The regional assembly voted the Contract of Plan State-Region, including the plan of Campus of Sciences and Technologies of Information and Communication, as a whole.
A great leap forward was taken, and it should be decisive for the creation of a STIC Campus (Sciences and Technologies of Information and Communication), in Sophia Antipolis. The assembly of the Conseil Régional (County Council) lately had a get-together, and voted the Contract of Plan State-Region. This is a contract that includes the file of the STIC Campus (Nice Sophia Antipolis building, common building, plans of Research & Development, Eurécom Centre, Sophia University Library, Centre of sports of Sophia, around the current settlements of the INRIA, of the IUT, and of the ESSI).
The plan was totally accepted
Technically, the Conseil Général still has to give its decision, before the contract is signed. It should be done in the coming days. As for the signing of the contract, it is still planned on June 30th , 2000, at the latest.
For the people who defended this plan on the Riviera (university, firms, schools, socio-professional associations worked together), it deals with a near victory. While they were guaranteed the project was included in the Contract of Plan, they still feared some main elements were not expressed. Now, the fears are cleared up. As the budget it was required to realise the project, was not cut back by the Region, the STIC Campus should be done as it was planned and organized, (now, it seems to be irreversible).
Those who had prepared the file (Geneviève Gourdet, the UNSA president, Marc Berthod, the INRIA director, Antoine Perry, the secretary-general of Eurécom, and Christian Tordo, the vice-president of the Telecom Valley had officially presented it together) were even congratulated by the representatives of the Region, for the quality of the work they had done.
To reach 4,000 students in STIC, in Sophia
Moreover, Sophia Antipolis, as the whole French Riviera, greatly relies on this campus, to develop more quickly, and to benefit from the job opportunities the new economy offers. Whatever it deals with the settlements of new firms or with the creation of start-ups on the site, one of the most important elements of decision is the presence on the spot of high level computer skills.
In the end, by six years (the realization of the project is staggered over six years), the Campus should allow to shift from 2,000 students in STIC, to 4,000. This would permit to meet needs in skills, that are likely to become noticeably greater.