Grenoble-Isère is in an ideal position to develop new markets.

• Turin, Milan and northern Italy are very close
• Geneva is only an hour and a half away
• Lyon, an hour away by car
• Marseille and the mediteranean sea.

At the doorway to southern Europe

Grenoble-Isère is strategically placed between the industrial centres of northern Europe and the fast developing South.

The central position of Isère offers access to an enormous potential market:

• 14 million consumers within a radius of 250 kilometres
• 43 million consumers within 400 kilometres
• 180 million consumers within 800 kilometres, or one day by truck

The poxer of the Rhône-Alpes region

Rhône-Alpes is one of Europe's most prosperous and dynamic regions. It rates as the second most prosperous region in France, after Paris-Ile-de-France, with a gross interior product per inhabitant 6% higher than the average for the European Union. The land surface of Rhône-Alpes is equivalent to that of Belgium, Switzerland or the Netherlands, with a population of 6 068 000 inhabitants, comparable to Denmark or Finland.

Communications infrastructures map

Statistics

Population

(INSEE-Estimate AEPI 2006)

Density

Main urban areas (three-quarters of the population live in an urban area)

- Two main urban centres: the Grenoble urban area and the north of the Isère department.
- Three-quarters of the population live in an urban area.

Population under 20 as a proportion of total

Active population in work: Grenoble-Isère = 482,700

A consumer market with 14 million people within 250 km.

Land area

Grenoble-Isère: 7,431 sq km (of which 3,500 sq km mountain terrain)
Tenth largest department in France.

Climate, straddling the 40th parallel:

Average temperatures observed in Grenoble over the last 45 years:
- January +1.9°C
- July: +20.6°C
- annual average: +11.4°C.

Sunshine: 2,000 hours per year, as much as Toulouse and Bordeaux, both located further south, and more than the Paris area (1,800 hours).

Environment: a wide range of altitude and terrain

Grenoble, capital of the French Alps, yet set on a plain (213m)
Rhône and Isère valleys climbing from 150m to 280m*
Chartreuse, Belledonne and Vercors ranges: from 600m to 1,200m*
Oisans valley: 1,400m to 1,650m*: famous peaks: Les Ecrins 4,101m and La Meije 3,883m.
*Altitude of centres of population

Three natural parks

• Vercors (175,000 hectares), regional natural park.
• Chartreuse (63,000 hectares), regional natural park.
• Ecrins (91,740 hectares), national park.

2,100 kilometres of rivers, more than 100 lakes and ponds