While waiting for the results of the yearly survey which is three months late, we are still estimating: from 1 200 up to 1500 additional jobs in 2000 for a total of 23 000 jobs.
How many additional jobs in 2000 at Sophia Antipolis? In 1999, the number of jobs reached 21 535 compared to 20 531 last year on the innovation centre. It is only a thousand more than the previous year, what was less than the increases registered in 1997 and 1998 (2 000 additional jobs each time). The crisis in the property business explained such a decrease whereas the NTIC has never known such a growth.
In 2000, according to the estimations of the SAEM, the shortage in the property business slowed down the growth of Sophia in terms of employment. The estimation is based on the proportion of square meters sold in the year and occupied by companies: 30 000 square meters , which should mathematically correspond to 1 200 up to 1 500 additional jobs. There again, according to the growth noted in the sector of new technologies all through the year 2000, this result seems a bit disappointing. At the end of 2000, the number of jobs on the innovation centre would approximate 23 000.
This figure has to be confirmed. For Sophia Antipolis, this yearly assessment is usually available in March. However, because of the problems in the restructuring of the SAEM (Mixed economy limited company), the survey, which begins in December, couldn't be conducted. Then, we will have to wait for the results obtained by an external consultant, Claude Labro Consulting, who was appointed last week by the SYMISA (Joint union of Sophia Antipolis) in order to conduct the yearly survey. This survey of 2000 should be available in June. For now, we can only estimate...