France's prime minister François Fillon has pledged extra support for the country's aerospace small- and medium-sized enterprises at the official signing of a memorandum of understanding designed to foster closer co-operation between France's three aerospace-related "clusters".
Speaking in Marignane, home to Eurocopter, Fillon described aerospace as a sector for which "the battle of the grey matter" is "obviously a decisive factor".
Underlining the importance of composite development, particularly for Airbus's A350 XWB programme, Fillon promised that SMEs operating in the composite field would benefit from around €100 million ($142 million) over the next five years from public tax credits.
The government will also devote €50 million to initiatives giving nearly 200 SMEs individually targeted diagnostic tools to help them adapt to the ramp up of the sector. It also plans to give SMEs with over 250 employees access to loans and set up a capital development fund devoted to aerospace SMEs to support their growth and to encourage them to position themselves as key industry partners. Financial investors and the industry's big players will provide nearly €100 million of funding for this stage initially, Fillon said.
Source: Flight International
