Unanimous support of local authorities: Isère Departmental Council, the Rhône-Alpes Region, Grenoble Urban Area Council, Grenoble City Council, Cosi (Crolles), CAPV (Voiron).

A leading role played by the Departmental Council: €118m invested from 1992 to 2002 in micro and nanotechnology alone.

Subsidies supporting investment in technology and research:

• Convention with the government on key projects such as Alliance-Crolles II, Minatec, etc.

• Departmental and/or regional fund for SMEs and start-ups
• Regional Development Plan (CPER) 2000-2006: national government 50%, Rhône-Alpes Region 25%, Isère Departmental Council 25%

Promotion, prospection, assistance setting up in business are among AEPI's missions, to help companies expand or relocate in Grenoble-Isère.

Assistance for professional associations and initiatives: GNI, Minalogic with the EmSoc component, METIS, Rosame project.

Here are some recent examples:

June 2001: Minatec, an example of local authority responsiveness

A European centre for micro and nanotechnology innovation.

The initial project involved building a 45,000 sq m centre, between 2003 and 2006, with the prospect of about 3,000 new jobs. The overall investment amounts to €450m, of which €193m for the construction project (20% funded by CEA, 22% by Isère Departmental Council, 13% by the Rhône-Alpes Region, 7% by the government, 7% by Grenoble City Council and Grenoble Urban Area Council, with 24% from private investors).

A decision was taken in June 2001 with an agreement being signed on 18 July 2002 and the official opening of the building scheduled for June 2006.
Local authorities contributed:

•  More than half the total funds
• The Isère Departmental Council is the project owner
• AEPI is responsible for coordinating and promoting the project.

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April 2002: Alliance-Crolles II, a Freescale / Philips / STMicroelectronics partnership

On 12 April 2002 Motorola Semiconductor (now trading as Freescale) joined Philips and STMicroelectronics at Crolles to set up a joint R&D centre to develop (90-32 nm) CMOS technologies on 300mm silicon wafers.

This projet represents almost €3.4bn invested between 2002 and 2007 with a commitment by firms to create 1,200 direct jobs by the end of 2007.

Local authorities are contributing €148m for 5 yeards, distributed as follows:
Rhône-Alpes Region, €28.9m; Isère Departmental Council, €50.8m; District Council and Crolles local council, €50.8m; Grenoble Urban Area Council and Grenoble City Council, €17.5m.

A highly positive return on investment, exceeding initial forecasts by March 2006, with 118% of R&D expenditure having been completed and 1,340 jobs created (source La Tribune, 01/03/06).

Juillet 2005: Minalogic

On 12 July 2005 Minalogic was certified as a world-level competitivity centre by the Interministerial Committee on Regional Development (CIAT), chaired by the Prime Minister.

In Grenoble-Isère, the Departmental Council, under the authority of its President, André Vallini, acted as a rallying point to bring together firms, research, teaching and local authorities.

AEPI contributed to the preparation of the application and subsequent project, taking care in particular of administrative and logistic engineering and coordinating the steering committee.

Eleven local authorities have so far signed the convention with the State setting up the centre. They contribute to its coordination, and to R&D and industrial projects.
Minalogic brings together 53 partners, with more to come, in the Minalogic Partners organization set up at the end of 2005. The aim is to develop micro-smart devices.
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