Aerospace Valley
Encyclopedia
Aerospace Valley is a French
cluster
of aerospace engineering
companies and research centres. The cluster is located in the regions of Midi-Pyrénées
and Aquitaine
in the southwest of France and is mainly concentrated in and around the city of Toulouse
.
The over 500 affiliated companies (including Airbus
, EADS, Air France Industries
and Dassault Aviation
) are responsible for some 120.000 jobs in the aviation and space flight industries. In addition, some 8,500 researchers are active within the affiliated companies and institutions.
The cluster's stated aim is to create 40,000 new jobs within the next 20 years. Since its inception in 2005, the cluster has initiated some 220 research projects with a total budget of 460 million euros, including 204 million euros in government funding.
The headquarters of Aerospace Valley is located in Toulouse. Chair of the cluster is Jean-Marc Thomas, who is also vicechair of Airbus France. Key locations of the cluster include:
Aerospace Valley is a member of the European Aviation Clusters Partnership.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
cluster
Business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally. In urban studies, the term agglomeration is used...
of aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
companies and research centres. The cluster is located in the regions of Midi-Pyrénées
Midi-Pyrénées
Midi-Pyrénées is the largest region of metropolitan France by area, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark.Midi-Pyrénées has no historical or geographical unity...
and Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
in the southwest of France and is mainly concentrated in and around the city of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
The over 500 affiliated companies (including Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
, EADS, Air France Industries
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
and Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets, a subsidiary of Dassault Group.It was founded in 1930 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Dassault, and the name of the...
) are responsible for some 120.000 jobs in the aviation and space flight industries. In addition, some 8,500 researchers are active within the affiliated companies and institutions.
The cluster's stated aim is to create 40,000 new jobs within the next 20 years. Since its inception in 2005, the cluster has initiated some 220 research projects with a total budget of 460 million euros, including 204 million euros in government funding.
The headquarters of Aerospace Valley is located in Toulouse. Chair of the cluster is Jean-Marc Thomas, who is also vicechair of Airbus France. Key locations of the cluster include:
- The "Aerospace Campus" in Toulouse with the aviation schools ISAE (a merger of SUPAEROÉcole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'EspaceThe École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace , founded in 1909, is one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles in France. It was the world's first dedicated aerospace engineering school and is considered to be one of the best in Europe in that field...
en ENSICA) and ENACÉcole Nationale de l'Aviation CivileThe ' is a French and a national French civil aeronautics academy .It was founded in 1949 in Paris Orly and moved to Toulouse in 1968....
and over 1000 researchers at ONERAOffice National d'Etudes et de Recherches AerospatialesOffice National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales or Onera is the French aerospace research center. It is a public establishment with industrial and commercial operations, and carries out application-oriented research to support enhanced innovation and competitiveness in the aerospace and...
, CNRSCentre national de la recherche scientifiqueThe National Center of Scientific Research is the largest governmental research organization in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe....
, and CNES, among others. The Université Paul SabatierPaul Sabatier UniversityPaul Sabatier University is a French university, in the Academy of Toulouse.Founded in 1229, the University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe. Today’s Toulouse III was named for Paul Sabatier, winner of the 1912 Nobel prize in chemistry, when it was established on the foundations of the...
, INSA, and INPT are also part of this concentration of research and training facilities in and around Toulouse. - A new aerospace research laboratory of the INRIAInstitut national de recherche en informatique et en automatiqueThe National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control is a French national research institution focusing on computer science, control theory and applied mathematics.It was created in 1967 at Rocquencourt near Paris, part of Plan Calcul...
in BordeauxBordeauxBordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture... - A research centre adjacent to TurbomecaTurbomecaTurbomeca is a French manufacturer of low- and medium-power gas turbine turboshaft engines for helicopters. The company also produces gas turbine engines for aircraft and missiles, as well as turbines for land, industrial and marine applications...
in BordesBordes, Pyrénées-AtlantiquesBordes is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-References:*...
for aerospace fuel research - An experimental centre in TarbesTarbesTarbes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.It is part of the historical region of Gascony. It is the second largest metropolitan area of Midi-Pyrénées, with 110,000 inhabitants....
to study better ways of dismantling civil and military aircraft.
Aerospace Valley is a member of the European Aviation Clusters Partnership.
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