Sophia Antipolis

Sophia Antipolis is a 2,400 hectare technology park in southeast France, and as of 2021 home to 2,500 companies, valued today at more than 5.6 billion euros and employing more than 38,000 people counting more than 80 nationalities. The park is known to be Europe's first science and technology hub. The technology park is also a platform, cluster and creation-hub for start-ups.
The "technopole" houses primarily companies in the fields of computing, electronics, telecommunication, pharmacology and biotechnology. Several institutions of higher learning are also located here, along with the European headquarters of W3C, ETSI, European Society of Cardiology, etc.
The park is supported by the Sophia Antipolis Foundation, which aims to support "technological and scientific innovation and research projects at the service of mankind and our environment." The foundation’s honorary chairman is Pierre Laffitte and its president is Jean-Pierre Mascarelli, who is also president of SYMISA, the Sophia Antipolis Joint Association, which is "responsible for managing land, equipment, marketing and upkeeping the park and is involved with coordination activities for harmonious development of the technology park."
Naming
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 a nearby seaside town 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.
The park is also termed a "technopole".
History
Gérald Hanning was the consultant advisor to the DATAR for this industrial/scientific complex created 1970 to 1984.
French Senator Pierre Laffitte conceived the idea of Sophia Antipolis, calling for decentralization and "rural branch of the capital".
The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the park.
Agenda 2040
An agenda named "Sophia 2040" was created to "restore the former glory of the technology park's historic centre".
Further novel investments e. g. into intelligent vehicle technology have been initiated.
Location
Much of the park falls within the commune of Valbonne, which lies northwest of Antibes and southwest of Nice, France.
Residential community
Several neighborhoods within the park area exist, which make the area attractive to live: Garbejaire, Haut-Sartoux, Saint-Philippe and the Place Sophie Laffitte. The locations include typical public services such as a post office, shops, hairdressers, a primary school, sport complexes, hotels, church, children play areas, etc. The area is also surrounded by multiple golf courses and located north of the science park lies the large Regional Natural Park of the Préalpes d'Azur.
Public transport
Several bus routes (27 urban routes and 64 school bus routes) cover the vast area of the technology park. The main bus route (Ligne A, formerly known as Ligne 1), that was redesigned in 2020, connects the central bus station of the park (Gare Routière Valbonne - Sophia Antipolis) with Antibes railway station and Juan les Pins, with bus stops at main universities such as Polytech Nice Sophia and SKEMA. Antibes railway station provides access to the Riviera coastal railway (TER Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur) with eastbound trains to Nice, Monaco and Ventimiglia, or westbound trains to Toulon and Marseille.
The technology park also has special express lines directly connecting the park with neighbouring cities:
Ligne 230 (Nice - Sophia Antipolis)
Ligne 232 (St. Laurent du Var - Sophia Antipolis)
Ligne 530 (Grasse - Sophia Antipolis)
Ligne 630 (Cannes - Valbonne)
Envibus Ligne A (Antibes - Valbonne)
The nearest international airport for the general public is the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Passengers travelling through private jets and non-scheduled flights can use the Cannes – Mandelieu Airport as an alternative.
Academic and research institutions
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), the European home of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
EURECOM
INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis unit
Institut Interdisciplinaire d’Intelligence Artificielle - 3iA
Institut Sophia Agrobiotech - (INRAE/CNRS/UCA)
Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT) Nice-Côte d'Azur - (UCA)
Laboratoire d'Informatique, Signaux et Systèmes de Sophia Antipolis (I3S) - (CNRS/UCA)
Mines ParisTech, École Nationale Supérieure de Mines de Paris
Polytech Nice Sophia, polytechnic school of the University of Côte d'Azur, formerly known as University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Skema Business School, School of Knowledge Economy and Management
Companies
The technology park as of 2021 lists around 2,500 companies. The park also benefits from close proximity of other large corporations in the area, e. g. Thales Alenia Space (in Cannes), IBM (La Gaude) and Schneider Electric (Carros). Furthermore, the park is near the large city of Nice and its industries.
The following list is a partial selection without claim to completeness or actuality. For an up-to-date listing and map of "park stakeholders" refer to the main website.
3Roam
Accenture
Air France
ALTEN
Altran Praxis (software house)
Amadeus, a travel industry IT company
American Express Global Business Travel
Arm Holdings
Ashland Inc.
Astrium GeoInformation Services
Atos
Avanade
Broadcom
Bosch
Cadence Design Systems
Capgemini
CEVA France - Riviera Waves SAS
CODIX
Cisco
Crossbeam Systems
CSR plc
Dailymotion
Dassault Systèmes
Dow
Electrosmart
Ethertronics
Fortinet
Funifier
Galderma Laboratories
Gemalto
Hewlett-Packard
HiPe Kids
Hitachi Sophia-Antipolis laboratory
Honeywell
Huawei
IBM
Icera Semiconductor, now part of Nvidia
Infineon
Intel
Lionbridge
Luxottica
Maxim Integrated
Micromania Video Game Retailer
MRL Technology
Nicox
Nvidia
NXP Semiconductors
Orange
Pixeet, 360 degree software and mobile hardware solutions, International Center for Advanced Communication
Renault Software Labs
Rohm and Haas
SAP AG, SAP Labs France
Scaleo chip
Sequans Communications
Sigma Orionis SA, the oldest spin-off company of Sophia Antipolis (founded in 1984 by researchers from Mines Paristech)
Slice Factory
ST Ericsson
STMicroelectronics – STNWireless JV.
Symphony Communication
Tetra Engineering Europe
Texas Instruments - SA site closed
The Next Level
Transas
Triadss Tech Solutions
Toyota ED2 - Toyota Europe Design Development studio
TrackInsight - An exchange-traded funds analysis platform
UDcast
Valbonne Consulting
Wall Street Systems
Wipro-NewLogic - SA site closed, a former VLSI specialist design house with HQ in Austria
References
External links
Official website
Team Côte d’Azur - Main investment agency and body for the Riviera's ecosystem
Sophia Antipolis Urban Community (CASA) - A property agency
Centre International de Valbonne (CIV) - An international school
Science parks in France
Antibes
High-technology business districts in France
Buildings and structures in Alpes-Maritimes