily host them, Leterrier answered: "We are in the case of very advanced competencies in materials and substrates. These people will be able to use their skills in other application areas than microelectronics. We are currently working on printed electronics on flexible substrates. We are also working on batteries where the isolating part plays a key role to have catalytic processes that consume less power."

Soitec, which published operating loss amounted to 28.4 million euros, or 13.3 percent of sales for the full year 2008-2009, is the first company to have implemented this measure, but Leterrier said several requests have been recently been received.

A student-oriented initiative

In parallel, Minalogic organized on Sept. 29 the second edition of Job'Innov whose objective is to confront graduates from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, the University Joseph Fourier and Grenoble Business School with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in microelectronics. Job'Innov then aimed at being the meeting place between supply and demand in the Grenoble High Tech ecosystem.

Leterrier said the primary motivation is to make sure these young talents find a job in Grenoble and don't get away. Secondly, he continued, the majority of students don't know local SMEs and startups. Job'Innov is the appropriateness between a company, an opportunity and a personal project that students may have built.