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The regional forest-based industry: bringing forth new activities
15 years of campaigns by the Regional Council have helped to qualitatively and quantitatively increase the wooded area in the Nord-Pas de Calais region. In the interests of providing new solutions that capitalise on the modernity of the timber industry while meeting the expectations of industry professionals, the body decided to set up an appropriate and efficient development platform in the region. Thus, the PRCB (Pôle Régional de Compétence Bois - regional timber skills cluster), based in Trélon, took up the baton from the former Centre de Bois de Thiérache (Thiérache Timber Centre) in 2008. Its purpose is to develop and promote the industry and to foster applied research and training.
At the same time, regional forestry and woodwork professionals have gotten involved in promoting the rural forest-based industry centre of excellence. The latter organisation draws on the Thiérache-Avesnois and Sept Vallées (Maison du Bois) sites in order to establish partnerships with other European resource sites and make Trélon an exemplary location for the high environmental quality approach it applies in synergy with the sustainable economic concerns of the industry. The future PCRB will draw on three structural aspects: training, production and resource centre. It will incorporate a vocational school managed by the national ministry for education, an applied research centre run by a semi-public company, a technical resource centre managed by industry professionals and a “communications” and educational space open to visitors.
>> CONTACT :
Cyrielle VANNIEUWENHUYSE
Phone: + 33 (0) 320 913 249
Euralogistic
Considering the main strengths of the region of Nord-Pas de Calais in terms of logistics, the area of excellence – Euralogistic – drew up a strategy, the main aim of which was to help the regional SMEs in the sector to develop. It was a question of providing them with assistance and putting them in touch, particularly with the dense network of purchasers and partners in the region.
This campaign hinges on 4 main points: individual assistance in developing companies in the sector, networking through the “nord-logistique.com” portal or even having a presence at the main logistics trade fairs, the creation of logistics events at both regional and national level and, finally, a strong campaign centred on human resources in logistics (project of the logistics campus).
>> CONTACT :
Laurent DESPREZ
Phone: + 33 (0) 321 692 318
The agri-food centre of excellence : helping new projects emerge
The regional agri-food industry, with 2,600 businesses, needed to improve its competitiveness and visibility through research and development. And this is precisely what the agri-food industries’ regional centre of excellence, run by the Urban Community of Arras and the Cambrai Conurbation Committee, was set up to do.
Aside from maintaining favourable operating conditions, the goal of the centre is to help new projects emerge, encourage the promotion of the industry and enhance the region’s appeal both nationally and internationally.
>> CONTACT :
Regional centre of excellence for the mechanical industry
The mechanical industry is well established in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, with 1,500 businesses -90% of which have fewer than 50 employees- and 45,000 jobs. The Regional Centre of Excellence, which was designated as such last June and is firmly rooted in Hainaut-Cambrésis, will provide support to the industry in four main directions. These include boosting human resources, developing professions, aiding sustainable development and providing easier access to economic intelligence through monitoring and foresight.
>> CONTACT :
The Nord-Pas de Calais image cluster : welcoming all types of cross-fertilisation...
Vincent Leclercq, CEO of the Nord-Pas de Calais image cluster :
Why do we need an image cluster?
With around 100 businesses, twelve academies, six research laboratories and approximately 700 actors, technicians, and writer-directors, the region has achieved sufficient critical mass. In addition, the visual arts world is undergoing a genuine revolution, where new formats, such as the Internet, video-game consoles and mobile phones, can now be found alongside traditional formats like cinema and television. We therefore need to approach production in a different way, meaning more quickly and cheaply.
Why Tourcoing?
We are keen to welcome all types of “cross-fertilisation” between sectors. The most productive sectors in the region are the Lille metropolitan area and the Valenciennois metropolitan area (including Valenciennes and Wallers-Arenberg). One of the three sites -where the Union is based- is more advanced than the others and has the most significant critical mass. This being so, the project was devised to be a Euro-regional initiative, in association with the Flemish and Walloons.
What will it bring to the region?
Nord-Pas de Calais is the French region with the third or fourth largest visual arts industry, but it now needs to step up a gear. The new image cluster will help businesses to grow but also to ensure that the 1,000 students who train each year -75% of whom currently leave the region at the end of their studies- are met with a positive local environment ripe with opportunities for them to express their talent.
>> CONTACT :
vleclercq@crrav.com
www.pole-images-nordpasdecalais.com
CD2E: limiting environmental impact
Established in 2002, cd2e runs the regional centre of excellence for the eco-business and ecotechnology sectors. Its main roles include supporting the international growth and innovation of businesses and laboratories, monitoring new technologies, markets and regulations and developing environmental fields in specific areas, such as eco-materials, eco-construction and recycling.
In this context, a lifecycle analysis platform called [avnir] has recently been launched. As Christian Traisnel, director of cd2e, has explained “Its aim is to verify the kind of impact a product or service has on the environment and the specific aspects involved”. Analysis involves studying each stage of the product lifecycle (extraction, production, transport, use and end of life) in order to determine what needs to be done to limit the impact.
In carrying out its work, the [avnir] platform collaborates with four main categories of stakeholders. Thus, higher education and research is doing its utmost to incorporate the notion of lifecycle analysis in training curricula and is working to develop specific tools. Consultancy firms specialising in eco-technologies are training consultants capable of providing advice to businesses. Economic stakeholders – including businesses, competitiveness clusters, centres of excellence and industries – are developing product and process analysis methodologies appropriate to their sectors. Finally, major contracting parties, such as the public authorities, are incorporating lifecycle analysis in project specifications. In achieving its aim, cd2e has brought an expert onboard and, in conjunction with various clusters, centres and industries, is set to provide the region with an expert for each subject area (i.e. mechanics, textiles, rail transport, agri-food, building and public works, etc.).
>> CONTACT :
c.traisnel@cd2e.com
www.cd2e.com
The regional plastics industry centre of excellence : synergies and innovation
With 260 organisations and 10,500 employees, the Nord-Pas de Calais is the third largest French region for plastics processing, with all processes represented in the region, including injection, extrusion, injection blow moulding and rotational moulding to name but a few. In 2008, as part of the regional economic development scheme (Schéma Régional de Développement Économique - SRDE), the region decided to establish a regional centre of excellence for the plastics industry and entrusted the running of the centre to APAF, the Artois-Flanders plastics network, which is a particularly active manufacturers' association. The roles of the centre are based on five priorities, which include facilitating business networking, strengthening links with technological transfer centres, improving the circulation of information, contributing to the efficiency of training institutions and promoting the industry's technological expertise to ordering parties (in the automotive, rail, aeronautic, construction, packaging and health industries, among others).
>> CONTACT :
conseiller.apaf@portailplasturgie.com
www.portailplasturgie.com
