Founded as a bottom-up initiative by company CEOs, researchers and professors, the association POPsud will celebrate in 2010 its tenth anniversary, and the achievement of a series of key steps and a range of resources made available to the optics-photonics community in the south of France focused on innovation and development :

- the creation of a well-structured community of players from industry and academia, through the organisation of a network of members and the development of a range of tools for the organisation of technology-focused activities (theme-based meetings, directories, networking support, etc.).

- the award of the OPTITEC Competitivity Cluster label, in 2005, for 'Complex Optical and Imaging Systems': more than 130 projects have been submitted and 100 have been awarded the label. Following a positive assessment of the Cluster in June 2008, the OPTITEC Competitivity Cluster was confirmed for the next three years (2009-2011), notably on the basis of a 'Performance Contract' with the French government and the local authorities.

- the award of the PRIDES label (Pôle Régional d’Innovation et de Développement de l’Economie Solidaire), with a Cluster including 100 companies and 40 research laboratories in the region, which is the stimulus for a growth dynamic of 10 % a year on average (600 jobs created in 3 years and 20 start-ups).

- the Cluster's ambitious outreach at European and international level, with R&D and business partnerships with the leading countries in the field (Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the EU, Quebec, Brazil).

Katia MIROCHNITCHENKO

Director of POPSUD