BRITTANY PAGES March 2012 - Issue 8
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Brittany set to be Silicon Vallée
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Referendum plan ‘shows no respect’ Nantes mayor attacks bid for Breton reunion
BRITTANY is on course to become the Silicon Vallée of Europe with the building of three digital technology research laboratories in Rennes, Brest and Lannion. Region president Jean-Yves Le Drian said the project was excellent news and would make Brittany a “world reference, unbeatable in the sector of new digital technology” almost overnight. It would create 500 jobs itself, 2,000 spin-off jobs and benefit between 10,000 and 20,000 others in the region. Vincent Marcatté, of the Imaging & Networks business cluster, said the labs would invent and develop new standards in imaging and networks and designing digital health services.
by SAMANTHA DAVID
High-wire daredevil astounds crowd TIGHTROPE walker Mathieu Hibon walks between the two spires of the Saint-Corentin Cathedral in Quimper during a show for the Cirques d’Hiver festival. A crowd of several hundred watched from 60m below – but did not know the rope was covered in ice as he stepped forward and back. He did three shows as, on the ground, youngsters were helped to follow in his footsteps on a mini-tightrope just 30cm high set up by his Underclouds Cie performance group.
The 10-year €250 million project named B-Com IRT will focus on images of the future (ultra-high definition, 3D, augmented and virtual reality) and super fast fixed and mobile broadband networks. It involves more than 50 partners, including Orange, Thales and TDF as well as small local companies, startups and universities. Mr Le Drian said: “With its base in Rennes and research centres in Brest and Lannion B-Com will place Brittany as a world benchmark for excellence in image and networking technologies – the European Silicon Valley”. Rennes mayor Daniel Delaveau said it would “greatly improve communication technology which is already a strong point in the region, and strengthen links between companies and academic research, making the sector even more dynamic”.
tigation into the possibility of reunifying Brittany. That report is expected on March 1 and hopes among the pro-unification lobby are running high, bolstered by President Sarkozy's statement that he is in favour of the “voluntary fusion of regions”. The main Breton political parties also back reunification and there is talk of a vote as early as next January. Mona Bras, of the Union Démocratique Bretonne, said they aimed to keep the issue of decentralisation in the
NANTES MP and mayor Jean-Marc Ayrault has said that calls for Loire-Atlantique department to become part of Brittany again “show no respect for the inhabitants of the other departments in the Pays de la Loire region”. His comments to Brittany Pages come after MPs voted to change the rules on a Breton reunification referendum to allow LoireAtlantique and Brittany voters alone to decide on whether the department rejoins the region after 70 years. Previously any such vote would have had to go before voters in all the departments in both regions. However, in a surBrittany prise move, MPs voted to amend the and the Pays de la Loire law – although it still has a long way spotlight and “try and get to go before being adopted. promises from all the presiIt shows the strength of dential candidates that they feeling on the issue. A new will support a devolution of petition, headed by 100 influpowers to the regions”. ential Breton business people, Mr Ayrault said he prewriters and politicians, has ferred co-operation rather been delivered to former than letting Loire-Atlantique prime minister Edouard rejoin Brittany. “We are coBalladur, the politician that operating with the creation of President Sarkozy has asked a Loire-Brittany metropole to draft a report on “Reform with Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, of Territorial Collectivities” – Rennes, Angers and Brest.” which is essentially an inves-
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