POPULATION

• 31 cities
• Capital: Montpellier, 8th largest city in France
• Fastest demographic growth nationwide
• 412,000 inhabitants
• 43 % of the population under 30 years old
• A 3rd tramway line in progress
• 10,000 Vélomagg community bicycles within 6 years

EXCELLENCE CENTRES

• Healthcare: oncology, neuroscience, diagnostics, infectiology
• Agronomics: food-nutrition, viticulture-oenology
• Information Technologies: numerical simulation, business applications, video games
• Environment: environmental chemistry and renewable energies
• Water

COMPANIES

• Montpellier, the city with the leading business environment in France (Ecer 2008)
• Montpellier Agglomération appeals to 78% of managers and business owners (TNS Sofres survey)
• Montpellier ranked most attractive european city interms of business set-up costs (KPMG)
• 29,000 companies in the Agglomération area
• 5 competitiveness clusters: Eurobiomed, Q@LI-MEDiterranée, Derbi, Disaster Prevention and Trimatec

EDUCATION / RESEARCH

• Montpellier elected within the Campus project: the universities of Montpellier, Montpellier Sud Agro and their business partners involved in the project Montpellier Sud de France
• 90,000 students, including 60,000 in Montpellier
• Montpellier, the 5th leading location for research in France : BRGM, CEMAGREF, CIRAD, CNRS, IFREMER INRA, INSERM, IRD...
• 4th largest University Hospital in France: staff 9,000

CREATING INNOVATIVE START-UPS

• Leading region in France for company creation
• Montpellier Agglomération Business and Innovation Centre elected Incubator of the Year (NBIA 2007) and cerified Soft Landings as ground for foreign companies (NBIA 2008-2010) - www.europeanmarketaccess.com
• Montpellier Agglomération Business and Innovation Centre has accompanied over 445 start-ups since 1987
• More than 80 % still active after 3 years (compared to nationwide average of 63.4 % / ref: INSEE)

SUPPORT FOR INNOVATION

• 200 innovation programmes supported by OSEO in 2008
• 15 prize winners in 2009, including 10 coached by Montpellier Agglomération BIC 

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

• 3rd leading centre for business tourism with 147 symposiums (20 internationally known) and 90 conferences in 2008
• 1,065,076 delegates and professional visitors
• Number 1 destination for medical conferences in France

BUSINESS OFFICES AND REAL ESTATE

• 18 business parks for industry, technology, science, and edutainment
• 2 startup incubators: Cap Alpha (3,500 sq.m.) for Life Sciences, and Cap Omega (5,300 sq.m.) for ICT
• 3 flex-space office centres in Montpellier: Millénaire (4,000 sq.m. for ICT); Cap Gamma and Cap Delta (7,000 sq.m. for biopharmacy) and an extension of 4 more offices (21,000 sq.m.) in progress located in the Euromédecine Biopôle
• 1 international office centre: the MIBI, Montpellier International Business Incubator (3,500 sq.m. - delivery date: Q3 2010)
• 2 Villages for Artisan Businesses and Services: Parc 2000 in a reduced professional tax zone and Hannibal
• Interim workshops and office space