An attractiveness agency created by Lille, France, Hello Lille is leveraging its expertise in healthcare, tourism, and most importantly, in cybersecurity to develop centres of excellence in the UAE.
Since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global reliance on digitisation has superseded to new levels with cybersecurity taking the lead in this newly transformed digitised ecosystem.
According to Damien Castelain, president of Lille Metropolis, cybersecurity is both a necessity and an obligation for businesses moving forward. And with the surge of startups and SMEs in the UAE and particularly in Saudi Arabia, cybersecurity is key in business development plans of both digital survey startups and new entrepreneurs.
He explains: “There is an increase in the number of cyber attacks and cyber crimes, with both small and medium-sized businesses at risk for potential attack on their valuable data.”
Cybersecurity at the core of centre of excellence
Anchoring their cybersecurity expertise, Castelain explains that Lille is looking to the UAE to create centres of excellence. “This will include major researchers, funders, teachers, trainers, and all the major French groups fighting cybercrime, such as Orange and OVH, to name a few,” he says, which will, in turn, create a robust ecosystem between training, students, professionals, and investors in one place.
“This is one of the most important points of this development plan; we will train all companies and teach them the right reflexes,” Castelain says, which will maximise data protection and subsequently, provide companies, teachers, and researchers with training and development as the objective of this development plan.
Hello Lille aims to create Eura Cybersecurity
Having already established several centres of excellence in Lille, including Eura Technology and Eura Food, Hello Lille is also developing another centre of excellence; Eura Cybersecurity.
“Cybersecurity is not only a global issue, but the security and defence of all our companies is linked to research, training and, the promotion of all work in cybersecurity,” Castelain says, revealing the fight against cybercrime is now a prerogative of the French government. “With an expansive cybersecurity exhibition in Lille; we also have all the researchers of the Gendarmerie Nationale in Lille.”
The UAE – Lille’ agritech and food security partnership
Moreover, Lille boasts a dedicated research and excellence centre for
food technology.
“The most rural metropolis in France with a population of 1.2 million, Lille conducts extensive research in agriculture, focusing on new forms of food,” he explains, for example, locusts and worms and other research systems.
Lille is also working towards creating urban farms, a model which can be mirrored in the UAE. “In a metropolitan area like ours, we can find places for horticulture and local agriculture to create a short cycle with the inhabitants.”
Also, Lille is currently working towards developing fish farms, another project which can be implemented to enable the UAE’s target goal of net zero carbons by 2050.
An ongoing conversation about managing the pandemic
Healthcare is another area of expertise that Lille can leverage in the UAE, specifically with the management of Covid-19.
“In Lille, the renowned Institut Pasteur continues to develop other technologies against Covid, working with medical alternatives to repeated vaccinations,” he explains.
“With 110,000 students in the metropolis of Lille, we already have important health research units with EuraSanté as the centre of excellence.”
Castelain firmly believes this research data can be merged and shared with other world powers to work collectively in the fight against Covid-19.
Shared expertise in diabetes research extends to the UAE
With the recent introduction of a four-and-a-half day working week in Dubai, wellbeing takes precedence in the UAE’s strategy moving forward. Again, Lille’s expertise in the healthcare sector is already thriving with well-established researchers working in the field of diabetes.
“In Lille, we have invested several million Euros in research to become a worldwide diabetes centre; with this expertise, we want to expand, spread, and demonstrate our abilities to help countries like the UAE, which is heavily affected by diabetes,” he explains, just part of future collaborative efforts of Lille and the UAE moving forward.
An ambition to develop all economic activities and promote the metropolis of Lille
Geographically, Lille is just 30 minutes from London, Brussels, and from Paris. “One of the main strategies is to develop all economic activities and promote the metropolis of Lille,” Castelain says, as well to promote tourism and major events.
“We have hosted three Davis Cup finals, a basketball World Cup,
a European Handball Championship, a Rugby World Cup and soon the Olympic Games.”
The metropolis of Lille also boasts a stadium unlike any other in the world with a roof and a retractable lawn that can be converted to a ‘show box’, and notwithstanding, the cultural assets, the museums, and scenic beauty are all integral to the metropolis of Lille.
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