據市調公司 IDC 估計，物聯網商機在 2014 年可望達到 6,560 億美元規模，至 2020 年可望達到 1.7 兆美元規模，不僅商機龐大，物聯網產品需根基於生活體驗，讓歐美國家有機會扭轉製造設計不斷外流到工資便宜國家的趨勢，而法國總統歐蘭德也決定法國要善用物聯網商機來創造自己的矽谷，於 2015 年 6 月 12 日在昂熱市揭幕「物聯市」（ Cité de l’Objet Connecté）物聯網研發中心。
顧名思義，物聯市研發中心將專注於創新、商用化以及打造物聯網產業的各項裝置，昂熱市市長克里斯多福‧貝修（ Christophe Béchu）對此表示樂觀其成，並認為過去製造業流失到亞洲低工資國家，可說是塞翁失馬焉知非福，因為過去舊工業時代的製造業流失，騰出空間與資源，如今昂熱市剛好可以發展特製化而非規模量產的產品，能發展基於地方企業與商業網路的商機。
貝修市長認為只要有物聯市研發中心這樣的機會與工具，昂熱將能應對亞洲低工資國家的挑戰，研發中心的目標是培養新的商業模式靈感，去蕪存菁，讓好的商業計畫能發揚光大。初期研發中心將有 40 名人員，協助付費進駐的新創事業與大企業，以研發中心的製造設備打造原型產品，若計畫順利，將有 170 家企業進駐，帶來 400 ~ 500 個工作機會。
法國認為自己不如美國擁有大規模的金融投資者與風險創投，因此政府必須介入擔任創投的角色，物聯市計畫希望能復興昂熱市的電子產品設計，以及為鄰近區域帶來製造業機會，法國政府在初期會投資及貸款給研發中心，不過隨著產業發展，政府將漸漸回收投資與收回貸款，最終物聯市研發中心將成為獨立經營的民間企業。
法國企業面臨的困境與全球其他國家都相同，在製造環節，往往得依賴中國生產鏈，但製造外包的結果，造成設計部門與製造流程之間的隔閡，也失去了改革生產流程、進一步科技整合，以及讓設計者與製造部門更密切合作的可能性，難以產業升級，因此各國都積極引導製造業回流，法國政府希望靠物聯市這樣的研發中心拉回部分製造。
台灣產業界面臨的許多問題，其實與前述法國產業難題大同小異，或許可看看物聯市成效如何，能否依樣畫葫蘆一番。
California's Silicon Valley enjoys a reputation as the world's center for tech innovation. For manufacturing, it's Shenzhen, China. But if some private investors and the French government get their way, a quiet city in western France will claim some influence in both those domains.
On Friday, France's president, François Hollande, will inaugurate a new center in Angers called the Cité de l'Objet Connecté devoted to creating, commercializing and building devices for the up-and-coming industry called the Internet of Things.
"Some people think if you have a good idea in the morning, you have a connected device company in the afternoon. We know life is a little more difficult than that," said Eric Carreel, a French entrepreneur who helped initiate the project and invested in it, and who helps oversee it as honorary president.
The effort reflects a shift in thinking about manufacturing. For decades, western countries have seen manufacturing work move to Asia, followed by engineering, design and research, too. For example, the US lost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs to China between 2001 and 2013, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Now there's an effort to reverse that trend so that jobs, expertise and economic influence don't head overseas.
A promising opportunity for that redirection lies in the Internet of Things, a catchall term that encompasses technologies for connecting smartwatches, gas meters, baby monitors and countless other disparate devices to the Internet. It's a big and growing market, with projected global spending on the Internet of Things growing 17 percent per year from $656 billion in 2014 to $1.7 trillion in 2020, according to analyst firm International Data Corporation.
New jobs in Angers
With that growth, it makes sense that Angers is focusing on the connected devices to replenish its manufacturing industry. Mayor Christophe Béchu looks on the bright side, arguing that the manufacturing shift to Asia opened the door for a new approach.
Angers Mayor Christophe Béchu(c) Thierry Bonnet, Ville d'Angers
"The departure of some enterprises in the 1990s finally allowed the development of a renewed digital sector," one that's more focused on specialized products rather than mass production, and one that's based on local expertise and business networks, Béchu said.
"We are perfectly able to take up the challenge laid down by Asia, if we have the chance and means," Béchu said. "The Cité de l'Objet Connecté appears to be this chance and means."
The center is designed to cultivate new business ideas, weed out the duds, and help the good ones to flourish. An initial staff of about 40 people will help startups and established companies who pay to use the center, for example, by building prototypes using its fabrication facilities.
If successful over the next three years, it'll have 170 companies using it annually and will have created 400 or 500 new jobs, Carreel said. Over that period of time, governmental subsidies and loans that initially provide half the center's budget will wind down to zero, and the Cité de l'Objet Connecté will have to stand on its own as a private business.
Help from government funding
"In France we do not have the same type of big investors and venture capitalists that you have in the US," Carreel said. "We have to say today the government is playing part of this role of the VC."
A few hundred employees is far cry from being the next Silicon Valley or Shenzen, but success could help the region's electronics design and manufacturing business. The plan for the center is to house some manufacturing operations on site and to hand some off to nearby factories.
The Cité de l'Objet Connecté in Angers, France.(c) Thierry Bonnet, Ville d'Angers
The Angers area already is home to Éolane, a 3,500-employee company that helps others design and build electronics products, and one that's another investor in the connected devices center. Smaller electronics design and manufacturing competitors in the area include Asteel, All Circuits and Lacroix, and the Loire Valley where Angers is located has 26,000 jobs in digital technology, Béchu said.
Carreel himself has experience in the market. Among the companies he's founded are Withings, which sells networked smartwatches, bathroom scales, fitness trackers, security cameras and blood-pressure monitors; Invoxia, which aims to help office phones become a useful accessory to employees' smartphones; and Sculpteo, which customers can pay for 3D printing jobs.
Carreel had contacts from his years in the industry that let him tap into the Chinese manufacturing industry. But for those without those contacts, manufacturing is difficult. And keeping manufacturing local speeds up design work, too, since designers and engineers can work closely with those who'll actually build a product, he said.
"Sometimes it's very difficult to push new [technology] integration. When Withings wanted to integrate a carbon dioxide sensor into our scale, it was a huge job to do it in China," Carreel said. "We would have loved to have been able to do it close to us. The way you go to market must be very quick."
Source:科技新報
Source:http://www.cnet.com/news/france-tries-rejuvenating-high-tech-manufacturing-with-internet-of-things-center/
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