Consular District
The Lyon consular district includes three regions in central-eastern France. Lyon is the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region, located in Southeast France. Home to 10 percent of France’s population, Rhône-Alpes represents the largest population and economy in France after the Parisian region. Rhône-Alpes’ exceptional geographic situation, bordering Italy and Switzerland and close to Germany, makes it an important economic European crossroads, granting the region a significant international role and adding to the dynamism of its market. The region benefits from a high level of synergy between education, research and industry. It ranks first in energy production and second in chemicals, mechanical construction and the electrical industry. Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology, and nanotechnology are also important sectors.
U.S. businesses are the largest foreign investors in the region, taking advantage of the large number of suppliers and intellectual capital of the region’s universities. About 500 companies with a majority U.S. capital are present in the region, with roughly half having over 50 employees. Lyon has the largest number of university students of any city in France outside of Paris. International institutions such as Interpol, some branches of the World Health Organization, such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and Euronews have their headquarters in Lyon. The Rhône-Alpes Region has a sister region/state relationship with Pennsylvania, which has a local representative based in the city, and many ties exist between Lyon and Philadelphia. A formal sister city relationship also exists with St. Louis.
Grenoble and Saint-Etienne are the largest cities in the Rhône-Alpes region outside of Lyon. Grenoble’s numerous research institutes, high-technology industrial base, and plentiful suppliers have attracted as much U.S. investment and American citizen expatriates as Lyon, even though it is half the size. Caterpillar, Becton Dickenson, Hewlett Packard, Tyco, Xerox, and Sun Microsystems are just a few of the firms present. Grenoble has a sister city relationship with Phoenix.
Auvergne has about 1.3 million inhabitants, with about a third in the capital of Clermont Ferrand. Merck has a manufacturing plant in the city, and Dunlap has an investment in the North of the region. Michelin has its headquarters in the city, and manages an international school to which many of its American employees send their children. Clermont Ferrand has a sister city relationship with Norman, Oklahoma. Burgundy, with a population of 1.6 million, specializes in agricultural products, such as wine, Dijon mustard, and a variety of cheeses, which have been very successful in the U.S. market. Dijon, which has a sister city relationship with Dallas, is the region’s capital.