The digital industry in the Val d'Oise

The digital industry is one of the fields
of excellence of the Ile-de-France region.
The Val d'Oise is home to some large organisations working in this sector, in addition to leading teaching establishments which play their part in this dynamic.

The digital economy, which includes everything from video games to telecommunications, and from microelectronic components to the Internet, involves both professionals, with the widespread use of computer tools and multimedia in companies, and private individuals, who are being affected by the arrival of home automation.

 The sectors of business concerned are nanotechnologies, advanced software, computing systems, multimedia content and their related online services, and so on.

The Val d'Oise is currently home to:
- 400 companies in the digital industry,
- 1 400 companies involved in the use of these technologies,
- 6 higher education institutions linked to this area of business, several public and private research laboratories working in this field.

SOME OF THE COMPANIES LOCATED IN THE VAL D'OISE

SAGEM COMMUNICATION
Wireless broadcasting and transmission equipment
CARTOSPHÈRE
Software publication
JOHNSON CONTROLS AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONIC
Electronic equipment
MADEP
Industry, electrotechniques and automation
PTV LOXANE
Software publication
SONY France SA
Household appliance business
THALÈS COMMUNICATION SA, THALÈS TRAINING SIMULATION
TYCO ELECTRONICS
France SAS
Manufacture of low voltage electrical equipment

CEUROPEAN CENTRE FOR BUSINESS AND INNOVATION (CEEI) NEUVITEC 95 
 Managed in partnership with the Val d'Oise Conseil Général and the urban district of Cergy-Pontoise, through the ACCET Val d'Oise Technopole, the European centre for business and innovation (CEEI), Neuvitec 95, is located at the heart of the university and science cluster in Neuville-sur-Oise, one of the twelve municipal areas in Cergy-Pontoise.
A technological business incubator, Neuvitec 95 is geared to innovating technological projects, with connections to higher education and research. Since its inception in 1998, Neuvitec 95 has been encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit in higher education institutions. Examples of this to date include an ENSEA student joining a start-up company in the incubator, an EPMI graduate developing a project to set up his own company and a university student beginning his own e-business company. The incubator is already home to a dozen up-and-coming businesses whose work relates directly to digital technology, or the use of its resources.
Neuvitec 95 - Val d'Oise European Centre for Business and Innovation.
www.accet.asso.fr

BRINGING TOGETHER RESEARCHERS AND COMPANIES ONCE A YEAR 
 As part of the efforts by the CESE 95 (Val d'Oise Further Education / Company Forum) to bring further education institutions and SMEs and SMIs closer together in the département, the CEEVO is heavily involved each year in the Val d'Oise Research and Innovation Week. A wide variety of events are on offer locally during the course of the week: lectures, visits to factories, companies and research laboratories, business meetings, and so on. Free of charge and open to all, this event is an opportunity to get to know some of the companies and laboratories in the digital industry as well as the progress of projects which are part of the Cap Digital Paris Région competitiveness cluster.

Research and further education:

• UCP: University of Cergy-Pontoise

• ENSEA: Graduate School for Electronics and Applications

• EISTI: International School of Data Processing Sciences

• EPMI: School of Electricity, Production and Industrial Methods

• ESSEC: Graduate School of Economics and BusinessITIN: Graduate School of Computer science, networks and information systems

• ITIN: Graduate School of Computer science, networks and information systems

• Institut Polytechnique Saint-Louis
  
  

  Public laboratories:

• ETIS (ENSEA-UCP-CNRS): Signal and Image Processing Laboratory

• ECIME (ENSEA-UCP) : Instrumentation and Electronic Modelling Laboratory

• ECS (ENSEA) : System Command Laboratory

• ESTI: EARLY and LAPI research laboratories

• ITIN: centre of research and innovation

Private laboratories:

• Sagem Groupe SAFRAN (Mobile telephony - Defence and Security - Audiovisual activities)
  
  
• JOHNSON CONTROLS AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONIC
  
  
• THALÈS

 Aeronautics, health, information and communication technologies, transport, energy, finance, and more. The list of the 71 projected clusters, drawn up by the CIADT (Interministerial Regional Planning and Development Committee) covers all the major sectors of business throughout France. With the financial backing of the State, the listed clusters also benefit from tax breaks and reduced social contributions. In addition, local authorities may offer exemption from local taxes.

6 COMPETITIVENESS CLUSTERS IN THE VAL D'OISE
 Six of the existing or aspiring world-class competitiveness clusters directly involve companies located in the Val d'Oise: ASTech Paris Région, Cap Digital Paris Région, Finance Innovation, Medicen Paris Région, Mov'eo and System@tic Paris Région.

Receiving the «Competitiveness Cluster» label has an immediate knock-on effect for the «département», enhancing both its brand image and the reputation of its companies, universities and research institutions.

THE « CAP DIGITAL PARIS RÉGION » WORLD-CLASS COMPETITIVENESS CLUSTER
 Cap Digital Paris Région has a concentration of skills found nowhere else in the world. Focussing on images, multimedia and the digital universe, it draws on the presence of companies in the Val d'Oise at the heart of digital technology (Sagem, Thalès, Thomson Broadcast, etc.) and further education institutions and research laboratories that specialise in this field (University of Cergy-Pontoise, ENSEA1, EISTI2, ESSEC3, ITIN4, ETIS5, ECIME6). The cluster brings together companies and research centres in six fields of business:

- films and broadcasting,
- video games,
- digital assets,
- knowledge engineering,
- education,
- multimedia communication.

Companies and education institutions in the Val d'Oise are already involved in 3 projects in the Competitiveness cluster:
- the HD3D-IIO project with the Thalès group as partner,
- the PPRE project with the EISTI as partner (the « electronic briefcase »),
- the TERRA NUMERICA project led by the Thalès group.

1 ENSEA: Graduate School for Electronics and Applications - 2 EISTI: International School of Data Processing Sciences 3 ESSEC: Graduate School of Economics and Business - 4 ITIN: Graduate School of Computer science, networks and information systems 5 ETIS: Signal and Image Processing Laboratory - 6 ECIME: Instrumentation and Electronic Modelling Laboratory at the ENSEA

TERRA NUMERICA: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SERVING SOCIETY 

 The Terra Numerica project is a core project for the Cap Digital Paris Région cluster. This cooperative project relating to the digitalisation of regions and their resources aims to develop multimedia-based use of this information.
« Undertaken and led by Thalès in Cergy-Pontoise, at the heart of the Val d'Oise, « Terra Numerica is a set of technologies applied to the life of the general public to prepare people for living in the cities of the future, » explains Hervé Rochard, in charge of the project for Thalès. « Animated digital computer-generated imagery is the key to the whole system. Scanning every square metre of an area from an aircraft enables the production of a geospecific representation of whole cities (even on the scale of Paris or the equally large urban district of Cergy-Pontoise). » With Terra Numerica, a company wishing to locate to the Val d'Oise or for example in the heart of the urban district in the Prefecture city of Cergy-Pontoise, will have huge advantages. The animated electronic model of the entire urban district will enable them to locate the site which is best suited to make their business profitable (access, transport, etc.), and meet both their industrial needs (emissions, waste, etc.) and also those of their employees, taking into account human requirements and criteria for sustainable development. Everything can be examined in minute detail: noise, pollution and the amount of sunshine or rain, simulated in images based on real-life mapping data and photos of existing sites.
Backed by the driving force of the Thalès group, which manufactures flight simulators in its Val d'Oise plant, and its partners in the Cap Digital Paris Région cluster, this project involves both laboratories at engineering schools like the ETIS and the ENSEA and SMEs working with Thalès. It opens the way for many different applications such as transport management and navigational aids, civil security and environmental risks, and more fun aspects such as museography and cultural and tourist information services.

ENGINEERS WHO ARE EXPERTS IN THEIR SPECIALIST FIELD

 The Val d'Oise Research and Innovation Week, held every year in the Val d'Oise, is an opportunity for researchers in the département to present their projects to companies with lectures and round tables. The EPMI* and ITIN often take part in this kind of exercise.

Protection from the hazards of electrical transformers
The EPMI works in the field of fire protection for power equipment. Transformers are considered to be the most dangerous components in electrical installations. Several experts even expect an increase in the number of breakdowns by 1 - 2% from 2008 onwards. Moumen Darcherif, director of the EPMI, gives the example of hazard status report and suggests solutions. Studies quantifying phenomena resulting from electrical defects have been conducted to this end. Amongst other things, the EPMI is developing a multiphysics model of a transformer.

The contribution of new technologies (such as Virtual Reality) to public services
In one example, Florent Michel, a Virtual Reality engineer at the ITIN, is working on the benefits of new technologies in the practice of medicine, demonstrating the benefits that can be forthcoming for the general public – including the elderly and those less able to cope on their own – through online services implemented by all the administrative departments of a municipal council.

* EPMI: School of Electricity, Production and Industrial Methods