On December the 14th, 2012, the IV-th Franco-Russian Meeting of Cities and Regions was initiated in Nice, France. Tatarstan delegation was headed by President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. Representatives of ministries and agencies of the Republic of Tatarstan and also General Director of Technopark “Idea” Sergey Yushko were the delegation members.
The fourth meeting, this year dedicated to the development and attractiveness of areas, carries on a tradition of meetings in Moscow in 2008, St.-Petersburg in 2009 and Strasbourg in 2010, which allowed to discuss sequentially the cooperation issues in the field of city service administration, tourism and innovation.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, speaking at the official opening ceremony, told how the Republic is preparing to the Universiade-2013, World Water Sports Championship-2015, FIFA World Cup-2018.
In its turn, the experience of the French company towns – an example for Tatarstan, the support program of which is also being implemented in the Republic.
According to the Tatarstan President, there is much to learn in Nice, for example, examine the development of innovative structure, and study the ecocity program implementation experience.
And today the Tatarstan delegation headed by Rustam Minnikhanov has taken part in the presentation of one of the largest European Technopolis “Sophia-Antipolis”.
“Sophia-Antipolis” is also known as the French “Silicon Valley”. The official announcement of its construction start was made in 1972. The construction was one-third funded by the state, and the rest – by private investors. A new city, 4.8 thousand hectares in area, was initially build from scratch and within a few decades was turned into a large research center. Today it is a real city with modern residential quarters, hotels, lyceums and educational centers. The Technopolis is primarily designed for computing, electronic, pharmacology and biotechnology companies. There are also several universities and the European W3C Headquarters. Currently, the Technopolis involves 30 thousand employees. The total turnover of the Companies located in two-and-a-half thousand hectares is almost 6 billion Euros.
The Tatarstan members were told about tax inducements and subsidies granted by the government to innovative enterprises, about benefits and support measures for those wishing to start their innovative business in “Sophia-Antipolis”.
Source: prav.tatar.ru, mert.tatarstan.ru
