Rouen to play host to B.I.G Talents in biotech, IT and greentech

Frédéric Sanchez, President of the Agence de Développement Economique de l’Agglomération Rouennaise (ADEAR), the Economic Development Agency for the Rouen Region, says: “More than 6,200 people are now working in R&D in Haute-Normandie across fields as varied as aerospace, the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, the automotive industry and the chemicals sector. The Rouen region offers an excellent wealth of resources. When it comes to innovation, it is the perfect place to host and organise a national event like B.I.G. Talents.”

B.I.G. Talents, which is organised by ADEAR Rouen, in partnership with CREA (Community of the Rouen-Elbeuf-Austreberthe metropolitan area), is designed to provide a useful contact point and information hub for all those involved in the applications and technologies of tomorrow.

Because of its location, many of Normandy’s key technological and business players will be attending the event. However, B.I.G. Talents is, above all, a national and international event, open to all professionals and participants in innovation, whether they are based in Haute-Normandie or elsewhere.

The event is aimed at companies in search of concrete solutions and skills needed to improve their projects. Attendees will include project leaders, sponsors, new businesses, support services and those seeking partners (R&D, investment, and hosting), as well as companies or groups which have already outsourced their R&D activities. The event will also provide an opportunity for researchers to market their skills and for students to make contact with entities that may well be their future employers.

B.I.G. Talents will offer visitors the chance to attend several themed conferences, including Professor Alain Cribier’s on the theme of the Percutaneous Aortic Valve Implantation. This implantation technique has made it possible to treat patients considered inoperable by normal surgical means. It is also being increasingly used for patients in less extreme cases. Professor Cribier’s conference is exclusive to B.I.G. Talents. It will include a description of the technique as well as its implementation and environmental conditions.

B.I.G. Talents will offer the opportunity to meet Toni Da Luz, a young graduate engineer from the Nantes Atlantique design school, and the person behind the Mindflow project. This project seeks to develop the use of tactile technology during collaborative work, particularly for industrial applications, including in the aerospace and automotive sectors. Toni Da Luz will be briefing attendees on his development work and providing a preview of future applications.

Six other themed conferences will be held during B.I.G. Talents. Full details will be available soon.

B.I.G. is the acronym for Biotechnology, Information technology and Green technology. These are three key themes in the innovation field, and three promising areas of economic development which are already well represented in Haute-Normandie.

Over the space of two days, B.IG. Talents will be attracting around 60 exhibitors organised in two exhibition ‘villages’. The Technological Resources and Training Village includes companies, research-and-development laboratories, training organisations, universities and advanced higher-education establishments. The Financial Resources and Support Village includes business incubators, financiers (banks, venture-capital providers and business angels) and advisory or support networks (including the OSEO government agency, Chambers of Commerce & Industry and consultancy firms).

B.I.G. will also feature a business conference centre, providing an opportunity for project leaders and contractors to get together in formal meetings; a series of conferences, including a plenary session, eight themed conferences and four virtual conferences organised in cooperation with research laboratories and workshops; and, finally, an employment/recruitment area showing vacancies in the biotech, IT and greentech sectors, with interviews organised at the trade show.

About Rouen and Haute-Normandie

Rouen is the economic capital of Haute-Normandie, which is the eastern part of the broader region of Normandy, in north-western France.

For more information on the region, please go to: www.hautenormandie.fr

B.I.G. Talents will take place on Wednesday 17 November 2010, from 9.00am to 7.00pm, and on Thursday 18 November, from 9.00am to 5.30pm, in the Rouen exhibition centre (Parc Expo de Rouen).

For more information on the event and to register, please go to: www.big-talents.eu