Set up your international business in the Grand Est region of eastern France
France’s Grand Est region, a merger of Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardennes, is booming with opportunities for international businesses. With 6 larger cities (Nancy, Metz, Mulhouse, Reims, Troyes and of course Strasbourg, the capital of Europe), and 760km of international borders with Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and Switzerland, it’s an international hotspot for exchange and cooperation.
A strategic location
The paramount strength of Grand Est is its easy accessibility. The region is strongly connected to neighbouring economic hubs such as Baden-Würtemberg, Luxembourg, Basel, or the Lyon area. Home to European institutions in the city of Strasbourg, harbouring two European universities and having no less than 19 000 cross border workers, the region definitely has an international DNA that makes it a cultural and trading hub.
Accessibility:
• 5 international airports : in Mulhouse /Basel, as well as in neighbouring Germany (Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe) and in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle
• 15 regional airports
• high-speed railway lines linking the region to Paris and Lyon, as well as to Frankfurt, Munich and Central Europe
• 18 regional hubs of European networks
• 9 multimodal harbours on the Rhine, Seine, Moselle and Meuse rivers
France’s 2nd industrial and agricultural region
The Grand Est is France’s second largest industrial hub, with 20% of the regional GDP stemming from industry and the overall production making up to 25% of the national total, with 16% of employees working in this sector. The Grand Est’s blooming industry does not fail to attract foreign investors, with close to 50% of the region’s economy generated by FDI and 15 of France’s largest manufacturing sites located on its territory.
Sectors of excellence :
• Transport materials
• Automotive
• Metallurgy
• Textile
• Machine production and mechanical engineering
• Logistics
• Bioeconomy and food processing
• Pharma / biotech / life sciences
The Grand Est is also known for its expertise in agriculture, and is the second French region for added-value agriculture. It hosts 45 000 farms including over 16 000 wineries. With France’s largest surface of land dedicated to agriculture, and Alsace and the Vosges mountains’ extensive forested areas, it is the country’s N°1 producer of timber, cereals and oilseeds, and the country’s second producer of soft wheat, maize, beetroot and potatoes. This wealth of agricultural resources and biomass in turn generate a thriving bioeconomy sector.
Where shall I set up my international business?
With its proximity to Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Switzerland, and its outstanding industrial background, the Grand Est is the ideal choice for your business.
With 6 innovation clusters (BioValley France, Fibres-Energivie, Hydreos, IAR (Bioeconomy), MATERIALIA, Pôle véhicule du future) as well as an ecosystem where start-ups prosper, the region welcomes and supports international businesses willing to set up on its territory.
Professional premises (offices, industrial space and buildings, warehouses, etc) and land (industrial, logistics, services) are widely available for purchase or rental
Qualified workforce
The Grand Est region hosts :
• 5 universities, among which 2 European universities,
• 209 000 students, including 28 000 foreign students,
• 35 engineering colleges
• 240 Science research laboratories
• 11 500 researchers and scientists
• 4 900 Phd / year
An availability of qualified workforce guarantees international businesses an access to state-of-the-art competences, that will ensure the success of their French venture.
The region in facts and figures:
• 9 Cathedrals, 80 Castles, and a number of UNESCO-listed and heritage sites
• 5.6 million inhabitants (8.4% of the French population)
• 5 cities with more than 250 000 inhabitants
• 330 000 companies among which 2000 foreign companies
• 2.1 million people in employment
• 154 billions € GDP
• 1st French region totally equipped with optical fibre by 2022
• 1st French producer of wind power
• 5 active Nobel prize winners in chemistry, physics and medicine
Join 2000 foreign companies in our land of opportunities, and let us have a cup of champagne by one of our 320 producers to your company’s future !
