" To change the course of events"

When, in the early 1980s, René Monory decided in spite of everything and everyone to erect a city of the future in the midst of sunflower fields, this long-time President of the Vienne department General Council was driven by a single overarching ambition: "Create the conditions most propitious to the renewed development of a rural backwater."

Twenty years later, the bet has been won many times over, as creeping decline has been transformed steady movement. Propelled by the Futuroscope, Vienne now looks forward rather than backwards.

Rene's Monory's stroke of genius consisted in daring to bring the Futuroscope into being when nobody else believed it could get off the ground. This involved conceiving a multi-storied rocket, and the European park of the image was but the visible tip of the iceberg. "I have always explained that above and beyond the amusement park, we needed to focus upon high-level training, vanguard companies and novel technologies. It is useless to develop an islet of excellence in an intellectual swampland. To think new, one has got to evolve in a new ambience."

Building upon the Futuroscope's success, the Technopole has kept on growing. In a few years' time, a whole new city has emerged from the earth just 6 miles north of Poitiers. "Today, over 2000 students and 700 researchers share quarters in the training pole. There are also no less than 150 companies installed in 50,000 square meters of offices, states a proud René Monory. "That's not so bad for people deemed sure losers in the starting blocks!"

Self-styled "popularizer of novel ideas", René Monory has bestowed upon his department a true economic locomotive, a proven generator of wealth. Steadfast in his innermost conviction that he can "change the course of events", the former President of the French Senate has succeeded in boosting Vienne inhabitants into the forefront of the 21st century. That said, the adventure is far from over. "I am only interested in what I shall do tomorrow. The future is built every day." These are the words of a visionary.