Repères méditerranéens

 

Sophia Antipolis was officially created in April 1972 by an Inter-ministerial Committee for Territorial Improvement. Situated between Nice and Cannes, to the north of Antibes, these 2,300 hectares (5,683 acres) are on the wooded plateau of Valbonne. This "International Activity Park" is mainly based on the idea that the natural environment produces better quality work; thus it was decided from the outset to leave two thirds of the park as pine forest. Using the attractive setting as a selling point, it attracted research organisations and high technology companies. As well as its setting, Sophia Antipolis is about 20 kilometres from Nice airport and close to the A8 motorway, so it is well-served for transport networks. In 1974 the first company, Franlab (which studies oil fields), was set up in the park, followed soon afterwards by Air France in 1977 which put its world-wide reservation centre there. Many others followed: Digital (a by-word in telecommunication expertise) then Dow Chemicals, Thomson, MATRA, France Telecom etc. Graduation schools and research laboratories were also set up there, for example the Ecoles de Mines, the CNRS, INRA and the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Nice. During the 1980's and 90's the park became a model for developing technologies in France and by 2004 there were more than 25,000 people working here, mainly in research and high technology.

The news item shows the changes made to the Sophia Antipolis park, which the journalist calls the "Futuropolis in the middle of a pine forest". Throughout the film several shots, mostly filmed from a helicopter, give an idea of the size of the park and buildings then being constructed there. Eight years after it was opened, it still looked like a huge building site. The "attractive work setting" mentioned by the prefect put in charge of the project by the Inter-ministerial Committee for Territorial Improvement is illustrated by shots of the pine forest, a man jogging and some tennis players. The visit to the Air France reservation centre provides an example of the companies which have set up shop at Sophia Antipolis. The interview with two IT technicians working there seems equally interesting: in fact it shows the downside of the project -- both say their wives can't find work – somewhat diminishing the image of complete success given by the prefect Girod.