Choose France 2024 Summit: 8 projects announced for Eastern France

The Choose France Summit that took place on Monday, May 15, 2024 marked a remarkable year 2023 in terms of foreign investment in Eastern France in the areas of decarbonisation and digitalisation.

It was also an opportunity for 8 international companies to unveil their development plans in Eastern France. Thank you to these companies for their confidence in their promising projects!

EnBW (Germany)

European energy producer and supplier pursuing its objective of carbon neutrality, will invest €230 million by the end of 2026, through its subsidiary Valeco, for the construction of renewable energy plants, notably in Barre (Tarn) and Sémide (Ardennes).

ESSITY (Sweden)

Leading group in the fields of hygiene and health, invests more than €110 million in France, in particular in new industrial equipment (Nouvelle Aquitaine, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandy, Pays de la Loire), decarbonisation projects (Alsace and Normandy) and a new global R & D centre dedicated to paper hygiene products for €30 million (investment over 4 years – Alsace).

HAGER (Germany)

The Group anticipates ongoing investments of €120 million at its four sites in Alsace. More than half of these investments are related to capacity increases in production lines and the upgrading of machinery technology. The rest is divided between investment in R&D and efforts to decarbonise production sites. These investments will create 500 jobs..

MARS (United States)

The group announces an investment of €130 million in all its production sites in France, to increase its production capacity, modernize and digitize its plants, equip its veterinary clinics, continue its ecological transition and renovate its offices for the well-being of its employees. 60% will be dedicated to the nutrition and welfare of pets.

MC CAIN (Canada)

The Canadian frozen fries giant is investing €1 billion in decarbonisation in Europe, of which €350 million will go to the French market. Their investments will focus on the Harnes (62), Béthune (62) and Matougues (51) sites to modernize production capacity and decarbonize the sites. These projects, which will run for 3 years, will have a positive impact on local employment.

MICROSOFT (United States)

The group announces an investment of €4 billion, the largest to date in the country, to support France’s growth in the new artificial intelligence economy. Microsoft announces the expansion of its cloud and AI infrastructure in France with the expansion of its sites in Paris and Marseille, which will equip the country with a capacity of up to 25,000 state-of-the-art GPUs by the end of 2025, and the opening of a new site to host next-generation data centers in the agglomeration of Mulhouse. Microsoft is also launching a major plan to train one million French people in artificial intelligence, as well as supporting 2,500 French startups across France in their adoption of AI by the end of 2027.

NOVARTIS (Switzerland)

The group announces its intention to invest around €30 million in France with the creation of a production unit to supply the French market with the first internal vectorized radiotherapy (IVR) drug for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. This investment, combined with a willingness to partner with the Institut Laue-Langevin de Grenoble, an international research organization, would make it possible to ensure virtually the entire production chain of this drug in the national territory when the treatment becomes available. These steps reinforce the Group’s very ambitious R&D programme on national territory (20 clinical trials underway in France using IVR in 13 types of cancer) and its mobilization with ecosystem stakeholders to strengthen the structure of the healthcare chain in order to allow access to IVR for all eligible patients in the coming years.

RIVA (Italy)

Leading steel recycler in France, the group is investing €30 million in decarbonisation at its Neuves-Maisons and Gargenville (ALPA) sites by installing induction heating modules in its rolling mills. This electrification will reduce emissions from the combustion of natural gas. The Group also plans to recruit 100 new recruits throughout the Territory this year.

These results are also the result of a collective and complementary work of the Région Grand Est and its Invest Eastern France team of Grand E-Nov+, the Agency for Innovation and International Prospecting of the Grand Est and all the economic development agencies of the territory.