France-Atlanta 2012 is co-presented by the Consulate General of France in Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology:
a) Co-presenters: 
The Consulate General of France in Atlanta:
Established in 1989, the Consulate General of France in Atlanta is the French diplomatic outpost to the South-eastern United States, serving the six states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The role of the consulate is to serve the interests of France and the French people as well as to build bridges with the region where it is located. If cooperation between France and the Southeastern United States already exist, Pascal Le Deunff, Consul General wants to further develop them. For more information : www.consulfrance-atlanta.org.
Georgia Institute of Technology:
Founded in 1885, the Georgia Institute of Technology is a public, coeducational research university in Atlanta, Georgia. It has satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia; Metz, France; Athlone, Ireland; Shanghai, China; and Singapore. Georgia Tech is organized into six colleges and contains about 31 departments/units, with a strong emphasis on science and technology. It is most recognized for its degree programs in engineering, computing, and the sciences, but also offers degrees in architecture, liberal arts, and management. For more information: www.gatech.edu.
Georgia Tech – Lorraine:
Georgia Tech-Lorraine (GTL) was established as Georgia Tech’s first international campus in 1990 in Metz, France. A highly innovative institution offering year-round undergraduate, Masters and PhD programs, GTL is also home to a strong sponsored research program in key technological areas. Students can gain valuable research experience and graduate education in the Unité Mixte Internationale (UMI), an international joint laboratory between Georgia Tech and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). In today’s global economy, Georgia Tech-Lorraine plays a determining role in fulfilling one of the goals of the Institute as stated in its strategic plan: "Georgia Tech must prepare our students for lifelong engagement within an international setting. A Georgia Tech education must import a greater awareness and appreciation of broader differences in language, culture, and custom". For more information: www.georgiatech-metz.fr.
b) French partners:
Centre National de la recherche scientifique:
National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is a government-funded research organization, under the administrative authority of France’s Ministry of Research whose mission is to produce and disseminate knowledge to the service of society. As the largest fundamental research organization in Europe, the CNRS carries out research in all fields of knowledge. Encouraging collaboration between specialists from different disciplines, in particular with the university, thus opening up new fields of enquiry to meet social and economic needs, it has developed interdisciplinary programs which bring together various CNRS departments as well as other research institutions and industry. For more information: www.cnrs.fr/-> http://www.cnrs.fr/.
The City of Toulouse:
Toulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne. It is one of the bases of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES’s Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe. In March 2008, Pierre Cohen was elected Mayor. For more information: http://www.toulouse.fr (in French only).
Etablissement Français du Sang:
French Blood Establishment (EFS) is the unique civil operator for transfusion in France. Blood transfusion, an EFS monopoly since 2000, includes blood donation, plasma donation and platelets donation. EFS is the guarantor of transfusion chain security, from donor to recipient. It contributes to the treatment of more than 1 million patients every year. With its 152 permanent collection sites and 40,000 mobile sites, EFS is present on the whole territory.
For more information: www.dondusang.net (in French only).
Grand Toulouse:
Grand Toulouse is the federation of 37 cities around Toulouse. As of 2012, there are more than 707,000 inhhabitants living in Grand Toulouse. This grouping of communes is growing annually. Today, it acts directly for its residents by developing everyday projets in economic development, housing or environment and bigger projects in transportation, town planning or public health (Oncopole).
For more information: www.grandtoulouse.org (in French only).
Habitat et Humanisme:
Habitat et Humanisme has been working for more than 25 years to provide housing and social integration for low-income households. It has for mission:
- to promote access to decent housing and low rent for individuals and low-income families;
- to contribute to social diversity in cities, focusing on housing situated in “balanced” neighborhoods in the center of metropolitan areas;
- to assist housed people socially integrate into their community.
For more information: www.habitat-humanisme.org
Inserm:
Founded in 1964, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) is a public scientific and technological institute which operates under the joint authority of the French Ministry of Health and French Ministry of Research. As the only French public research institute to focus entirely on human health, in 2008 Inserm took on the responsibility for the strategic, scientific and operational coordination of biomedical research. The Institute’s official mission includes Scientific monitoring and expertise. Inserm plays a leading role in creating the European Research Area and boosts its standing abroad through close partnerships (teams and partner laboratories abroad). For more information: www.inserm.fr/.
Institut Français:
The Institut Français works closely with the French cultural network abroad, consisting of over 150 French Institutes and almost 1000 French Alliances in the world. It was created by the French government as an agency to promote cultural activities outside of France in terms of artistic exchanges - performing arts, visual arts, architecture - broadcast worldwide book, film, French language, knowledge and ideas. Additionally, it has recently developed a new program for the dissemination of scientific culture. For more information: www.institutfrancais.com (in French only).
Toulouse Oncopole:
The Oncopole of Toulouse brings together public and private research, academic organizations, industry including pharmaceutical leaders and SMEs, medical and clinical expertise. These actors are committed to working together to achieve a single goal: more effectively fight cancer.
The mission of the Oncopole of Toulouse is to pool resources for common projects, to encourage synergies between different fields and technologies, to nurture partnerships between public and private research, and to encourage transfers and exchanges between fundamental research and patient care, thereby driving therapeutic innovation and improving the quality of treatment.
For more information: www.oncopole-toulouse.com.
Toulouse University Medical Center:
Toulouse University Medical Center (CHU de Toulouse), ranked fourth largest in France, is organized into 15 clinical centers. Focusing on healthcare, prevention, education, and research, it has distinguished itself for nearly 15 years, topping the charts made by the national press. Besides clinical and pre-clinical research, as an institution strongly committed to the future, it is also open to innovation both in terms of organization and technological innovation, collaborating with medical practitioners and university research teams from Inserm and CNRS, among others, and which include cancer and geriatrics research projects. On an international level, Toulouse University Medical Center opens to foreign health institutions in the framework of expertise and partnership agreements. For more information: www.chu-toulouse.fr/ (in French only).
Paul Sabatier University:
Since its creation in 1969, UPS has been expanding its offer of multidisciplinary education in the fields of science, health, engineering, technology and sports, developing one of the most important scientific research clusters in France. Based in Toulouse, the European space and aeronautics capital, UPS is a renowned European university with a global outlook. As one of the top research establishments in France, UPS is active in public research at the highest level, working with excellence clusters and creating numerous partnerships with major scientific bodies. Recognized across Europe and all over the world, UPS research laboratories function in a scientific research context that works both with the core disciplines, and transversal scientific applications, sharing the results of their work to increase productivity in core research and encourage knowledge transfer.
For more information: www.univ-tlse3.fr.
Stromalab:
In order to increase our knowledge of complex tissue/organ regeneration, the Stromalab proposes to understand and decipher how stroma cells and more particularly Mesenchymal Stem cells (MSC), one of the most known adult stem cells, participate in tissue homeostasis and promote repair/regeneration processes. Bone marrow as the best-known tissue and paradigm will be investigated and compared to adipose tissue. This will lead Stromalab to identify and characterize the different stem or stromal cell subsets present in the stroma; to investigate whether these tissues can serve as physiological reservoirs of adult stem cells for “repair” or regeneration; to investigate their therapeutic uses in regenerative medicine.
For more information: www.stromalab.fr.
Toulouse Tech Transfert:
Toulouse Tech Transfer (TTT) is one of five new French SATT (Société d’Accélération de Transfert de Technologie), or Technology Transfer Acceleration Company. The primary mission of TTT is to create economical value from research projects realized in regional laboratories. TTT will facilitate the translation of research discoveries into social or industrial applications by helping with technical maturation (development of proof of concept, proof of feasibility, prototypes and trials), juridical maturation (protection of results) and economical maturation (identification of target-market).
For more information: www.toulouse-tech-transfer.com (in French only).
c) American partners:
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Atlanta Celebrates Photography:
Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation of the photographic arts and the enrichment of the Atlanta art community. ACP hosts an annual, citywide photography festival in October: the Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival. The festival includes a wide variety of exhibitions and multiple events around Atlanta and throughout the surrounding communities. The festival’s diverse offerings bring together professional and amateur photographers, general art enthusiasts, gallery owners, critics, and collectors. Throughout the year, ACP sponsors additional community programming and opportunities specifically for the professional development of photographers. For more information: www.acpinfo.org/.
Atlanta Habitat for Humanity:
Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, one of more than 1,500 U.S. affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing to working families. Since 1983, volunteers from corporations and from faith-based and civic organizations have worked in partnership with qualified homebuyers to construct affordable, green, quality homes, which are then purchased through no-interest mortgages. To date, Atlanta Habitat has built more than 1,200 homes in the city of Atlanta and the metropolitan area. For more information: www.atlantahabitat.org or call 404-223-5180.
BronzeLens:
The BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is a non-profit organization, founded in 2009, that is dedicated to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta as a center for film and film production for people of color. The mission of the BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is two-fold: to promote Atlanta as the new film mecca for people of color; and to showcase films and provide networking opportunities that will develop the next generation of filmmakers. For more information: www.bronzelensfilmfestival.com/.
CARE:
CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. We place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives. For more information: www.care.org/.
The Carter Center
The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering. Founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Atlanta-based Center has helped to improve the quality of life for people in more than 70 countries. Led by the Carters and an independent board of trustees, the Center’s staff wage peace, fight disease, and build hope by both engaging with those at the highest levels of government and working side by side with poor and often forgotten people. For more information: www.cartercenter.org.
City of Atlanta
The City of Atlanta, under the leadership of Mayor Kasim Reed, is the county seat of Fulton County and the location of the seat of government of the state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta’s population is 420,003, and the 5,268,860 people in the Atlanta metropolitan area make it the third largest in the Southern United States. Atlanta is considered to be a top business city, containing world headquarters for many major corporations and is a primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States—via highway, railroad, and air. Home to several universities and colleges, Atlanta offers a plethora of cultural, intellectual, economic, and social outlets. For more information: www.atlantaga.gov.
Emory University:
Emory University, a top 20 research university located in Atlanta, Georgia, is an inquiry-driven, ethically engaged and diverse community whose members work collaboratively for positive transformation in the world through courageous leadership in teaching, research, scholarship, health care and social action. The university is recognized internationally for its outstanding liberal arts college, superb professional schools and one of the Southeast’s leading health care systems. For more information: www.emory.edu.
gloATL
gloATL is a collaborative platform of exceptional contemporary physical experience, founded in July, 2009 by choreographer Lauri Stallings. Its mission is to create exceptional art through live performance, public works, and a choreographic LAB. gloATL’s work increasingly shares a synergy with art forms, blending classical elements with the complexity and groove of today’s rhythmic culture. Part choreography and part interactive art installation, gloATL performances regularly bridge the gap between artists and audience, to explore fundamentals found in philosophies of relational aesthetics, such as being together, voluntary migration, and the inter-human. gloATL has created a series of performances for both traditional and non-traditional spaces, unlike any other in the Atlanta scene. For more information, please visit: gloatl.org/.
The Goat Farm Arts Center
The Goat Farm Arts Center is a major visual & performing arts center in Atlanta. What was once an underutilized historic site went through a major expansion and was given new form in 2009. Part of the expansion opened up 20,000 square feet dedicated to five new performance and exhibition halls and spaces. The Center now hosts classical & contemporary music concerts, traditional and experimental theatrical performances, film screenings, contemporary dance performances and art exhibitions. For more information, please visit: www.facebook.com/TheGoatFarmAtlanta.
The High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art, founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, is the leading art museum in the southeastern United States. With more than 12,000 works of art in its permanent collection, the High Museum of Art has an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American and decorative art; significant holdings of European paintings; a growing collection of African American art; and burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, photography and African art. The High is also dedicated to supporting and collecting works by Southern artists and is distinguished as the only major museum in North America to have a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art. The High’s media arts department produces acclaimed annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic cinema. In November 2005, the High opened three new buildings by architect Renzo Piano that more than doubled the Museum’s size, creating a vibrant “village for the arts” at the Woodruff Arts Center in midtown Atlanta. For more information about the High, please visit: www.High.org.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber
The Metro Atlanta Chamber mobilizes and connects the business community to drive economic development and public policies that promote sustainable growth. Our board draws from Atlanta’s top business leaders. We have a professional staff of 90 and serve 4,000 member companies who employ nearly 1 million workers. We create value in return for our members’ time and investment by producing results on each issue we choose to tackle. For more information, please visit: www.metroatlantachamber.com.
The Peace Corps
The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. Today’s Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in emerging and essential areas such as information technology and business development, and contributing to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peace Corps Volunteers continue to help countless individuals who want to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities. For more information, please visit: www.peacecorps.gov/ .
The Rialto Center
The Rialto Center for the Arts is Georgia State University’s performing-arts venue located in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The venue presents the best of national and international dance and music, with the mission to inspire, educate, and entertain diverse audiences by presenting innovative and exceptional arts programming and cultivating community partnerships.
Saint Joseph’s Translational Research Institute
Saint Joseph’s Translational Research Institute will be the leading catalyst of clinical solutions through targeted translational research and collaborations. The Saint Joseph’s Translational Research Institute’s mission is to translate scientific discoveries into modern therapeutics for patient care. We believe the true application of translational research can be achieved by integrating research strategy, clinical collaboration, training, and education. Through the enthusiasm, and efforts of our team and our collaborators worldwide, our goal is to improve the quality of life for all patients. For more information: http://www.sjtri.org
SCAD
Founded in 1978, The Savannah College of Art and Design exists to prepare talented students for professional careers, emphasizing learning through individual attention in a positively oriented university environment. With locations in Savannah, Atlanta, Singapore, and Lacoste, SCAD offers more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university and seeks to provide a superior education through talented and dedicated faculty and staff, leading-edge technology, advanced learning resources and comprehensive support services. For more information, please visit: www.scad.edu/ .
Southern Company
A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Atlanta-based Southern Company is the premier energy company serving the Southeast. Southern Company businesses include electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company is consistently listed among the top U.S. electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index and tops Fortune’s "Most Admired" list in the electric and gas utility sector for 2011. For more information, please visit: www.southerncompany.com/ .
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University:
The Winship Cancer Institute is dedicated to the integration of innovative clinical and basic science research with outstanding patient care for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer. We bring people together. Researchers, physicians, epidemiologists, nurses, engineers, and social workers come to work each day in order to take one step closer to eliminating cancer. It is a team approach, reflecting our commitment to an interdisciplinary and collaborative search for answers to why we get cancer, how we can prevent cancer, and how we can cure cancer. There is no place in Georgia that takes a more agressive approach to finding these answers. For more information: http://winshipcancer.emory.edu.
d) French associations and institutions in Atlanta:
Alliance Française:
A member-supported 501c3 non-profit organization, Alliance Française d’Atlanta is the French-American Cultural Center serving the Atlanta community as the premiere provider of French language and culture since 1912. They offer French language studies and cultural exchange programs promoting French culture representing France and 50 Francophone countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. They also provide French language classes for all levels and cultural programs in the form of art exhibits, lectures, concerts, movies, trips to French-speaking countries and more. They are committed to education and cultural outreach to communities in and around Atlanta and fostering cross-cultural understanding. For more information:www.afatl.com.
Association Ensemble:
Association Ensemble gathers parents whose children are enrolled in the French Department of the Atlanta International School (AIS). This organization’s goal is to foster and develop the French section at AIS, promoting academic excellence, the French language as well as cultural and social activities. For further information, please contact Nicolas de Kerorguen at ensemble_ais@yahoo.com.
Atlanta-Accueil:
Atlanta-Accueil is an organization gathering more than one hundred members of the French community in Metro Atlanta. Its goal is to welcome and help French citizens in their expatriate experience, especially newcomers. They organize many activities to help members of the French community discover the city and its surroundings, and also helps individuals and families having difficulties. To know more : www.atlanta-accueil.org.
Atlanta-Toulouse Sister Cities Committee:
The Atlanta-Toulouse Sister Cities Committee operates under the umbrella of Sister Cities International. Atlanta began its official sister city relationship with Toulouse on December 17, 1974, when then Mayor Maynard Jackson signed a proclamation declaring Toulouse one of Atlanta’s official sister cities. ATSSC aims at promoting friendship and build personal and business relationships between the citizens of Toulouse, France, and Atlanta. For more information: www.sprawls.org/ATSCC/.
Ecole du Samedi:
Ecole du Samedi is an organization offering French classes to children ages 3-12. Classes are available for native and non native speakers from September to May. For more information, consult Ecole du samedi’s Web site :www.frenchschoolatlanta.org.
Erai:
Erai was created in France in 1987 on the initiative of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council. Their main mission is to help the companies of the Rhône-Alpes region to export and promote the local competences and know-how at an international level. Each year, Erai assists more than 1,000 Rhône-Alpes SME’s, provides 300 firms with personalized support through its agencies over the world, helps 200 firms to find international funding solutions and works closely with more than 22,000 business contacts worldwide. Its Atlanta office celebrated their 10 year anniversary in 2009,. For more information : www.erai.org/en/.
French-American Chamber of Commerce:
The French American Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta is a bi-national, non-profit organization that seeks to contribute to the development and improvement of economic, commercial and financial relations between France and the Southeastern Untied States. They encourage sales of goods and services between both countries and promote better international understanding. They also provide information about the economy and business environments to French and American enterprises to help promote investment from commercial and industrial enterprises of each country in the other. They facilitate the interaction among members to foster advantageous economic, commercial and financial relationships between France and the United States of America. For more information : www.facc-atlanta.com.
French Heritage Society:
French Heritage Society (FHS) was founded in 1982 to help preserve the architectural patrimony of France and the French legacy in America. It is an American non-profit organization that fulfills its mission in both countries by providing restoration grants, educational programs and exchanges, cultural travel opportunities, commemoration of events that have marked French-American history, and emergency intervention in response to natural disasters. For more information : www.frenchheritagesociety.org.
French Trade Commission – Ubifrance:
The French Trade Commission - Ubifrance network in the United States (Atlanta, Chicago, New York, San Francisco) is divided into both geographic and economic domains. In this respect, the French Trade Commission – Ubifrance in Atlanta specializes in the service sector for the entire U.S. territory. There are also two experts, correspondents for the New York Mission, responsible for the South-eastern region, who specialize in the following industry sectors: “Consumer Goods” and “Food, Wines and Spirits”. The French Trade Commission – Ubifrance network assists companies wanting to export, settle in the United States, or develop commercial relationships on American soil, particularly in the Southeast region. For more information : www.ubifrance.fr.
Foreign Trade Advisors of France (Southeast region):
The French Foreign Trade Advisors or CCE’s are men and women chosen within the business community for their skills and work experience. Appointed for three years by a decree from the Prime Minister, they share their expertise on a voluntary basis by providing government with their recommendations, sponsoring small companies in their international expansion, and educating and informing young people about international trade careers. The Southeastern section has about a dozen members focusing their efforts in this region of the United States. For more information : http://ccefseus.host56.com.
Théâtre du Rêve:
As Atlanta’s unique French-language theatre company, Le Théâtre du Rêve’s mission is to bring the language and cultures of the French-speaking world to life on the American stage. They strive to create a true dialogue between American and French-speaking artists. For more information : www.theatredureve.com.