投7千億 總統：建設活絡南台 vs Lyon learns how to play second fiddle

里昂，法國的第二大都市，為了在首都巴黎獨大的法國爭取生存，採取的策略和國內其他縣市長卻大不相同：

1. 里昂認知巴黎獨大的情況無法避免，所以不和巴黎競爭相同的資源和建設，相反的；
2. 里昂瞭解大型公司與政治、中央政府有關的高階主管和部門無法離開在巴黎，所以遊說大型企業把與此無關的財務和人力資源部門搬到里昂來降低成本
3. 運用本地原有的產業優勢，吸引相關產業來設置高階研究機構；但文中也提到，所謂生物科技高階研究機構，無法改善當地就業狀況，因為這些研究機構只聘用少量高階人才

台灣的地方政府首長和中央政府的認知是什麼？台北有國際機場、有兩岸直航，所以台中、台南和高雄也要有；台北要蓋流行音樂中心，高雄也來蓋一個...

就算也是首都倫敦獨大的英國，也不是所有中央政府機關和大企業都設在倫敦市中心；許多中央政府事務機關都設置在倫敦周圍的衛星城市；大型企業很多只有高階主管在倫敦，主要的後勤部門，如財務、會計、人力資源、資料處理、客服等，都外包至或設置在英格蘭偏遠小城，甚至是威爾斯或蘇格蘭，也不見得就會影響公司運作

中央政府應該嘗試將部分不涉及政治運作的事務機關，並鼓勵大型企業將後勤部門，搬遷到中南部，這樣才能真的增加中南部的就業機會

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投7千億 總統：建設活絡南台

【中央社╱台南19日電】 2011.05.19 12:56 pm


總統馬英九今天祭出多項南台灣利多，除將投入南部建設達新台幣7447億元，活絡南部經濟，並宣布台南機場列為兩岸直航機場，增加中國大陸旅客到台南觀光。

馬總統就職將滿3週年，上午首度移師台南，在台南大學舉行中外記者會，宣布多項南台灣利多政策。

馬總統說，以南部為例，中央政府與地方政府應是伙伴關係。台灣不論南北都應齊頭並進，均衡發展。政府除將台南縣市、高雄縣市合併升格成直轄市，更重要的是「讓2個直轄市變成南部區域發展的火車頭，帶動地方經濟、文化的發展，這是幾十年做不到的事，我們做到了」。

馬總統表示，政府已投入和預備投入南部建設費用7447億元，如高雄海空經貿城，計畫投資2632億元，將高雄打造成為國際海空雙港門戶，及製造業、物流業與工業重鎮，預估可增加17萬個就業機會。

馬總統說，持續推動在嘉義興建故宮南院、嘉義市區鐵路高架化；高速鐵路在雲林設站；在屏東推動大鵬灣風景區建設、客家文化中心六堆文化園區等一系列交通與文化建設；也投入500多億元經費，治理曾文、南化烏山頭水庫及穩定南部地區供水計畫。

馬總統說，台南市是文化古城，風景優美，有孔廟、赤崁樓、安平古堡、億載金城與延平郡王祠等著名景點。聽說近來觀光客愈來愈多，「我們要把握機會，好好發展台南的文化觀光產業」。

由於兩岸正在協商增加航班，馬總統宣布，「從今年暑假開始，台南機場將列為兩岸直航的機場，先從包機做起，未來的航點仍需要與對岸進一步洽商」。馬總統希望台南地區旅遊業者與政府一起合作，做好準備，讓更多中國大陸觀光客直接到台南觀光。

馬總統說，政府預計投入經費2326億元，包括台南市鐵路地下化、台南創意文化園區等，這些建設須加快腳步。此外，台南市是重要農業區，3年前調高老年農民福利津貼到6000元，最近也提高稻穀收購價格，都是為維護農民權益，「我希望活絡南部經濟，帶動整個區域的蓬勃發展」。

【2011/05/19 中央社】



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Lyon learns how to play second fiddle

By Laurence Knight
Business reporter, BBC News

Being a provincial town in a country dominated by one massive urban metropolis is not much fun.

The capital gets an unfair share of the attention - and of the investment money - while you are at constant risk of withering in its shadow.

France is a case in point.

Paris and its satellite towns have over 11 million people, while the next biggest city of Lyon can muster only 1.7 million.

And while Lyon's Rhone-Alpes region boasts an income per person of about 30,000 euros ($44,000, £27,000) - the highest outside Paris - the capital's region of Ile-de-France is still streets ahead at 47,000 euros.

What is a second city to do?

Out in the cold

The answer, it seems, is not to compete at all - at least not head-on - says Jacques de Chilly, director of the Lyon regional development agency, Aderly.

Set up in 1974, Mr de Chilly says the agency's original strategy was to convince firms to relocate their headquarters from Paris.

The city offered an obvious cost advantage - both in terms of square metrage and payroll - as well as a great quality of life, with less commuting and some of the best restaurants in France.

But it wasn't enough.

"Companies wanted to stay close to the ministries, the media and the big financial institutions," explains Mr de Chilly.

This was something Lyon had no hope of offering, leaving it out in the cold.

The plan was not a total flop.

Aderly coaxed firms into transferring some head office functions to Lyon - but only the more administrative, less politically sensitive ones, like finance and human resources.

A change of strategy was clearly needed.

"In the last five to seven years, we decided to focus on sectors in which we have critical mass," says Mr de Chilly.

These, he says, are "life science" - also known as bio-technology - and "clean tech" such as recycling and renewable energies.

Together these industries account for about 50% of investment into the region.

'Under one roof'

The reasons these sectors do well is down to the quirks of Lyon's long industrial history.

The city is one of only four places in the world where the most dangerous diseases can be studied According to a potted narrative often trotted out by its current mayor, Gerard Collomb, the story began in the 16th Century, when Lyon became pre-eminent in the Europe's nascent silk industry.

Having manufactured the cloth, the textile merchants also needed to dye it.

From this simple beginning, over the next three centuries, the Rhone valley became the heartland for the French chemicals industry - of which "clean tech" is a more recent offshoot.

With the advent of modern medicine in the nineteenth century, the industry expanded into pharmaceuticals - best exemplified by the enormous conglomerate, Rhone Poulenc, which was set up in 1928.

Next, the work of Louis Pasteur in developing the vaccine opened the way into virology.

One of Pasteur's students founded an institute in Lyon that germinated the city's modern-day life sciences industry.

The institute itself has since been subsumed within Sanofi Pasteur, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer.

And the firm has thrived thanks to Lyon's specialisation in its industry, according to Sanofi Pasteur spokesman Alain Bernal.

For example, he says Lyon is one of only four cities in the world that hosts a P4 laboratory - the highest bio-hazard category - enabling research into the most dangerous diseases, such as ebola.

The town is also home to one of the world's top biotechnology schools, helping to bring together academics with researchers and industry people.

"You need a lot of complementary expertise under one roof," says Mr Bernal.

Lyon is dependent on the goodwill of the national government for the future ownership of its airport His firm funds a foundation at the university, offering students industry experience, while Sanofi Pasteur gets to cream off the best talent.

Lobbying Paris

Having found its niche, Lyon does not compete with Paris these days.

Rather, it competes with other biotech clusters worldwide such as Boston or Stockholm, and nearby European cities like Geneva and Milan, says Mr de Chilly.

Indeed, the city has learned to milk its relationship with Paris, by positioning itself as a French national champion.

Under the "Lyon Biopole" banner, the city's biotech cluster has attracted millions of euros in research funding from the French government.

The National Research Agency is due to announce a big strategic investment in the health industry in June, which Lyon's lobbyists hope will be their planned new research institute.

But the apparent success of the city's strategy belies some unsolved problems.

The town is still dependent on the goodwill of the national government in other ways, such as infrastructure - for example, the city's airport, which is set to be sold off by Paris.

High end jobs

Moreover, the town's chosen industrial sectors are not ones that lend themselves to mass job creation.

Greenfield investments typically created a small number of high skill jobs "The average new investment creates 20-40 jobs," says M. de Chilly. "But they are very intensive with respect to the strengths brought to the city."

All the same, the positions they create - research and development posts or high-end service jobs - are typically too specific and high-skilled for the bulk of local workers.

Unemployment is the region is 8.6% - admittedly below the national average - but high enough to be a policy concern.

Yet big semi-skilled job-creating investments - such as in manufacturing - are hard to come by, and not just in Lyon.

The last big job-creating investment by a foreign firm in France was by Toyota in 1998, says Mr de Chilly.

Since then, the car industry and other manufacturers seem more interested in lower-cost EU countries, such as Slovakia.

Mr de Chilly is hopeful this will change, and points to a logistics centre recently set up by the US pharmaceuticals group Baxter.

Labour costs are rising in Eastern Europe, he says, making France more attractive.

And with companies increasingly concerned about the environment - not to mention fuel costs - he claims they are keener to invest in production facilities close to the end consumer market.