As announced at our elective General Meeting on 20 November last year, which was unfortunately held digitally, I will be retiring on 1 February 2021.
I joined TVT on 1 June 2005 as Project Director for the Sea, Safety and Security Competitiveness Cluster, just before it was designated by the French government as a world-class cluster on 12 July 2005.
On the strength of my experience as the head of an SME at Cybernetix and my training in research, I was won over by this Competitiveness Cluster project, which aimed to bring together businesses and public research through innovative collaborative projects, all in response to the strategic priorities and orientations of the State and local authorities. This virtuous circle will lead, when the projects reach completion, to the marketing of new products and services that will create jobs and wealth for the region.
This exciting work, which began with a few TVT employees - Christophe, Eve and Julie - and the unfailing support of Naval Group (at the time DCNS, with Robert Gandolfo and Patricia Ugena as seconded staff) under the chairmanship of Bernard Planchais and then Bernard Sans, has helped to highlight the importance of the maritime economy in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and since 2013 also in Languedoc Roussillon, now the greater Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée region.
To do a long story short, having successfully completed the first three phases of the P2C policy, punctuated by national evaluations, the Pôle Mer Méditerranée is now halfway through phase 4 of the P2C programme, and is playing a major role in maritime and coastal innovation, and in helping businesses to grow along the entire French Mediterranean coastline.
With more than 430 members, a highly skilled engineering and coordination team and nearly 500 innovation projects worth more than €1.2 billion, the cluster is now well equipped to pursue its efforts to develop the blue economy.
There is no doubt that the newly elected board of directors, with its chairman Laurent Moser and my successor Frédéric Poignant, will continue and build on the work accomplished over the last 15 years.
I therefore wish the Pôle Mer Méditerranée a long life for its current and future members, and I would like to thank all the partners who have supported us over the years, in particular the various ministries, decentralised government departments, elected representatives from local authorities and all their departments, who I am sure will continue to do so.
I'm sorry we weren't able to meet you face-to-face to share a friendly drink, given the current health situation.
See you soon
Best regards
Patrick Baraona