A 3 300 m2 Technology Centre, dedicated to optics-photonics companies, within the framework of the OPTITEC Competitivity Cluster, is planned for construction in 2010 by the Communauté Urbaine de Marseille at the Technopôle de Château Gombert.
This building will provide premises for companies under development in the field of optics and photonics and they will be assisted by the existing services of Marseille Innovation.
The Hôtel Technoptique will be along the lines of the existing business incubator at the Technopôle (see www.hotel-technologique.com) and the services and facilities will be tailored to the needs of companies working in optics-photonics or imaging (underground dark room, services of experts in optics, calculation, search for partners and support by the OPTITEC Cluster, etc.)
At the Technopôle de Château Gombert, the Hôtel will have the benefit of proximity to the OPTITEC Competitivity Cluster where several of the major players are located: the Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille, the Ecole Centrale Marseille, several Technopôle-based companies working in the optics sector (Opal, Uratek, Clavis, etc.) and the inter-university business incubator Impulse whose mission is to identify and support projects for start-ups that are spin-offs from research. And at the nearby university campus at Saint Jérôme: the Institut Fresnel which with more than 115 researchers is one of France's leading laboratories for research in optics, and the L2MP laboratory (Matériaux et Microélectronique de Provence).
The functions of the Hôtel Technoptique will be similar to those of a business incubator:
- Premises (furnished offices of 16 or 32 m2, temporary lease of 24 months renewable once)
- Joint services such as telephone reception, message taking, mail services, conference rooms and photocopying equipment, etc.
- Computer network
- Support (legal, marketing, company management, accountancy, finance, business intelligence, banking, e-business, human resources)
- Aid for international development.
More specialised services will also be provided, in particular access to the pooled facilities of the technological resources centre (adaptive optics test bench) and the aid for product design services.
