Sophia Antipolis
Encyclopedia
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
and southwest of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France
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...
. Much of the park falls within the commune of Valbonne
Valbonne
Valbonne Sophia Antipolis is a commune near Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in south-eastern France...
. Created in 1970-84, it houses primarily companies in the fields of computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
, pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
and biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
. Several institutions of higher learning are also located here, along with the European headquarters of W3C. In the early years, one of the main challenges of Sophia Antipolis was to relate people and to create a sense of community.
The "Human Factor" is what was to distinguish the Science and Technology Park in the world as a landmark of science, invention, innovation and research.
It was to focus on building an international environment, creating an international community. This means taking into account and improving tenant interaction, networking and cross fertilization of ideas. The concept was that bringing together people from different intellectual horizons and "making" them meet, would bring added value and generate innovation. Many professional clubs were thus launched: The Sophia business angels club, the Sophia Nordic link, Art Sophia, Telecom Valley
Telecom Valley
Telecom Valley was an area located in Sonoma County, California specifically the Redwood Business Park of Petaluma, California.-History:...
are just a few.
Sophia Antipolis is named after Sophie Glikman-Toumarkine, the wife of French Senator Pierre Laffitte, founder of the park, and incidentally, Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom, and Antipolis, the ancient Greek name of Antibes
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
. Many of the roads within the technology park have Greek names. There is a giant sculptured Greek urn as a centre-piece on one of the roundabouts.
Garbejaire
The residential community of Garbejaire is located within the technology park. There is an open-air mall at the heart of Garbejaire with a post office, bakery, restaurants, hairdresser, chemist, Internet cafe, two supermarkets, two hotels within walking distance, and a church. There is a small park with a play area for children. There is also a large communal corporate dining facility that is shared by several companies on the periphery of Garbejaire.Public transport
Several bus routes run through the technology park. There is a bus station with a manned ticket office. One of the bus routes to Antibes goes directly to Antibes railway station which provides access to the Riviera coastal railway. From there you can catch a train east to Nice and Monaco or west to Toulon and Marseille. The nearest international airport is in Nice. The company who runs the lines is called Envibus.frWildlife
There is a large national park around the technology park and several villages on the outskirts of the park. Wild boar live within the park and occasionally walk through the technology park and Garbejaire. There is a large community of small batBat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s that become active as soon as it starts to get dark. It is possible to attract the attention of the bats which respond to mimicry.
Companies and Institutions
Partial list of companies (Jan. 2011: 1,260 corporate names, and around 25,911 jobs) and institutions located within Sophia Antipolis:- Mines ParisTech, École Nationale Superieure de Mines de Paris
- Pixeet, 360 degree software and mobile hardware solutions, International Center for Advanced Communication
- 3Roam3Roam3Roam provides high-capacity microwave transmission equipments for wireless and packet networks convergence. 3Roam solutions aim at bridging the gap between traditional microwave transmission technologies and advanced networking techniques....
- ARM Limited
- Altran Praxis (software house)
- AmadeusAmadeus IT GroupAmadeus IT Group is a transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry. The company is structured around two key related areas - its global distribution system and its IT Solutions business area...
, a travel industry IT company - BroadcomBroadcomBroadcom Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company in the wireless and broadband communication business. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, USA. Broadcom was founded by a professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III from the University of California, Los...
- Hewlett Packard
- AccentureAccentureAccenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
- Air FranceAir FranceAir 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...
- American ExpressAmerican ExpressAmerican Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
Business Travel - Atos OriginAtos OriginAtos S.A. is an international information technology corporation which operates in 42 countries worldwide, with over 78,500 employees...
- AvanadeAvanadeAvanade Inc., a subsidiary of Accenture LLP., is a multinational IT consulting and software company that develops business software from a Microsoft products platform. Founded on April 4, 2000, Avanade is atypical amongst many systems integrators such as IBM and EDS in that Avanade's services are...
- CapgeminiCapgeminiCapgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...
- Codix
- Crossbeam
- Skema Business SchoolSkema Business SchoolSKEMA Business School is a school created by the merger of two French schools, CERAM Business School and Groupe ESC Lille in 2009. The school's name stands for School of Knowledge Economy and Management. The school offers bachelors, masters, MBA, doctoral and executive education programs in China,...
, School of Knowledge Economy and Management - CSR plcCSR plcCSR , or Cambridge Silicon Radio, is a company based in Cambridge, England. CSR is a fabless semiconductor company whose main product lines include connectivity, audio and location chips. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
- European Telecommunications Standards InstituteEuropean Telecommunications Standards InstituteThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry in Europe, with worldwide projection...
- HitachiHitachi, Ltd.is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
Sophia-Antipolis laboratory - IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
- Icera SemiconductorIceraIcera Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom. Icera develops soft modem chipsets for the mobile device market, including mobile broadband datacards, USB sticks, and embedded modems for smartphones, laptops, netbooks, tablets, e-books and other mobile...
, now part of NVIDIANVIDIANvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles... - Infineon
- ST Ericsson
- STMicroelectronicsSTMicroelectronicsSTMicroelectronics is an Italian-French electronics and semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.While STMicroelectronics corporate headquarters and the headquarters for EMEA region are based in Geneva, the holding company, STMicroelectronics N.V. is registered in Amsterdam,...
- STNWireless JV. - Schneider ElectricSchneider ElectricSchneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...
- Slice Factory
- European Telecommunications Standards InstituteEuropean Telecommunications Standards InstituteThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry in Europe, with worldwide projection...
(ETSI) - 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...
, Sophia-Antipolis unit - LuxotticaLuxotticaLuxottica Group S.p.A. is the world's largest eyewear company. Its best known brands include Ray-Ban, Persol and Oakley, Inc.. It also makes sunglasses and prescription frames for a multitude of designer brands such as Chanel and Prada, whose designs and trademarks are used under license...
- NicoxNicOxNicOx S.A. is a French pharmaceutical company. Its headquarters are at Sophia Antipolis...
- MicromaniaMicromaniaMicromania is a game developer that is known for making the 1993 beat 'em up Dangerous Streets. Micromania has also developed various games for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC platforms....
Video Game Retailer - Rohm and HaasRohm and HaasRohm and Haas Company, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based company, manufactures miscellaneous materials. Formerly a Fortune 500 Company, Rohm and Haas employs more than 17,000 people in 27 countries, with its last sales revenue reported as an independent company at USD 8.9 billion. On July 10,...
- FortinetFortinetFortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and specializes in network security appliances. Fortinet’s flagship product line is sold under the brand name of FortiGate.-Corporate Overview:...
- Galderma LaboratoriesGalderma LaboratoriesGalderma is a global leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the research, development and marketing of innovative medical solutions in dermatology...
- Polytech'Nice-Sophia, (polytechnic school of the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis).
- European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), the EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an home of the World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web ConsortiumThe World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
(W3C) - SAP AGSAP AGSAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
, SAP Labs France - Institut EurécomInstitut EurécomEurecom is a graduate school in the domain of information and communication technology and a research center in communication systems. It was created in 1991 in Sophia-Antipolis by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , joined...
- UDcastUDcastUDcast is a provider of solutions enabling full Internet Protocol over broadcast media, in the areas of IP networks over satellite andservers for DVB-H, DVB-SH, ATSC and WiMAX standards compliant television on mobile networks....
- WiproWiproWipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...
- Cadence Design SystemsCadence Design SystemsCadence Design Systems, Inc is an electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc...
- HoneywellHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
- Orange
- France TelecomFrance TélécomFrance Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
- MRL Technology
- Tetra Engineering Europe
- The Next LevelThe Next Level-Awards:The album won the 2010 "Best Pop Album" and 2010 "Best Sound Recording" awards at the Punjabi Music Awards.-References:...
- Wall Street Systems
Sophia Antipolis also benefits from the close proximity of Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space is an aerospace company born after the Thales Group bought the participation of Alcatel in the two joint-ventures between Alcatel and Finmeccanica, Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio.-History:...
(Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
), IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
(La Gaude
La Gaude
La Gaude is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département in southeastern France.- History :La Gaude takes its name from a tool that was used for repairing fishing nets...
), and Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
(Villeneuve-Loubet
Villeneuve-Loubet
Villeneuve-Loubet It lies between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes, at the mouth of the Loup River.It was created by the joining two old villages: the old village of Villeneuve inland and the village of Loubet on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
).
External links
- Sophia-Antipolis.org
- Centre International de Valbonne (international school) http://www.civfrance.com/
- Sophia Antipolis Activity Site : Activities, companies, r&d,...