Google Announces France Investment

Google CEO Eric Schmidt a series of new investment projects in France, at a conference in Paris on September 10 2010.

 

The first project will be a research and development centre in Paris. "This centre will develop products for use worldwide and will increase Google’s research and development efforts in France, employing many skilled engineers and French university graduates each year" pledged Schmidt. The new centre is likely to employ “a few dozen” engineers once opened, possibly up to 50.

 

Google is also going to set up a European cultural institute in Paris, dedicated to digital culture, in an investment expected to run into "millions of dollars".

 

As part of this project, Google will increase its funding of French universities and scientific research, provide training for French contractors and developers in the new technologies sector and implement a programme to help SMEs "grow off the back of new technologies".

 

Eric Schmidt believes that French IT has transformed since the days of Minitel. "Today, France offers some of the quickest internet connections in the world. We shouldn’t be surprised that France has made so much progress: the French love information and they love culture."