France, known for its Haute Cuisine and leadership in luxury, also excels in many fields, such as nuclear power, aeronautics, agri-food, tourism, and the automobile industry. A real El Dorado for many companies, France attracts investors from all over the world. The French living environment and its economic condition make it a preferred location for foreign companies. With the help of organizations like Geolink Expansion, many international companies have already been able to expand to France and develop their business.

Located in the heart of Europe, France is a country rich in history and culture. It offers an ideal living environment. This unique quality of life can be observed from the point of view of education, health or even the standard of living. This is one of the reasons that make France attractive to investors and project leaders. In order to measure this attractiveness, The Attractiveness Scoreboard is used.

This highlights the strengths of the French economy, comparing over 140 economic indicators with other European countries. This scoreboard rank France, for the second consecutive year, as the first destination of FDI in Europe. The report highlights in particular that 21 foreign companies plan to invest more than 4 billion euros in the near future, resulting in the creation of more than 10,000 sustainable jobs and more than 16,000 temporary jobs in our territory.

France is also since 2020 the most attractive location for R&D investments substantially thanks to the Research Tax Credit which reimburses part of companies R&D expenses. Public funding for R&D is the highest among OECD member countries.

The attractiveness of France is not only explained by economic assets, but also by its strategic geographical location, in the center of Europe, which constitutes an added value for import and export. In addition, France has many quality infrastructures, such as Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport for instance, which is the leading European airport for freight.

A skilled workforce for foreign investors

All these investments allow France to be a country in full economic growth. According to INSEE, the national institute of statistics, the country's average GDP reached 7% in 2021. This historic rate is explained by the sudden recovery of the economy during the 3rd quarter of 2021. This increase was partly due to the rebound (11 .6% according to Le Monde) of household investment last year. Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance, adds that “The French economy is running at full speed and has a strong reaction capacity.” He specifies that the Government supports sectors in difficulty with a huge stimulus plan called « Relaunch France ». This increase of GDP makes France one of the most dynamic economies in Europe. This dynamism is proving constant since the IMF expects a further GDP growth in the euro zone of 3.9%, with a growth of 3.5% for France.

Many sectors are on the rise in France and are benefiting from this growth, particularly the technology sector. According to the latest survey by EY French Venture Capital, French Tech companies raised record funds in 2021, over 11.6 billion euros. That's 115% more than in 2020, with a total of 784 venture capital and capital development operations, 22 fundraisings of more than 100 million euros for a total of 5 billion euros (194% more than last year !). This rank France 3rd in Europe for fundraising.

Investors mainly target internet services, which attracted over 4 billion euros of investments. This sector saw a boost in sums raised thanks to the low interest rates and the return of investor confidence in the European market. In France, the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, for example, is involved in the development of several key business sectors, in particular digital and information and communication services. Geolink-Expansion has helped to set up several companies in this region. These locations are favored by the presence of several clusters, business parks and the Alpha RLH competitiveness cluster.

Support and ecosystems adapted to all activities: industry, logistics, ICT, etc.

Geolink-Expansion has acquired its expertise by assisting French and Foreign companies to expand on the territory. According to INSEE, in 2019, 16,800 foreign firms set up in France. The establishment of foreign companies is beneficial for France, since they employ 2.2 million French employees, which represents 44% of employees of medium-sized companies and 41% of employees of large groups. On the French labor market as a whole, these 2.2 million employees represent 13% of the workforce, excluding agriculture. The employers are mainly European, the United Kingdom ranks first, employing over 500,000.

These companies generated 127 billion euros in France, 17% of the value created by companies on French territory (excluding agriculture and the financial sector). In 2019, foreign companies in France produced an added value of 64.9 billion euros in the industrial sector. This value represents 22% of the total industry value.

It is in this sector that foreign companies employ the most, with 32.4% of jobs.

Industry, aeronautic, construction, microelectronic...

Industry is a key business sector in France. Many French territories make it a point of honor to create an enabling environment for the development of companies in this sector. Geolink-Expansion works with many of them.

The Vaucluse is strongly represented by four industrial sectors: nuclear, aeronautics, construction and microelectronics. This department is already home to several flourishing companies such as Saint-Gobain, EDF, Rolls-Royce Nuclear Services or Alstom.

The Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand-Est regions are also part of the territories where industry is a dominant sector.

Geolink-Expansion also works in collaboration with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, hosting the firms AirBus and Dassault, flagship of the aeronautical industrial sector.

France represents an opportunity for foreign investors wishing to develop their activities, and is proud to support international companies in their development. France is already home to a large number of international companies (Eastman, Pfizer, Collins, Aerospace, Mars Petcare, IKEA, Manpower, Equinix, Ferrero Biogen, Cisco, Bristol Myers Squibb, etc.) and is ready to welcome new ones, and help them build their future.