Eco-business and natural resources: from pollution management to new uses for natural substances.

Mindful of the quality of the region's environment, for 30 years the Limousin region has been raising awareness of issues linked to sustainable development.The University of Limoges has become a benchmark centre due to its technical and legal environmental knowledge.

The Limousin’s environmental resources are in line with the region's image and expertise: an exceptional natural environment which fully merits the description “France’s water tower” and a water sector boosted by the historical presence of the International Office for Water (IOW). These elements, in addition to a strong political will to add value to these assets, led to the establishment of an Environment Cluster which is already home to around forty companies. To complement this dynamic, a network of experts has been formed to cover the fields of decontamination (of water but also soil) and the enhancement of natural substances (such as honey for therapeutic use, for example), not to mention waste treatment, air quality, renewables and energy savings.

The reason why the Limousin region continues to innovate in eco-business is that it enjoys a well-established industrial fabric, with around fifty businesses, university labs with multidisciplinary expertise and a BIO CRITT (Regional Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer) which works on the processing and recovery of by-products and waste, in response to market requirements.