Business and Innovation Highlights in Eastern France: Velux, QPerfect, Dijon Métropole, and Volotea

Velux launches its €40 million investment in Haute-Saône. The Alsatian start-up QPerfect markets its technology for quantum computing. New third places and industrial territories in the East. Dijon Métropole is committed to building nearly 5,000 social housing units in three years. Volotea launches the Strasbourg-Berlin public service line

• Velux launches its €40 million investment in Haute-Saône

Velux’s international and local managers carried out, on November 9, the foundation stone laying ceremony for the extension of the Marnay (Haute-Saône) factory of the famous Danish manufacturer of windows, blinds and roller shutters. The construction and material equipment of the new 10,000 m building² represents an investment of €40 million, announced last May as part of the government plan « Choose France ».

Operational at the beginning of 2025, and covered by 3,000 m² of photovoltaic panelsit will be accompanied by “the creation of 70 jobs – line drivers, logisticians, maintenance technicians, quality controllers…” specifies the group, an increase in the workforce by half compared to the current 140 positions at Marnay, one of the four Velux production sites in France. According to the manufacturer, the extension “meets the growing demand from French and European markets for energy saving and thermal comfort solutions, both in winter and summer”. And as you are never better served than by yourself, the unit will be equipped with modular canopies produced by the group. Mr. Walnut

• The Alsatian start-up QPerfect markets its IT technology quantum

Created in May 2023 as an emanation of the European Center for Quantum Sciences (CESQ) at the University of Strasbourg, QPerfect has been marketing its innovative technology, called MIMIQ, for several days.. This digital design support environment “allows you to mimic the ideal functioning of a quantum computer”explains Sébastien Buffechoux, the company’s general manager. QPerfect has already filed three patents and tested its technology with around ten international clients : companies that develop business applications using quantum computing (in the chemical, pharmaceutical, logistics, oil industries, etc.) and designers of such computers.

The start-up now plans to manufacture digital twins from 2025, a technology capable of digitally representing an object and thus speeding up its production cycle. Next year, QPerfect has planned a fundraising of €2.5 million to recruit – its current workforce includes the five co-founders and four collaborators (two employees and two people from the University of Strasbourg) – and continue its development. Since September 1, QPerfect has been hosted in the premises of the new CESQ in Strasbourg, inaugurated on October 16. J. Giorgi

• New third places and industrial territories in the East

Nearly a quarter (19 out of 82) of new “third places” recognized by the State are located in Burgundy-Franche-Comté or in the Grand Est. The composition of the new wave of winners of these “Territorial factories” – the name of the national support system at the rate of €50,000 per site – was revealed last Wednesday. It notably includes the MatternLab in Sochaux, the Lab’Aux in Semur-en-Auxois (Côte-d’Or), La Fraternelle in Saint-Claude (Jura), “At Little Paris” in Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne) or, in the Meuse, the cooperative center of Revigny-sur-Ornain and that of Ecurey around sustainable construction.

For this new series, which complements the 300 sites already supported since 2021, the territorial coverage with sectors not yet provided with labeled third-party locations as well as the « dimension productive » of these formed the determining criteria. Furthermore, the 183 “Industry territories” new or confirmed were announced following their general meeting held in Chalon-sur-Sâone last week. This “time II 2023-2027” understand nine winners in Burgundy-Franche-Comté and 21 in the Grand Est, including in Alsace Colmar Centre-Haut-Rhin, Northern Alsace and Central Alsace.

Mr. Walnut

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The agreement for social housing was signed by Patricte Vergirter, Minister of Housing, and Frabçois Rebsamen. © Arnaud Morel The Minister Delegate for Housing, Patrice Vergriete signed, Thursday, November 9, the first territorialized agreement in France for social housing with François Rebsamen, president of Dijon Métropole. Announced during the national HLM congress at the beginning of October, the new government policy is intended to be proactive and pragmatic.“I don’t care about theoretical and abstract national battles, we have to be close to the territories when we talk about social housing” declared the minister this Thursday. During the period 2024-2026, the Dijon metropolis will commit to building 4,800 social housing units, or 1,600 per year

– without specifying their location at this stage – knowing that there are around 10,000 unsatisfied requests in the central city (4,000 rehousings, and 6,000 first moves). Three dynamics explain the crisis facing the construction of new housing: the rise in the cost of land, inflation which increases construction costs, and the rise in interest rates. Today, many real estate programs are suspended pending an improvement in their economic equation.“I say to all the actors, come on, now we start building again for the French who need housing. There remains state funding, and sometimes, small adjustments are enough to modify the economic equation of real estate programs: renegotiate the price of land, rebalance the different real estate products offered, etc. concluded the Minister Delegate.

A. Morel

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The Spanish company alone accounts for two-thirds of the traffic at Strasbourg airport. © Volotea

Volotea, the main company operating at Strasbourg-Entzheim airport (Bas-Rhin), will provide the link to Berlin from November 20, as part of a public service delegation. It was selected by the State (general directorate of civil aviation) to operate this connection according to the system specific to the Alsatian metropolis, by virtue of its “three-year contract Strasbourg European capital” which guarantees the operator the filling of the deficit in the event of non-profitability. The new flight to Berlin-Brandenburg Airport will offer an annual capacity of 40,000 seats, on Mondays and Thursdays aboard an Aurbus A 320. The German capital is thus one of Volotea’s 29 destinations from Entzheim, where the Spanish company represented two-thirds of the traffic of 930,000 passengers last year.

Mr. Walnut