Nuits Sonores 2011 – our highlights
A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to spend four days (and nights!) at Lyon’s indie and electronic music festival, Nuits Sonores. Now in its ninth year, the festival attracts thousands of visitors from all around Europe and is, of course, incredibly popular with the Lyonnaise too. Thanks to the full support of the people of Lyon (including Gérard Collomb, the mayor), festivities take place across the whole city – in trendy bars and clubs, at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Arts, the 17th-century city hall, the Piscine du Rhone – the list is endless!
With international acts such as DJ Shadow and Caribou on the line-up, choosing our favourite festival moments hasn’t been an easy job. However, after much deliberation, we’ve managed to narrow them down to our top 5 – scroll down to see them. Do you agree?
Next year will see Nuits Sonores celebrating its 10th birthday, and we’re sure that they’ll be doing it in style. If you could choose any indie or electronic music artist to play, who would it be? Are there any venues in Lyon that you’d like to see it take place at? Why not let us know by commenting on this post.
Our top 5 highlights
1) The animal agility competition!
2) DJ sets at the Piscine Du Rhone
3) Partying at Apéro Sonore Sonnenstrasse
4) Bathing in the visual spectacle of DJ Shadow’s set at Scène 1 – Marché Gare
5) Watching the Sonics thrash out some of their classics on the guitar
ALL IMAGES ©www.b-rob.com
How is Lyon perceived abroad ?
Quality of life, culture and heritage, gastronomy, a dynamic economy…how is Lyon perceived abroad? Let’s take a look at Lyon’s reputation in the foreign press and the see how the city is perceived outside of metropolitan France.
Several of Lyon’s events attract a number of tourists every year. The Festival of Lights is, of course, one of the events that offers Lyon an international platform and is often the subject of articles in the foreign press. This year, the Dailymail and the Telegraph devoted an article and a video to this “extraordinary festival of lights”.
International tourists discovering Lyon are often very attracted to its gastronomic cuisine. The city is crowned the Capital of Gastronomy. Moreover, British newspaper The Dailymail published a significant article devoted to gastronomic cuisine in Lyon, namely its traditional Lyon cuisine and ‘Bouchons’, but also contemporary cuisine that, according to the British paper, has nothing on Paris, London or New York. Let us also note that the association ‘Les toques blanches lyonnaises’ includes a hundred or so chefs from Lyon and the Rhône Alpes region and makes it its duty to promote both Lyon and France’s culinary reputation abroad.
Business men and women love Lyon too. Last month, the Wall Street Journal devoted an article to this subject and highlighted all of the best places to stay, dine and be entertained after work hours for business tourists in Lyon. As the second most economically influential city after Paris, Lyon is also a great destination from which to travel to other European destinations. Ideally located 2hrs from Paris, Lyon is perceived as a dynamic city that is less stressful than the capital city and more accessible when it comes to organising business meetings, cultural tours or even shopping trips!
Our foreign friends naturally remember all of the key tourist attractions (Fourvière, Parc de la Tête d’Or, Vieux Lyon…) but they also retain the atmosphere of the city, which has the reputation of being “romantic” and a great place to live.
Biovision Life Sciences Forum 2011 attracts Nobel Laureates, Health Ministers and industry experts
Thierry de Lumley, who directs life sciences efforts at the Lyon Area Economic Development Agency, offers his thoughts on the successful event:
Last month we were excited to welcome some of the world’s most innovative life sciences companies and leading scientists to Lyon, for the BioVision Life Sciences Forum at the Palais des Congrès convention center.
Almost 3,000 delegates from 60 countries joined us for some lively debate on the way in which life sciences influence society in areas such as health, nutrition and the environment. We host this event every year in Lyon, and each time I come away inspired by what I’ve seen and heard.
The calibre of the speakers is truly impressive – Nobel Laureates Ada Yonath and Jean-Marie Lehn, Chinese Health Minister Zhu Chen and leading scientist Dr Leroy Hood were just some of those who shared their vision for the future. The forum also drew over a hundred students from the Rhône-Alpes region, inspiring the next generation who gathered to listen, learn and join in the conversation. They blogged about the sessions in which experts debated a variety of topics such as access to medicines for developing countries, synthetic biology, brain functioning, solutions to “cure” ageing, and the precautionary principle.
Opening Plenary Z.Chen M.Kazatchkine – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Plus it’s great to see some of the trends we’ve watched develop over the past couple of years becoming a reality. For example, personalised medicine has now reached the point where diagnostics and drugs can be effectively tailored to the patient. At BioVision, we were able to reveal the creation of a Technology Research Institute (IRT) project for personalised treatment of infectious diseases, with a half billion Euro investment from the French government.
Opening Plenary H.Nowotny – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Of course Lyon has long established itself as a hub for life sciences. Hundreds of companies have based themselves here so they can draw on resources such as Lyonbiopôle, and we have a reputation as one of the best places in Europe for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. We’ll be building on our expertise with the launch of the European Institute for Systems Biology in Lyon, which will bring together biologists, pharmacists, physicians, engineers and mathematicians to tackle disease and other medical problems.
BVNxt Lounge – Biovision 2011/03/27 © Vincent Dargent
Our success stories include a young company called CTI-Lyon, a cell therapy research institute led by the dynamic Colin McGuckin, which has pioneered developments such as helping children who were deprived of oxygen at birth using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Developments like this are shaping the future, and we look forward to supporting many more innovative young companies here in Lyon.
70 international exhibitors, 5000 visitors and more than a hundred robots to the first InnoRobo Robotic Summit in Lyon
Last week we welcomed 70 international exhibitors, 5000 visitors and more than a hundred robots to the first InnoRobo Robotic Summit here in Lyon.
The event was an opportunity for designers to showcase the applications of their 21st Century creations, discuss the challenges facing the industry and the vast potential for robotic technologies to transform our lives. Designs on display ranged from robots that had saved lives by entering warzones to deactivate bombs, through to home assistance robots that vacuum without the need for human intervention! Other impressive robots were capable of swimming, climbing stairs and even playing football! For robot fanatics the event was certainly a key date in the calendar but the practical applications of these futuristic innovations should be enough to enthuse even the greatest of technophobes among us.
The event was a first for Europe, and ONLYLYON hopes that it will help to put Lyon on the map as a centre for research and development within this exciting field, which has a global market estimated to be worth $85 billion by 2018. With over 80 partners worldwide, ROBOTIS CO. made a notable impact at the event, exhibit lots of products needed to design and create robots from primary schools level through to highly sophisticated precision robots, suitable for advanced research labs.
Were you lucky enough to come along to the event? Let us know what you thought by commenting on the post below.
Bruno Bonnell, who has been one of the pioneers within the industry, commented:
“Lyon is a natural hub for robotics because for 70 miles around Lyon we have a concentration of all the expertise needed – computing, design, materials, research and engineering and so on. There is great potential in the Lyon region to lead the sector. InnoRobo is taking place to give robotics a voice, Europe needs more clusters and this is the way of beginning a first step towards developing a strong cluster here”.
Some of the many stands at the event exhibiting humanoid androids, educational robots for children, home assistance machines and precise, industrial robotic arms.
The robot that vacuums your carpet, leaving you free to put your feet up!c
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Meet DARwIn OP!
Designed by ROBOTIS along with several leading universities and partners; DARwIn OP is a miniature-humanoid-robot platform with advanced computational power, sophisticated sensors and dynamic motion ability.
11 DARwIn Ops will be made available to education institutes having been fabricated by ROBOTIS and developed via a collaboration.
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Could ‘Puppy’ the robot be man’s new best friend?
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Why Lyon? #1, Didier Bourgeot, CEO Akuter Technologies
Why did we choose Lyon to setup Akuter Technologies’ European offices?
“First of all, the way we have been welcomed and supported by the ADERLY team has been tremendous. We have compared Lyon against other opportunities and finally made our decision on a series of facts such as having the world at our fingertips because of the excellent high speed Internet coverage and to be at a mere couple of smooth hours from the very heart of Paris. So we can benefit from the outstanding environmental and cultural richness of the region and enjoy a quality of life reconciling personal and professional efficiency. Lyon’s very dynamic and resourceful local market provides us with new customers and software engineering talents.”
=> Do you agree with these arguments? Do you want to add your own “Lyon story” to this blog? Please contact us or answer in the comments’ section!