'IT laggard' France no longer lagging, says French minister

He opened the Network Interop conference in Paris this morning on a bold note, claiming France was no longer an 'IT laggard'.

He said: "The growth of the economy over the last four years has been remarkable - this was one of the strong objectives of our government. The IT sector now represents around seven per cent of French production revenue - comparable to the United States."

He added: "France is now placed third or fourth in the world for the production of goods and services in the IT industry."

Pierret also confirmed the French government's commitment to help French organisations invest in and develop the latest technologies.

Pierret said investment in its Jessica programme, aimed at getting SMEs online, would be accelerated to include all regional areas of France, not just major towns.

Jessica was launched by the government two years ago to offer expert advice from software, hardware and internet companies.

Pierret also praised France's efforts over the past two years to increase the technology awareness of French companies.

He said: "France is an example in technological innovations in the areas of telcos, smartcards, audio visuals and electronics. Strong penetration in Europe, more particularly in France, of the mobile phone industry, offers us the opportunity to be at the heart of the new stage of the technology revolution."

But Bruno Peuch, entrepreneur and CEO of video streaming company Dream Up, said it was not enough just to help companies to go online. "The point is not just to go on the internet - that's not difficult - but to really start using it as a business tool," he said.

Peuch added: "The internet is becoming a political tool. In the next French election in 2002, Jacques Chirac will probably be using e-democracy as one of his big campaign mottos. Every company now has a website even if they are at different levels of evolution."