Set up your business in the North Franche-Comté region, close to Switzerland and Alsace

Why set up your company in the North Franche-Comté region?

Set up your business in the North Franche-Comté region, close to Switzerland and Alsace

Located in the north of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, the North Franche-Comté region benefits from a quality location between Strasbourg and Lyon.               

The North Franche-Comté region is centred around the towns of Belfort and Montbéliard, on the borders with Switzerland, Germany and Alsace. Accessible by motorway, airport and TGV trains, North Franche-Comté is located at the convergence of the main European roads and is at the heart of the major economic area of the Rhine-Rhone routes.

Set up in the North Franche-Comté region, in Belfort or Montbéliard, within an international territory which by nature has many advantages:

• A geostrategic position in the North-East of France and on the borders with Alsace, Switzerland and Germany
• Located in the centre of a catchment area of 100 million Europeans within a 400 km radius
• Exceptional accessibility: the A36 motorway (Paris-Rhin-Rhône), the Rhine-Rhône TGV train, the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg EuroAirport, and close to the Swiss Transjurane A16 motorway.
• One of the most export-oriented regions in France
• A region with over 250 foreign-owned companies
• A globalised and connected economy
• 1st industrial area in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
• A region with a strong capacity for innovation (5% of local jobs in R&D compared to 2% at national level)

Where to set up your business in North Franche-Comté region?

Business parks in Belfort or Montbéliard

The North Franche-Comté region has a large number of real estate and land offers for setting up your company in Belfort or Montbéliard.

Setting up your industrial business in the North Franche-Comté region

As the leading industrial region in the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region, North Franche-Comté is a land of inventors, scientists, industrialists and a true automotive industry hub. The PSA Peugeot-Citroën site, located in Sochaux, is representative of the industrial fibre of the region. This site is one of the largest industrial sites in Europe, employing 10,000 people and producing more than 20 million vehicles per year. Other emblematic figures of the economy have developed around Belfort and Montbéliard, such as Alstom and the General Electric group: 25% of the world's electricity production capacity is based on the group's technology and services.

Industrial companies can set up in the following business parks:

• The Belfort Aeropark, dedicated to large industrial and logistics projects, has several plots of industrial land for sale.
• Technoland 1 and 2, located between Montbéliard-Sochaux and Belfort, offers 85 hectares of industrial land for sale.
• The Technoparc, located on the border with Switzerland, is home to craft, industrial and service companies: 17 ha of industrial land is for sale on the French side and 15 ha on the Swiss side.
• Techn'hom, an urban business park combining large industries, start-ups, schools and universities, laboratories, etc. This park is home to the major groups Alstom and General Electric. 230,000 m² of tertiary and industrial space is available.

Setting up a digital company in the North Franche-Comté region

The digital sector in North Franche-Comté is enriched by the presence of various clusters creating a real synergy between the various digital companies present in the area.

Digital companies and start-ups can set up in different office space offers:

• Numerica, a regional digital centre of excellence located in Montbéliard, allows all the talents of the region to work together in a dedicated structure. Offices of 600 and 128 m² are available.
• La Jonxion, an innovation business park for the service sector located opposite the Belfort-Montbéliard TGV station, has three separate buildings of 5,000, 4,000 and 3,000 m² and several offices for rent.

The business market in the North Franche-Comté

The price of business property in Belfort and Montbéliard

• The average price of industrial land for sale in North Franche-Comté is €15/m².
• The average price of offices for rent in North Franche-Comté is €115/m²/year excluding taxes.
• The average price of business premises for rent in North Franche-Comté is €60/m²/year excluding taxes.
• The average price of warehouses for rent in North Franche-Comté is €40/m²/year excluding taxes.

Companies located in the North Franche-Comté region

Dynamic companies and world leaders located in Belfort or Montbéliard

The North Franche-Comté region, centred around the towns of Belfort and Montbéliard, is home to world-renowned companies:

• PSA Peugeot-Citroën: specialist in the manufacture of motor vehicles; 2016 turnover of €4.4 billion; more than 20 million vehicles per year
• Alstom: specialist in the transport sector, especially railways; 2017 sales of €7.3 billion
• General Electric: specialist in the manufacture of motors and turbines; 2016 sales of €1.4 billion; 25% of the world's electricity production capacity