Grenoble cluster prevents brain drain

"In this context of economic crisis, we had about 40 job and internship offers, and more than 150 students attended the event," he indicated.

When asked if he and his partners are building ramparts around Grenoble, Leterrier promptly replied negatively. He declared: "I would say that Grenoble is a geographically enclosed city as it is at the bottom of a valley. These are not at all ramparts. Contrarily, I would say that Grenoble is an extremely open city with an 82 percent immigration rate. Indeed, 82 percent of the inhabitants were not born in Grenoble."

This measure is a positive step forward but Leterrier encouraged going further. "Minalogic should become a brand so that it is internationally recognized as a center of excellence in micro and nanotechnologies as well as embedded systems," he declared.

Giving a broader view to the discussion, Leterrier compared Grenoble and Sophia Antipolis' technology park. He declared: "What we are interested in is to create global leaders, no matter if these creations are endogenous or exogenous. We see a host of large groups settle in Grenoble because the innovation ecosystem is better than anywhere else. In Sophia Antipolis, one dimension is missing. A technological park was created on the top of a hill but today I would say that it lacks the driving force, the lungs to generate projects and help people confront ideas. That's the role of a competitiveness cluster to make sure people meet on a given territory and are able to find the right talents, not only technical or technological but also in management and human resources. In Grenoble, we work on the complete value chain."

In the Grenoble area, there are more than 35,000 jobs in the micro, nanotechnologies and embedded software sector, including 25,500 in industry —14,500 in electronics/micro and nanotechnology and 11,000 in IT/software— and 4,500 in research.

Rhne-Alpes also boasts France's second-largest regional economy with per capita gross domestic product 6 percent above EU average.

In September 2008, the French government said it would provide a 565 million euro (about $833 million) subsidy over the next five years to support nanoelectronics R&D.