Participants
3 December 2025
9:00 AM – 9:45 AM
Amphi Grand Kursaal
Nicolas Bodin
Deeply involved in the economic and industrial dynamism of Greater Besançon Métropole, Nicolas Bodin is its Vice President in charge of economic development, employment, integration, digital technology, and transitions. Passionate about innovation and exceptional expertise, he is also a university professor of microtechnology, a field in which Besançon has excelled for centuries. A city with a rich watchmaking history, Besançon has established itself as the world capital of time measurement, cultivating a heritage of boldness and precision that has weathered crises and reinvented itself. Nicolas Bodin embodies this ability to innovate and promote the region’s industrial excellence. Today, he highlights Besançon’s expertise in the luxury, small and precision trades, where Greater Besançon excels in watchmaking, jewelry, and leather goods. Under his leadership, Besançon is establishing itself as a center of excellence for cutting-edge technologies in medtech-biotech, mobility, digital technology, and aeronautics, thanks in particular to the TEMIS technology park and the Microtechniques Cluster, which are true laboratories of innovation serving businesses. With the SUPMICROTECH-ENSMM engineering school, unique in France, the city brings together a complete ecosystem in a small area, from elite training programs to research laboratories in new materials, optoelectronics, and industrial automation. As ambassador for a region at the crossroads of heritage and the future, Nicolas Bodin promotes the recognition of watchmaking and mechanical artistry, which were added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2020. He ensures that Greater Besançon remains an attractive region for businesses by facilitating their establishment and creating synergies between artisans, engineers, and economic players.