An innovative business environment
- RANKED third OECD for government support for innovation (after US and China)
- Best place in Europe for R&D tax incentives and attractive corporate tax rate on R&D operations (Research Tax Credit)
- France is a ‘Startup Nation’ with over 12,000 startups
A leading and open economy
- WORLD’S sixth largest economy
- Second largest consumer market in Europe and the WORLD’S seventh largest foreign investor (FMI, 2018)
- WORLD’S leading host country for foreign investment in industry (EY, 2016)
Internationally renowned schools and universities
- Some of the best business schools in the world (HEC and ESSEC) (FT, 2017)
- 22 FRENCH UNIVERSITIES are ranked in the TOP 500 ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS in the world (Shanghai rankings 2018)
A deep, qualified talent pool
- Highly productive labour force (ahead of Germany and the UK) (The Conference Board, 2018)
- 1,6 MILLION scientists and engineers (OECD, 2017)
- 44% of 25- to 34-year-olds have a university qualification, (30.5% in Germany and 25.6% in Italy) (OECD, 2017)
Excellence in healthcare
- Leading OECD country for access to healthcare; France boasts a healthcare system with high performance levels and universal coverage guaranteeing ‘access to care for all’.
- Lille has the largest hospital university campus in Europe
- Fifth largest global market and second largest European market in the pharma industry (LEEM)
- Second largest European market for medical devices after Germany (Medtech Europe)
- 4 French medical research organisations in the world’s top 25 most innovative institutions:
CNRS – INSERM – PASTEUR INSTITUTE – CEA (Thomson-Reuters, 2016) - France has 18 biotech/medtech startups per million inhabitants (US: 10 and UK: 13) (France Biotech)
- EURONEXT leading European stock market for healthtech: with 91 healthtechs (including 66 from France), Euronext is the leading European market for companies in the sector
