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The French Competitiveness and Business Clusters Organisation(AFPC), created on December 16th 2013, unites fifty-five out of the sixty-nine French business clusters. It represents 9 000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), 3 000 universities and laboratories, and more than 1 000 large and intermediate-sized companies.

The AFPC is a member of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP).

History
The AFPC was created on December 16th 2013, with the support of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations and of the Direction générale des entreprises of the French ministry of the Economy.

In ten years of existence, the members of the AFPC lead around 1 600 collaborative projects, for a total investment of 6.8 billion euros in Research and Development.

Since May 2015, the AFPC leads the coordination platform for the French government's "Industrie du Futur" project.

Missions
The missions attributed to the AFPC are the following:

'''Mission 1 - Represent its members in their relations with the French Government and regions '''

The aim of the AFPC is to transmit the clusters' results to the Government and regions, regarding product innovation, job creation and the setting up of new companies.

Mission 2 - Represent its members in their relations with the European public authorities

This mission encourages the interaction with the European Commission, the collaborations between business clusters and the European Union's organisations and to coordinate the participation of its members to EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 or COSME.

Since late 2015, the AFPC possesses a European representation in Brussels, used as a bridge with the European institutions.

Mission 3 - Promote the Small and Medium Enterprises of the AFPC's members

The AFPC aims at facilitating the access to private funding and international markets for its members' SMEs.

Governance
The AFPC does not possesses any physical office, and relies on the activities of its members which are organised in Committees and Working Groups.

Management
The governance of the association is assured by:
 * Chair: Jean-Luc Beylat (Chair of Systematic Paris-Region)
 * Treasurer: Agnès Paillard (Chair of Aerospace Valley)
 * Secretary: Philippe Magarshack (Chair of Minalogic)
 * General deputee: Karine Jacq


 * An Executive Board, composed of 17 members
 * A Board of Directors, composed of 32 members (30 clusters, the French Government via the Direction générale des entreprises and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations)
 * 3 permanent Committees, each one composed of around 30 clusters.

Executive Board
The Executive Board meets once a month via audioconference. Its aim is to set the objectives and the global orientations of the Association. It is composed of 17 elected clusters, represented by their Chair.

Board of Directors
The AFPC possesses a Board of Directors, composed by 30 elected clusters.

Committees
The AFPC possesses three permanent Committees, each one responsible for a mission of the association.

The France Committee, in charge of Mission 1
It is composed of 32 business clusters, and is chaired by Katia Mirochnitchenko (Optitec) and vice-chaired by Marc Charlet (Mov'eo). This Committee is a place of discussion regarding the concretisation of the clusters' projects, as well as regarding the articulation of the business clusters' actions with the initiatives coming from the French Government. In particular, the Committee contributed to the implementation of the cluster coordination platform linked to the project "Industrie du Futur", lead by the French Government.

The SME Committee, in charge of Mission 2
This Committee is composed of 43 business clusters, and is chaired by Jean-Noël de Galzain (Systematic Paris-Region). This Committee is also a place of exchange regarding SME support. Following the works of the SME Committee, the AFPC organised, in January 2016, the second "Rencontres nationales des entreprises" with the label "Entreprise Innovante des Pôles".

The Europe Committee, in charge of Mission 3
This Committee was created to articulate the European fundings for its members, to work on the image of the clusters and to represent them in their relations with the European institutions. The Committee is composed of 31 business clusters, and is chaired by Laurent Boust (Solutions Communicantes Sécurisées - SCS) since January 2016.

This Committe organises meetings between AFPC representatives and European personalitites such as the European Commissionner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska. The Europe Committee also represents the AFPC during European events, such as the Cluster Excellence Day 2015 or the European Cluster Days. In particular, the AFPC is represented by this Committee within the "Cluster Partnership" group for the preparation of a European initiative regarding the Smart Specialisation Strategy and European clusters.

Members
The AFPC is composed of 55 out of the 69 French clusters.