USF World forum is first step toward a new French connection

France has long been a leading source of foreign direct investment in Florida. Over 200 French companies operate within the state, with French-owned affiliates contributing to the creation of more than 33,000 Florida jobs. At USF’s inaugural French Business Forum in November, participants discovered a natural synergy between emerging technologies, which are shaping both the University of South Florida’s status as a global research institution and France’s future economy.  

Co-hosted by USF World and the French-American Business Council of West Florida and drawing more than 80 attendees, the forum featured France’s Counsel General in Miami Raphaël Trapp, and focused on life sciences innovation, a key sector for the state as its innovation economy grows. While health-related research and innovation is conducted in many USF areas, USF Health accounted for about 60% of the university’s total research awards in 2023. Life sciences is the basis for scores of startups founded by faculty, students, and alumni. 

In a conversation with USF Professor Christian Brechot —  an internationally-renowned cellular and molecular biologist who serves as the Senior Associate Dean of Research for Global Affairs at Morsani College of Medicine and as Associate Vice President of International Partnerships & Innovation — Trapp said Florida is seen as a high-potential location for French biotech firms. Brechot joined USF after serving as president of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. His research discoveries have formed the basis of three startup companies. 

French entrepreneurs see Florida as a place that provides a wide range of opportunities.

French entrepreneurs see Florida as a place that provides a wide range of opportunities. “This is a good start for these companies to enter here,” Trapp said. “Florida is not the same as Boston or San Francisco. Here in Florida, there is a special added value. First, in terms of partnership with universities, big research centers, and big hospitals, it’s easy compared to Boston or San Francisco or other places in California for companies to propose their products, to propose their solutions, and to find people to listen to l them and to partner with them.

France's investment in Florida as a venue for expansion for its tech companies began in 2020, when French Tech Miami was launched, drawing more than 150 French entrepreneurs, startups, investors, engineers, designers, developers, non-profits, and media and government representatives to bolster French startups in the city. “For small companies that need seed investment, Florida this is the place to be,” Trapp added. 

Network France

USF is key to that connectivity to France, said USF World Vice President Kiki Caruson. USF World Network France includes more than 500 USF alumni who now live in France and more than 800 USF students have studied abroad in the county, mostly in Paris but also Provence, Nice, Cannes, and Lyon, she said. For more than 30 years, the Florida-France Linkage Institute, a program created by state law, has facilitated that connection with opportunities for French students to study at USF on in-state tuition, as do programs like the Raymond and Simone Miklos Endowed Scholarship, which supports French students or those with French heritage studying at USF. One of Tampa’s sister cities is Le Havre in the Normandy region. 

USF's global emphasis as a university drives numerous initiatives and programs focused on international collaboration, including direct partnerships with French institutions and companies. 

For example: 

• The Department of World Languages has built a popular program in applied French language for business that equips students with a linguistic and cultural understanding of operating with French enterprises. The program will expand and offer applications in the health field next year, said Department Chair Anne Latowsky. Deeksha Sridher, a USF pre-med student and president of the USF French Club, shared with the crowd how she’s learning to write a CV and a cover letter in French, which requires more subtle cultural knowledge than merely translating from English.
  
  
• Jesse Casanova, associate director for international programs at USF Health, shared with the audience that since 2022, an exchange program has sent 11 USF medical students to French partner universities while USF received 12 students from France to do their observership at Tampa General Hospital, USF’ academic medicine partner. “It’s from such opportunities that students really get ideas,” he said.
  
  
• Shannon Pastizzo, director of USF CONNECT where the university’s various startup incubator programs and the Tampa Bay Technology Incubator are housed, said international startups can find their home in the USF Research Park. It’s where they can access entrepreneurship coaching programs, potential funding streams, and a network of established firms and other startups in their sector. 

Spotlight on Innovation

USF Health Senior Research Scientist Aurelie Joly-Amado and Benoît Mouzon, a neurobiologist at the Sarasota-based Roskamp Institute and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, are two life sciences researchers who have built careers in the Tampa Bay Region. Mouzon conducts research on the effects of neurotoxins found in Red Tide on the human brain. He is also part of an international team studying brain injuries among football players. Joly-Amado recently founded a startup and consults with a small French biotech company in addition to her research at USF. Her work focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. 

Joly-Amado said the innovation of USF and the surrounding community helps scientists in Florida learn how to be entrepreneurs. “Here at USF especially, the students have access to entrepreneurship webinars and classes. They have scholarships and funding for students who want to develop their own startups,” she said. “When you go from being a scientist to owning a company, you know nothing about business. It is a game-changer for scientists to be able to build their own startups and become CEOs.” 

Mouzon said there are multiple opportunities for scientists to advance their work as there are more freedoms than in France’s tightly regulated employment environment. “If you want to work here, you can succeed,” he said. 

View the event photos on Flickr.