Environment

A destination that promises many surprises and discoveries

Caen is the capital of a region of worldwide renown: Normandy. It is the central town of the Caen la Mer Urban Community, home to 250,000 inhabitants.
Its location, near the Channel coast immediately opposite southern England and less than 2 hours from Paris, is propitious to promising development potential. Both a commercial port and a marina, it is the ideal port of call for many an adventurous or ambitious project.


Normandy is home to an exceptional wealth of history and heritage. A land of tourism, at the crossroads of the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie, the Pays d'Auge, the Bessin and Suisse Normande, it offers an extraordinary diversity of leisure activities and pursuits (from coast to country, from the forest to the hills), water sports (from the port of Caen to the English Channel, Calvados boasts 13 marinas), entertainment (casinos, evening shows/events), culture (theatres, National Drama Centre, Zénith concert hall, museums, National Regional Conservatory, lyrical seasons, Bayeux Tapestry) and commemorative sites (Mémorial de Caen - 560,000 annual visitors, D-Day Landing museums, etc.).

Gastronomy and the culinary arts are among the region's other sources of worldwide appeal and renown. They are behind the excellent reputation of Normandy's fine cuisine and quality of life, coveted the world over.
Yet Caen la Mer is, first and foremost, the region's economic capital (120,962 employees, 12,341 employers) thanks to a number of centres of excellence: several European and world leaders have put their trust in the region, to ensure their successful and sustained development:


• Automotive industry - Renault Trucks, P.S.A. Group, Robert Bosch Electronics and Valeo,
•Agrifood industry - Agrial,
•Microelectronics and ITC - France Telecom R&D, NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors), Net Centrex and Highdeal
•R&D, logistics and distribution - Carrefour and Système U,
•Healthcare and pharmaceutical industry - Groupe Batteur, Schering-Plough and Glaxo Wellcome Production
•Other industrial sectors such as stationery - Hamelin and its famous brand names "Oxford" and "Super Conquérant"

All of these sectors have developed and preserved close links with the region's higher education institutions which welcome a total of 23,500 students, and with its scientific community, including 1,055 researchers, to ensure that today's efforts pave the way for tomorrow's developments. The GANIL (National Heavy Ion Accelerator) is, without a doubt, one of their finest illustrations. The national call for proposals aimed at creating competitiveness clusters across France naturally led to unique public - private partnerships throughout the region.

Their aim is to encourage innovation followed by industrial transfer through joint innovative projects, thus enabling the required critical mass to be achieved to ensure exposure at European level.
- TES Cluster (e-secure transactions): www.pole-tes.com
- Horse Industry Cluster: www.pole-moveo.org
- Mov'eo (automotive industry): www.chevaux-normandie.com/