A well-known smart destination, the Nice Côte d’Azur Métropole is riding the wave of new technologies and new sectors, currently pursuing an ambitious policy designed to improve the lives of its inhabitants and optimize the management of the city while creating jobs.
Ranked 13th smart city in the world and 4th in Europe by the American Juniper Research, the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur has placed innovation and sustainable development at the heart of its economic development strategy. The many Smart City initiatives undertaken in its territory have reinforced the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur’s collaboration with major industrial groups, local SMEs and start-ups, especially those linked to the French Tech network and the world of research and education.
The Métropole recently opened its ‘Smart City Innovation Centre’, the first French platform to bring together stakeholders in research and higher learning as well as leading smart city-focused companies in a single location, the Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Risk and Sustainable Development (IMREDD).
Case Study: Innovative City Convention
No wonder Nice hosts, each year in June, the Innovative City Convention, attracting more than 3,000 global experts in urban innovation –from France, Europe and beyond –for two intense days of conferences, exhibitions and BtoB meetings, where opportunities for new partnerships and contracts are aplenty.
Taking the Smart City concept off the drawing board and into the hands of practitioners to demonstrate how innovation enhances the quality of urban life, Innovative City Convention gathers decision makers, representatives of local authorities, companies, public sector institutions, R&D entities, sociologists, investors, start-ups and think-tanks all under one roof. It offers them a platform to discuss creative solutions that will ultimately contribute to the resilience of local communities and services, thanks to a wealth of new technologies serving connected lifestyles.
A place for research & innovation
Nice, together with the French Riviera, is a knowledge hub and has been attracting the attention of associations for this reason. In terms of Research & Development, its expertise lies in ICT, eco-technology and health.
Nice’s ICT cluster is of world fame, with advanced expertise in three key technologies, namely microelectronics, telecommunications and software. Meanwhile, eco-technology lies at the heart of the Smart City Innovation Center and its Eco Valley, one of the largest Operations of National Interest in France devoted to sustainable development, focusing on the preservation of natural heritage with state-of-the-art innovations.
Last but not least is Nice’s focus on health and well-being. Through on-going constructions and developments in its Eastern district, Nice aspires to become the European Healthy City, with the new Pasteur 2 Teaching Hospital.In this context, the 27 Delvalle facility is home to a true health ecosystem, putting innovative technologies at the service of persons with impaired autonomy and of elderly people.
Contact: bertrand.puissegur@otcnice.com/ www.meet-in-nice.com. This article was written by Boardroom Chief Editor Rémi Dévé and is part of an extensive France feature in the May edition of Boardroom.