July 30, 2020
When businesses contemplate setting up a business abroad, they think about finding clients, about adapting to a new culture but most importantly, they think about the talents they will hire to make their business thrive. With a booming startup scene and a thriving business ecosystem, many international businesses are drawn by Paris Region’s fertile business ground but also by its pool of young, cosmopolitan, and highly skilled talents, especially in Tech.
Academic Excellence combined with a young and talented workforce
Home to one the youngest populations in Europe, Paris Region is also home to 1.6M foreigners who have come to live, work or study. With an expected flow of 300,000 new inhabitants in Paris Region by 2025, new talents will enter the market and continue making the region attractive, young, and innovative.
When it comes to sourcing qualified and skilled talents, businesses can rest assured. Paris Region is a cradle of academic excellence with its vast network of world-class universities, Business and Engineering schools, which are a major draw for companies looking to recruit. The city of Paris, for instance, has 10 of the world’s top 500 universities in Computer Science and Engineering. More recently, the 2020 Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Paris Saclay University as the world’s top institution for Mathematics and as one of the world’s best universities for Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences.
What about language skills you may wonder? Thanks to the rigorous International language standards applied in top universities and ‘Grandes Ecoles’ and studying periods abroad, graduates are fully proficient in English. They go through intensive courses that ally new business & entrepreneurial components and incorporate compulsory internships, making them even more ready for professional take-off.
Business minded talents driven by entrepreneurship and innovation
In terms of innovation & attractiveness, Paris Region scores extremely well. First, the Region is the largest employment pool, and home to 40% of France’s R&D workforce. Between 2009 and 2018, more than 11,000 patents were registered, cementing Paris Region as one of Europe’s most innovative Tech Regions and landing it an award for its economic potential.
On top of this, young graduates are business savvy. They have the chance to be trained by Paris Region’s top international ranking Business Schools, such as INSEAD and HEC Paris, whose degree programs focus on endowing their graduates with strong business & entrepreneurial skills.
But Paris Region’s innovative spirit goes even further! The Region is also home to incredible business facilities such as Station F, the largest European incubator set on a 34,000m2 campus and home to 1000+ start-ups. You just need to take a walk around the place to get a feel of this new trendy and innovative atmosphere! In fact, Station F is even more than an incubator, it is the cornerstone of an active ecosystem with innovative initiatives such as the First Startup Garage from Facebook or the Google coaching pop-up space. Overall, Paris Region has a great ecosystem of more than 20 accelerators and incubators which provide start-ups with all they need to scale up.
Making it easy for startup founders, talents and investors to set-up a business
This thriving ecosystem has grown steadily over the past few years thanks to two main national incentives, aimed at startup founders, employees, and investors.
- The French Tech Visa: a simplified fast track visa for foreigners to get their residence permit. The French Tech Visa is granted to 3 types of people: international start-up founders selected by partner incubators and accelerators; international talents recruited by companies based in France and international investors moving to France to set up their business.
- The French Tech Ticket: an incubation program designed for foreign entrepreneurs who want to scale/create their startups in France. The selected applicants are not only granted funding but also a 12 month incubation period in one of the French Tech’s 41 partner incubators, a fast-track streamlined procedure for selected applicants and their families to obtain residence permits as well as a specific guidance program.
What does this tell us about Paris Region? Home to a large, well-educated, and international workforce, Paris Region is an ideal place to source technical skills and top talent. So…Forget the old stereotypes about the French, what you will find is: young, smart, business minded and cosmopolitan talents in a vibrant and innovative hub!
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