21 September 2011 — To strengthen its relations with industry and research activities in France and Europe, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announces today the opening of a W3C Office in France, hosted by Inria (French National Computer Science Research Institute). To mark the launch, the Office is organizing a session on Open Data at the Open World Forum on 22 September in Paris, in cooperation with Inria and Paris City Hall.
“Inria has a longstanding commitment to the development of free software and open standards,” said Prof. Michel Cosnard, Inria Chairman and CEO. “We have supported W3C’s mission since the inception of the Consortium in 1994, notably by hosting W3C’s European branch”.
One of the Office’s primary activities will be to promote participation by French industry and research leaders in W3C standardization activities. “Through W3C Membership,” said Bernard Odier, manager of the new Office, “industry representatives can do more than follow the rapid evolution of the Web, they can lead it. The W3C environment fosters innovation and creates opportunities for business partnerships. I look forward to working with French companies and research labs to enrich the W3C environment of innovation.”
“We are particularly pleased that Inria, our longtime ally, will be the home of the first France Office,” added Dr. Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. “Research and Industry are closely linked when it comes to the development of Web standards. Through its industry relations in France and Europe, Inria is ideally positioned to help W3C achieve its objectives.”
The promotional and recruiting activities of the Office, located in Paris, will complement the technical activities carried out by the W3C staff located elsewhere in France (Sophia Antipolis).