RTL listeners have for several weeks got into the habit of hearing news from Forez. Every Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the Chroniques de Saint-Étienne Métropole, a one-minute mini-podcast, gives voice to actors in local life and illustrates how the working-class town of yesteryear intends to carry out its transformation.
Because if the industry remains very present in the economic activity, it is now combined in the era of sustainable development and innovation. You can thus get to know Lactips, a company at the origin of a 100% biosourced and fully biodegradable material that offers an alternative to plastic, or walk around an industrial campus bringing together work-study students and economic players in the sector.
The latter symbolizes an axis of development for the metropolis of 406,000 inhabitants. It now has 27,000 students and has seen this population increase by +35% in ten years, between 2009 and 2019. Manufacturing and health complete this list of sectors of excellence in Saint-Etienne.
“A dynamic fabric of SMEs around mechanics, digital technology and design”
Without failing to describe beforehand “a territory renowned for its sense of hospitality, its friendliness” and “a city where it is easy to integrate”, Robert Karulak, vice-president of Saint-Étienne Métropole in charge of tourism and heritage, insists on “the dynamic fabric of SMEs around mechanics, digital and design” when it comes to presenting the new economic landscape.
“We are targeting the middle and upper middle classes and have gained residents. It’s a positive element, ”explains the one who is also headmaster in a Saint-Etienne high school. Saint-Étienne now welcomes executives, and not only those of Casino, which retains its historic headquarters there. Connected twice a day directly to Paris via the TGV, the city sees its real estate prices posting 2,000 euros per m2, for renovated old buildings, and between 2,500 and 3,000 euros for new buildings.
Our file: Work, housing… desire elsewhere
Le Parisien Economie of October 25 – file in PDF here
At the beginning of October, the newcomers were received at the town hall as every year for a presentation of their new city and a first contact. They saw themselves bragging about a cultural life now very rich between Opera and theater, at the National Dramatic Center.
On the sports side, if the Greens of football have tumbled in Ligue 2, the new Saint-Chamond Arena dedicated to basketball will welcome the French women’s team from November for the qualifications for Euro 2023. In addition, the Stéphanois will soon be able to take advantage of a new national design gallery in the city of the same name, the opening of which has just been made official. One more asset in the sleeve of the new Saint-Étienne.