How the Grand Chalon show the way

Chalon-sur-Saône has a long history with industry. The town's location on the Saône and near the forges of Le Creusot encouraged the creation of a shipbuilding yard in the 19th century. Mechanical activities, metallurgy and the manufacture of metal products, as well as glass manufacturing, then developed. The communauté d’agglomération du Grand Chalon now has 9,400 industrial jobs according to the INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies): 32% of these jobs come from the metal products sector, and Framatome, a manufacturer of components for French nuclear reactors, is the largest supplier. This session highlighted the driving role played by nuclear power in the local economic fabric, but also the resilience of this territory, linked to its capacity to diversify its activities, to its dynamism in the fields of industrial training and digital transformation, as well as to the solidarity expressed by the industrialists during the Covid-19 crisis.