Why set up your company in Alsace, France?

Setting up your company in Alsace

Alsace, historical region of France, is situated in the Upper Rhine Vally and is among the richest and most densely populated regions in Europe. By setting up in Alsace, your company will have the opportunity to access a large market with 300 million consumers within a 900 km radius around Strasbourg.

There are many reasons to establish your company in Alsace, in Strasbourg, Colmar or Mulhouse, along the borders of Germany and Switzerland:

• A strategic position in the heart of Europe.
• A dynamic economic fabric, characterised by a large number of companies and SMEs.
• It is the 2^nd industrial region of France with several promising sectors and innovative international companies: agri-food industry, mechanical equipments, automotive industry, chemicals, plastics and metal industry.
• A region of excellence and innovation with 5 competitive clusters providing a link between the world of research and companies: BioValley France, Pôle Véhicule du Futur, Pôle Fibres Grand Est, Pôle Energivie (together they form the Pôle Fibres-Energivie) and Pôle HYDREOS.
• Strasbourg is one of the three French great bank markets with international competence.
• A high quality of life: gastronomy, Alsatian wines, nature and cultural heritage.
• Access to prestigious educational institutions such as the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Basel (Universität Basel), Strasbourg (Université de Strasbourg), Karlsruhe (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) and Mulhouse and Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace) work together in order to encourage cooperation between them in the fields of training, research, administration, culture and sports.
• A wide range of real estate offers.

Finding the right location for your company in Alsace

Business parks, business incubators, industrial land and premises to set up your company in Alsace

The Alsace region offers a wide range of business premises and industrial land for companies in the following sectors: branches with a futuristic vision (IoT, robotics), environment (energy, mobility), health industry (biotech, medtech, e-health), logistics and e-commerce, as well as:

• Business incubators for start-ups
• Business centers with shared services (secretary service, meeting room)
• Industrial land
• Several opportunities for touristic businesses

Commercial real estate in Alsace

There is a wide range of business locations in Alsace: industrial land, turnkey offices, laboratories, warehouses, agri-food industry and much more.

International companies in Alsace: presence of leading international companies and large groups

Alsace is an ideal environment for national and international companies, such as Clemessy, General Motors, Hager, Kronenbourg, Lalique, Liebherr Group, Mars, Inc., Peugeot, Rhodia, Ricoh, Timken, Tryba, Wrigley France and so on:

• HEINEKEN France: the Dutch group is the 3^rd largest brewing company and leading retailer, with a turnover of 1.7 billion euros in 2012.
• Weleda: the Swiss-based group operates in 52 countries and develops and markets pharmaceutical preparations and personal care products based on an anthroposophical approach.
• Columbia Sportswear: this American company is specialised in the manufacture and distribution of sports and leisure wear with a turnover of €8,297,000.
• Lilly France: an American pharmaceutical group with 40,000 employees in 143 countries.
• Bouygues Telecom: based in Strasbourg, the French telecommunications company has one of its six customer relations centres in Alsace.
• Stemtech: this American company has positioned itself as a global leader in the manufacture of food supplements and pharmaceutical products based on stem cells.

Several local SMEs and start-ups have already chosen the Alsace region

• The start-up Argentoratum was founded in 2012 and has become a reference app for Strasbourg’s history enthusiasts. This virtual reality app allows you to immerse yourself in the city's Roman era. The app, which is available on Google Play and on the App Store, has been downloaded more than one million times since 2016.
• The start-up PROTiP Medical has developed the first artificial larynx, as well as a method for better controlling immune responses related to biomaterial implants.
• The French biotech company CellProthera, based in Mulhouse, is specialised in myocardial tissue regeneration and expects a turnover of 2 billion euros in 2022.