FTPB - News

FTPB News n° 11 - 17April 2008

It has been a very busy period here at the French Technology Press Bureau, and not only because I have been working on the preparation of the Seminar of the UBIFRANCE Press Bureaux, which is taking place in our head office, at UBIFRANCE Paris, this week.

The Seminar is an annual event and it goes on for one week. The first two days (14 & 15 April) gave all the directors the opportunity to meet up, and also to meet the senior managers of our government agency. The next three days are dedicated to our client companies, with two days in Paris (16 & 17 April) and one day in the regions (I will be travelling to Lyons and spending 18 April over there). Over the course of these three days, we are meeting prospective clients, i.e. the representatives of French companies interested in developing their operations outside France, who feel that getting better known in the non-French press will make a positive contribution to their expansion abroad.

You may be interested to know that 70% to 75% of our clients are French SMEs across virtually all sectors of the economy. The term ‘SME’ can be a bit vague: some are very small companies indeed, including start-ups (with a few people and hardly any sales yet); others are rather large already, with operations outside France, warehouses across Europe, branch offices in the USA, and so on. The latter, in fact, are small-scale multinationals.

There are 15 UBIFRANCE press bureaux around the world now. From London, we cover not only the UK and the Republic of Ireland, but also Nordic countries and the Netherlands. Other press bureaux in Europe are based in Düsseldorf (for Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Madrid (Spain), Milan (Italy), Moscow (Russia), and finally Warsaw (Poland).

In the Americas, we have three press bureaux: one in Chicago (USA and Canada), one in Mexico (Brazil). A new press office has opened in New Delhi — India being a fast-growing market that is attracting a lot of interest. In the Far East, we have two press bureaux in China (one in Beijing and one in Hong Kong); one in Japan (Tokyo); and one in Thailand (Bangkok), which covers South-East Asia. Last but not least, our Cairo press bureau covers Arab countries of the Middle East, with a branch office recently set up in Dubai (more specifically to cater for the states of the Persian Gulf).

Enough said about the corporate world of UBIFRANCE, however, and I will continue with topics that are, no doubt, closer to your heart, i.e. what we actually do here in London — and press trips, more particularly. As announced in the previous newsletter (in February), we have been busy with various press trips, and I am pleased to report that they have all been successful.

The first one (7 to 9 March) took two British-based journalists to the mountain resort of Saint-Lary, which is near Pau (in the Pyrenees, not far from the Spanish border). The organisers over in France were keen to promote this interesting and attractive spot. The two participating journalists pronounced themselves very happy with the result, including the top-of-the-range spa treatment laid on by the organisers.

The other two press trips we have been working on have just taken place (early April) and were focused on micro-technology, high-precision engineering and components that can have a very wide range of applications (from satellites, mobile phones and medical equipment to the automotive and aerospace sectors, among others).

The first press trip (2 to 4 April) took Kate Ambler, FTPB Press Officer, and a delegation of three British journalists to Besançon, in Franche-Comté (the region of eastern France that is next to Burgundy). Our client, here, was Micronora, i.e. the organisers of the trade show of the same name, which takes place in Besançon every two years.

Besançon is a lovely and picturesque regional capital worth visiting in its own right, I am told. Getting there from London entails either taking the train (Eurostar followed by a French TGV) or flying (usually to and from the nearby airport of Basel-Mulhouse, on the French-Swiss border). The thought of the return on a British Airways flight bound for Terminal 5 at Heathrow sent shivers down Kate’s spine, since high-precision engineering has not been much in evidence in that department in the past 10 days. However, in the end, Kate and the three journalists got home safe and sound, and they had no problems at all at Terminal 5.

The third press trip took place roughly at the same time (1 to 4 April) and focused on the region around Annecy, in Savoie. One Swedish journalist and one Finnish reporter sent by FTPB got to discover the pôle de compétitivité (or competitiveness cluster) known as ARVE (Industries Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc). In all, there were about 10 members of the international press taking part in this press trip — some from as far afield as Brazil …

We have many other projects in the pipeline, but I cannot list them all. More particularly, we expect to organise another two press trips at least, which may appeal to wine buffs and discriminating gourmets. One will focus on the wines of the Languedoc region (Montpellier) , and the other one will take a delegation of British and Scandinavian journalists to Corsica (Bastia) in order to learn more about the wine and food products of this unique island region.

These two trips are not confirmed yet, but we expect things to get off the ground soon, and the two trips in question to take place in June and/or early July. Let us know if you are interested in the topics and regions described above: Kate will look forward to hearing from you.

As usual, FTPB News covers many different sectors, with marine technology (including undersea technology and related topics) given pride of place, since there was a UBIFRANCE Pavilion at the Oceanology International 2008 trade show at EXCEL in April (in London), and the press bureau issued a series of press releases on behalf of participating French companies. We have regrouped these releases at the end of the bulletin, and you will see that they encompass a range of exciting, cutting-edge technologies within the sector.

I hope you will enjoy reading the stories appearing in the April issue of our bulletin. The next issue of FTPB News will come out in early July.

Philip Jolly, Managing Director, FTPB

Construction & Architecture

Electronics & Engineering

Marine Technology - Oceanology 08

Construction & Architecture

Carrefour du Bois 2008 to welcome Austrian special guest

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