Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States and the largest economic powerhouse on the West Coast. It is a multicultural and dynamic city with one of the most inclusive startup ecosystems. The city is home to innovations in a wide range of fields, including creative industries, life sciences, healthcare, biotechnology, energy, environment and transportation.
Los Angeles has prestigious universities such as the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern California (USC), which provide a pool of talent for exchange and innovation. It is also home to biomedical research institutes and teaching hospitals that bridge the gap between discoveries made in the laboratory and their commercialization. The presence of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a research and development center largely funded by NASA in Pasadena, also illustrates the importance of the aerospace industry in the region.
While the city faces significant challenges, primarily related to its large geographic area, it has developed a number of infrastructures to support innovation. It has more than seventy coworking spaces and about thirty incubators and as many accelerators focused on life sciences, the environment and cleantech, for example. These infrastructures foster synergies between the public, private and non-profit sectors to support the application of technologies. At the local level, the quality of research and innovation produced in Los Angeles is reflected in the increasing share of research funding (e.g., from the National Institute of Health) and in the ever-increasing fundraising for local startups.
Finally, the city offers a pleasant climate, a quality of life marked by the proximity of mountains suitable for hiking and sunny beaches and a great connection to the world through the presence of LAX International Airport and the Los Angeles seaport, the busiest in the country. The “Silicon Beach” with more than 500 technology companies in the western part of the metropolitan area along the Pacific Ocean illustrates the great attractiveness of this region and its capacity to innovate.
is a personalized support program that offers a personalized support, opportunity analysis and development of technological partnerships in the United States, for young and innovative French startups.
