Partners
- Picardie Regional Council
- Free State of Thuringia
- Picardie - Thuringia Partnership
- CoDEM Picardie
- Architektur und Design mit ökologischen und nachwachsenden Materialien
- ESAD Amiens
Picardie Regional Council
The Picardy Regional Council is the administrative authority for the Picardy region of northern France.
The region covers a surface area of 19,311 km² (7,456 sq. miles) and has a population of 1,900,000, 30% of whom are under 25 years old. Its GDP in 2007 was 44.7 million euros.
The term "natio picardorum" first appeared in the XIIIth century at the University of Paris, where students were grouped into four nations; the Picard nation extended from the Beauvaisis region to the southern part of the Netherlands. Students from Picardy, curious and adventurous, studied at all the universities in Europe.
Its lack of physical barriers makes Picardy a melting pot of influences that has given rise to a culture based on contact and interaction that can be traced back to the Neolithic period. Amiens and the surrounding towns became hubs of military and commercial activity during both the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages: Picardy’s wealth was built on the skills of its people and on international trade.
One of the defining features of the Picard character is its tenacity and perseverance during good times and bad: Julius Caesar used to set up his winter quarters near Samarobriva (modern-day Amiens) and made particular mention of how the people of the region were courageous and rebellious to authority by nature.
Another cornerstone of the Picardy region is its innovative character: ever since the Middle Ages, the various trades and professions here have continued to break new ground. From cathedrals to reclaimed agricultural resources and the organic battery, via Jean-Baptiste Godin’s Familistère, or workers’ houses, the people of Picardy are inventive and innovative: an attribute that has forged their identity!
Picardy sits at the crossroads of Europe’s major communication routes and less than 1½ hours from Paris, at the heart of one the most vibrant business hotbeds in Europe. Export sales by the region’s businesses grew 33% between 1996 and 2001. The region is notable for its industrial heritage and its use of new technologies.
The major driving forces behind Picardy’s economic expansion from the late 18th century were the textile and mechanical industries. Today, it is the mechanical engineering, plastics technology and food processing businesses that provide the bedrock of the region’s economic growth. It is these companies from Picardy that are endeavouring to incorporate sustainable and eco-friendly materials and production methods into new products that are being developed.
Picardy boasts a diverse natural heritage and a temperate ocean climate, which bless it with conditions that are favourable to high crop yields. With 70% of Picardy’s land area used as farmland, the region’s producers are France’s leading growers of sugar beet and peas, and its second-largest growers of potatoes, wheat and chicory, and significant contributors to France’s positive external trade balance in foodstuffs.
Crafts play a major role in the Picardy economy, employing one tenth of the region’s workers. The arts and the skills of Picardy’s craftsmen have also played a large part in the region’s contribution to European trade over the centuries. In modern times, the craft industry is mainly concentrated in building, metallurgy and textiles.
The service sector has enjoyed a boom and as such has developed into a force for job creation in Picardy. This is mainly due to businesses from the logistics industry setting up here, drawn by its advantageous geographical location and its infrastructure, and to the customer relation centres that have opened here.
Free State of Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a federal state located in central Germany.
It covers a surface area of 16,172.10 km² (6,244 sq. miles) and has a population of 2,278,136 inhabitants. Its GDP in 2006 was 45.9 million euros.
Its extensive stretches of woodland have earned Thuringia the nickname of "the green heart of Germany". Its rich and varied landscapes, nature parks such as the Thuringian Forest and nearly 10,000 miles of hiking trails all offer ample inspiration and motivation for exploring this natural setting.
The old pilgrimage roads of the St. James’ Way on the ancient "Via Regia" European trade route have also been restored and are once again indicated by the traditional scallop shell.
Thuringia is a region rich in diversity. Catholic Eichsfeld in the north-west, the influences of Franconia at the southern end of the Thuringian Forest, and the “Tuscany of the east” to the north of Weimar are just three examples of the extensive regional differences to be found within the state of Thuringia. Until 1919, Thuringia consisted of seven principalities and one Prussian-administered district. This patchwork forged the state’s unique cultural mix.
Intellectual works from Thuringia form a vital part of European culture. What would the Christian West be without Meister Eckhart or Martin Luther? Where would European literature be without Goethe or Schiller, Herder or Wieland? The works of musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schütz, Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss have left their mark around the globe. Thuringia’s intellectual works have found their place in the world: the first complete child-minding system was devised by Friedrich Fröbel, the principle behind insurance was invented by Arnoldi, and that’s before we add the designs left to us by the artists and architects at the Bauhaus in Weimar.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Thuringia rose again as an innovative economic powerhouse in the centre of Europe. It has been the strongest growing economy of all the German Lãnder since 1991, with the lowest rate of unemployment of all the new Lãnder, and in terms of inhabitants has a proportionally higher than average number of people employed in industry and business. Microscopes, planetariums, integrated circuits, cars, medical equipment and photovoltaic systems are all manufactured in the Free State of Thuringia. The productive cooperation between Ernst Abbe, Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss in Jena is another example of how science and economy combine to such prolific effect in Thuringia.
Picardie - Thuringia Partnership
On the 23rd March 1994 the chairman of the Picardy Regional Council and the Minister-President of Thuringia signed a joint declaration heralding the partnership between these two European regions in the fields of economics, agriculture, tourism, environment, research, education, professional training and higher education.
In March 2007, the partnership was strengthened in the fields of research, universities, economics and renewable energies.
The regions have been sharing their experiences for 15 years, and are still generating an increasing number of joint projects.
Joint projects: "Weimar, European Capital of Culture", "Franco-German Year in Thuringia".
Large numbers of exchange programmes between the regions’ schools, universities, trainees on professional placements, researchers and scientists, figures from the world of culture and several town-twinning agreements.
Close contacts between both regions’ representatives in Brussels.
A number of universities from both regions are active in the same European networks.
Researchers from Picardy and Thuringia are currently involved in several joint research projects. There are in fact a number of potential collaborative research opportunities in the fields of biology, photovoltaic technology, eco- and agro-materials, optics, fibre optics, hi-tech microsystems and nanosystems, bioprocessing, geomechanics, logistics systems, analytical techniques, design and architecture.
It is probably because the economic and scientific cooperation between the regions has a bearing on their very development and their future that it best demonstrates their joint ambition to play an extensive role within Europe.
From their position, they believe they can be project facilitators and intermediaries, contributing to economic and social development in Europe.
CoDEM Picardie = Sustainable Building and Eco-Materials in Picardy
"CoDEM" is an association and a transfer centre focusing on eco-materials and sustainable construction.
Its aim is to help companies in the construction industry to adopt innovative solutions created by public and private laboratories in the Picardy region in order to produce buildings that are "greener" in the materials used as well as in their performance and their integration into suitable construction systems.
Its activities are structured around 3 main activities or tasks:
- Ensure that technology is transferred from Picardy’s private and public laboratories to industry. CoDEM has invested in, among others, material and process characterisation tools to help companies with technological developments.
- Galvanize the network of eco-builders and innovative companies in this field: stimulate demand, especially among commissioners of building projects, and promote the region’s capabilities. It also runs the regional chapter of the French QECB (environmental quality in buildings) in association with ADEME and the Picardy Regional Council.
- Experiment and test these innovations at pilot sites and share the experiences with the construction industry (architects, engineering and inspection offices, economists, civil engineering companies, manufacturers of materials, products and systems, etc).
CoDEM employs a person to coordinate the running of the competition in France and Europe and to provide information on eco- and agro-materials.
The main sponsors of CoDEM are the Picardy Regional Council, ADEME and the European Union (ERDF)
ESAD Amiens
Ecole Supérieure d’Art et de Design d’Amiens
Higher education institute for graphical and visual communication.
“Conceive the world, bring meaning to images”
A designer who creates an image takes on a responsibility. ESAD graduates are the future movers and shakers in the field of communication, operating in a world of complex social, cultural and political issues and myriad references.
ESAD is primarily focused on image production, and looks at the place held by the image, its status, its medium (printed, digital, etc) and its visibility.
Its cultural, communicative and marketable qualities are relentlessly examined.
www.esad-amiens.fr
„Architektur und Design mit ökologischen und nachwachsenden Materialien“
"Architektur und Design mit ökologischen und nachwachsenden Materialien" is an offshoot of the Bauhaus school in Weimar. Its task is to coordinate the competition in Germany and provide information on eco- and agro-materials.