The French delegation included the Grenoble mayor and two city council members; several top municipal officials; members of the Grenoble-Phoenix Committee; a journalist and photographer. Directors of two French research institutes were among the group. The French consul general based in Los Angeles, Philippe Larrieu, also joined the activities.
Grenoble, site of the 1968 Winter Olympics, is known for its concentration of universities, research laboratories, and educated populace. The city is carving a niche in nanobiotechnology, and is frontrunner to be the site of a future European nanobiotech institute.
The bioscience-related segments of their four-day visit in late April involved a meeting with Richard Love, chief operating officer for TGen; a tour the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University; a presentation on Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap coordinated by the Arizona BioIndustry Association; and a high-tech corporate luncheon hosted by STMicroelectronics. The group also presented back on Grenoble’s biotech assets and endeavors.
They also took in some of Arizona’s cultural sites, with side trips available to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, plus a tour of the Heard Museum. And, in what must have felt like a taste of home, the delegates toured the galleries of the Phoenix Art Museum and its current exhibition: “In Monet’s Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny”
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