Why is this an innovative initiative on a national level?

Identifying and charting the large companies

The preliminary step was to select companies and segment them

The main selection criteria used were:

	the size of the business tax bases,
	the staff number,
	the importance of the company R&D potential,
	the dynamism of the company,
	its change and development prospects
	the activity sector.

According to these criteria (that may change over time), 10 large companies were initially identified, though this is not necessarily an exhaustive list: Renault Trucks, Total, Rhodia, Aventis, Koyo, Merck, BioMérieux, Adecco, Lyonnaise de Banque, and EDF.

A combination of ambitious objectives and strong will

By implementing this ambitious policy (since 2002), Greater Lyon shows its resolute will to encourage already installed large firms to stay in the area, and to attract new ones. With the support of ADERLY and the CCIL, this policy should give Lyon competitive advantages over other regions.

To achieve this, the urban community set itself 3 goals:

	raise awareness of public decision-makers of these companies' evolution,
	establish and reinforce partnership-based relationships in order to provide appropriate solutions to these companies' needs.