Didier Azema, Misys
“We remain in the science park because it offers a reservoir of well-trot, Sentaromatique
“The Grasse region has lived and thought perfume at every level ? from the supply of raw materials and the creation of flavors to mastery of logistics.”
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Aurore Russo, Ludo TIC
“We chose to locate our company in Nice because our first partners will be our future users.”
Aurore Russo, Founder And General Directress – 2004, Ludo TIC
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Bertrand Pourcelot, Centile
“A reason we want to be here is to use Sophia Antipolis as a springboard for our activity in France and other European countries.”
Bertrand Pourcelot, Director Of Operations – 2003, Centile
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Chris Loizou, Transas Mediterranean
“Our premises here are a showcase for our expertise in serving our clients, with an area dedicated to simulation, research andtraining.”
Chris LoizouGeneral Manager – 2008Transas Mediterranean
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Christophe Huerre, HoneyWell
“Better than the Netherlands, England and Ireland, we chose Sophia Antipolis because we knew we could attract and keep skilled employees here.”
Christophe Huerre, Director Of Information Technology, Garrett Engine Boosting Systems, And The Executive Responsible For Locating Honeywell’S European Center, HoneyWell
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Diana Moncoqut, Insight SIP
“Having a base here also makes it easier for us to attract great talent as the technology park is regarded as being France’s “Silicon Valley”.”
Diana Moncoqut, Director of Sales – 2002, Insight SIP
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Didier Tymen, Udcast
“The high-tech image of Sophia Antipolis is exportable throughout the world, especially in the United States and Japan.”
Didier Tymen, President And Chief Executive Officer – 2001, Udcast
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Dominique Brulé, Gemalto
“Gemalto wants to leverage the team expertise in Sophia Antipolis to consolidate its TSM offering and build around it to become the global leader.”
Dominique Brulé, Marketing Manager NFC – 2009, Gemalto
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Isabelle Leung, Huawei Technologies
“Huawei opened its first offices in France over ten years ago. Since then, the company has developed and today has a workforce of nearly 650 employees based in Boulogne Billancourt, Issy les Moulineaux and Lyon.
Sophia Antipolis is Huawei’s 4th largest office in terms of workforce. For Huawei, opening a facility in Sophia Antipolis was a major step in the development of the company’s R&D teams in France.
With Team Cote d’Azur’s support, Huawei opened an R&D centre in Sophia Antipolis in July 2013 and set up its first team. The primary purpose of the Sophia Antipolis team is to increase the competitiveness of Huawei smartphones, mainly by improving the quality and performance of the camera which has become one of the key elements of today’s smartphones. As the world’s 3rd largest manufacturer of telephones, it was therefore natural to focus our R&D on the best characteristics of smartphones in one of the major centres for telephony.
Boasting an effective and world-renowned ecosystem (leading companies, technical experts, universities/engineering schools), Huawei is delighted to be part of this dynamic and helping to strengthen Sophia’s industrial fabric. The site should have 25 specialist R&D engineers by the end of the year and aims to become Huawei’s principal global centre of excellence in ISP (Image Signal Processor). This centre will focus on research and development and will therefore help to maintain and develop a real value-added expertise in the region.
In 2014, Huawei plans to develop its R&D teams in new fields such as future microelectronics production in Sophia, mathematics, connected objects and design. Our development policy is resolutely consistent with local organisations and we are convinced that the company’s cooperation with its ecosystem, whether made up of SMEs and start-ups or research laboratories and universities can create a positive energy, in turn creating value and jobs”.
Huawei in Sophia Antipolis:
Huawei opened an R&D centre in Sophia Antipolis in July 2013.
The site aims to become Huawei’s principal global centre of excellence in ISP (Image Signal Processor).
Isabelle LeungDirector Public Affairs & Communications – 2014Huawei Technologies
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Jacques-Olivier Piednoir, Cadence Design Systems
“In Sophia Antipolis, it is much less difficult to recruit experts here than elsewhere. Our team as people are keen to stay on in the region”
Jacques-Olivier PiednoirVice President R&D Europe – 1999 Cadence Design Systems
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Dr. Jean-Pierre Faurie, Lumilog
“Our relationship with The CNRS lab helps us remain at the forefront of this emerging technology in semiconductors.”
Dr. Jean-Pierre Faurie, Chief Executive Officer – 2002, Lumilog
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Jocelyn Fournier, Doctissimo Software
“We particularly appreciated the wealth of expertise available at Sophia Antipolis. We are looking for people with highly specific skill
sets and experience.”
Jocelyn Fournier, R&D Director – 2009, Doctissimo Software
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Julien Carre, Freescale Semiconductors
“The closure of the Texas Instruments France R&D site has given opportunity for many companies to benefit from a pool of talents and engineering skills, highly sought after in the fields of micro-electronics and telecommunications. Thanks to Team Côte d’Azur’s responsiveness, we have been able to contact numerous property developers, select premises and rapidly establish our new business activity”.
A global leader in embedded solutions and semi-conductors, Freescale chose Cagnes-sur-Mer as the location for an R&D centre and technical support.
Julien Carre, Project Manager – 2014, Freescale Semiconductors
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Karl Song, Huawei France
Unique in France (and in Europe), the Sophia Antipolis research and development centre aims to improve the quality of the cameras in Huawei handsets and plans to develop the group’s expertise in the field of microelectronics and software. It is consistent with the R&D strategy in Europe, to place our teams as close to the markets as possible.
Our centre will complete the works to prepare the electronics of the future and improve ease of use. For example, because camera quality is today one of the key criteria when purchasing smart phones, we have set up a team of experts to oversee image processing so that Huawei builds the best “ISP” (Image Signal Processor) on the global smart phone market.
This centre definitely has a global vocation and works hand in hand with our R&D centre in Beijing.
It quickly became apparent to us that Sophia Antipolis is a unique pool of talent in software and electronics and we began by hiring 8 engineers from Texas Instruments. We have continued to recruit engineers from the region and hope to recruit a further ten people by the end of 2014.
We were quick to find the talents and skills that we needed and had to move to bigger offices just a few months after our arrival!
We have received the best possible support from Team Cote d’Azur, led by Jacques Lesieur’s teams, in terms of our premises, connecting to the ecosystem and of course recruitment.
We were delighted to meet a delegation from Team Cote d’Azur with Mr Eric Ciotti at our head office in Shenzhen, which helped to strengthen links and improve the understanding of our respective environments. This is only a first step in our development in Sophia and I have no doubt that this is the beginning of a great story.
Karl Song, Managing Director – 2014, Huawei France
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Lionel Lapras, HP in Sophia Antipolis
At an event celebrating HP’s 50 years in France, Lionel Lapras, Site manager for HP’s R&D office at Sophia Antipolis, spoke about the importance of his office in the global company. “We have international influence and undertake many responsibilities. Our team are at the heart of the revolution in virtual telecom.”
The CEO of Hewlett-Packard France, Gérald Karsenti, reminded the global leadership of his firm, that across the world, only his site offers “end to end” technology. “The Sophia site is very important for HP. Here we have an exclusive skill-set dealing with extremely strategic fields… This skill-set is invaluable to the new-style information technology that we want to create.” Karsenti continued, “50 years is nothing to sneeze at. HP France is today one of the 5 highest performing subsidiaries in the world. Quite an achievement, especially in France, when you consider that international affiliates all deal with the same challenges in flexibility and the cost of work.”
The American technological giant is focused today on cloud computing, big data, flexibility and security to assure its continued growth. HP has also confirmed that it is going to split its activities into two parts in the near future. One side will work on building computers and printers and the other will focus on services.
The 200 employees at HP Sophia that work on cloud, digital security and media entertainment will be moving in November 2014 to a new site with 2,700m² (more than 29,000 ft²) site at Mougin that has been name Marco Polo and will be places with the office of Lab Systèmes. See coverage of HP’s 50 years in France celebration (in French) at tribuca.fr
Lionel Lapras, Site Manager – 2014, HP
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Ludivine Saulneron, Prim’Vision
“Our presence in Sophia Antipolis allows us to benefit from networks and R&D teams and to tap into the strong dynamics and the wealth of IT expertise.”
Ludivine Saulneron, Communication Director – 2009, Prim’Vision
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Luis Jorge Romero, ETSI
“The unique cultural environment and the attraction of the Côte d’Azur prove to be determining factors when we recruit and retain highly qualified personnel. The quality of pre-existing infrastructures as well as the presence of an international airport that is connected to the world makes it easier for our employees who have to travel” Luis Jorge Romero, General Manager at ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).
Luis Jorge Romero, General manager – 2013, ETSI
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Marc Dacier, Symantec
“Symantec was convinced of the value of research programs in Europe and decided to increase its presence on the continent.”
Marc Dacier, Director, Symantec Research embedded lab – 2001, Symantec
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Marie-Claire Forgue, W3C
“In Sophia Antipolis, the biggest W3C team in Europe works on all areas of web expertise”
Marie-Claire Forgue, European Communications Officer – 2001, W3C
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Massimo Lucchina, Cisco
“We appreciate the existence of good schools and colleges in the region, and Sophia Antipolis is an excellent environment in which to find engineers.”
Massimo Lucchina, Manager – 2005, Cisco
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Moussa Belkhiter, Samsung France Research Center
“The Sophia Antipolis science park and its powerful ecosystem provide real value to the development of mobile technologies and innovative solutions. Sophia Antipolis has a large pool of talents , experts, and many highly-qualified engineers”.
After the acquisition of a British CSR facility, the Korean leader opened its R&D centre in Sophia Antipolis in 2013 and increased the workforce from 40 to over 100 engineers working on mobile technologies.
Moussa Belkhiter– 2014, Samsung France Research Center
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Nicolas Siret, Synflow
“The dynamics of Paris added to the quality of life.”
We chose Sophia Antipolis for the region’s dynamic. With so many companies open to innovation and Team Côte d’Azur’s support, it is possible to create a genuine network around new challenges and opportunities. The Côte d’Azur has a genuine international dimension which facilitates meetings with foreign companies and investors. In short, the strong dynamic of Paris added to quality of life, the Mediterranean and the Alps.
Nicolas Siret– 2015, SYNFLOW
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Pascal Peru, ARM
“ARM management realized that is easy to attract talented people to work here, that this is a pleasant place to live.”
Pascal Peru, Design Center Manager – 2001, ARM
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Stéphane Nègre, Intel France
“The opening of our laboratory in Sophia Antipolis confirms France’s true added-value in terms of mobile technologies.”
Stéphane Nègre, Chairman & CEO – 2012, Intel France
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Stéphane Thomas, Broadcom
“We chose Sophia Antipolis because it is the first international Science Park in France elected by many important advanced technology companies.”
Stéphane Thomas, General Manager And Application Manager For Mobile & Wireless – 2005, Broadcom
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Svitlana Surodina, Skein Digital
“Without Team Côte d’Azur, I probably wouldn’t be here.”We already had customers on the Côte d’Azur and saw great potential due to the concentration of high-tech companies. However, the legal and administrative environment is complex and I probably wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been able to take advantage of the enthusiastic support, accurate information and follow up from Team Côte d’Azur at every stage in our process. Today, I am delighted, especially since the airport makes it extremely easy for us to work between Nice and London.on.
Svitlana Surodina– 2015, SKEIN DIGITAL
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Thierry Cammal, Intel PSI Europe
“The business ecosystem has played an essential role. In Sophia Antipolis we found the experts we needed to progress in our wireless technologies research.”
Active in Sophia Antipolis since 1999, Intel has continued to grow and now has over 300 employees. The new R&D laboratory, opened in November 2012, specializes in the integration of connectivity components and architecture communications software components for smartphones and tablets (Modem, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC).
Thierry Cammal, Director, R&D Manager – 2012, Intel PSI Europe
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Vincent Roger, Mobibase
“We benefit from a true international dynamic on the Côte d’Azur. Our business development is facilitated by direct flights from Nice Côte d’Azur Airport.”
Vincent Roger, CEO – 2011, Mobibase
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Werner Sommer, Sap Labs
“There is no more attractive area anywhere in Europe than Sophia Antipolis in terms of providing an environment that is excellent both for people and for R&D.”
Werner Sommer, Managing Director – 2002, Sap Labs
