As French economy innovates, eastern Europe offers its muscle

ON THE EVE of Le French May, that annual Francophiliac festival celebrating Gallic culture in Hong Kong, Paris seems to be giving Beijing the ultimate compliment by bestowing some distinctly chinoise characteristics on its industrial policy.

In reports this week, French media said that President Jacques Chirac had approved a Euro1.7 billion ($16.54 billion) investment plan to stimulate innovation through six new industrial schemes.

The projects, selected and to be funded by the state-controlled Agency for Industrial Innovation and implemented over three to seven years, will include a software development programme also backed by Germany to rival Google's search engine, a hi-tech light metro train, and an environmentally friendly venture to produce plastic from starch.

To catch up with the Japanese and Americans, France will also develop its own hybrid diesel-electric cars. To stay ahead in the digital telecommunications world, Paris will spend millions to research ways of broadcasting high-definition television to mobile phones.

And to discourage excessive dependence on imported petrol, France will study ways to enable the country's households to generate their own electricity, with some pundits joking that the Eiffel Tower may just be turned into a wind turbine.

It may smack of state-sponsored capitalism a la China and Singapore, but Mr Chirac seems to have a more modest and typically pro-esprit de corps aim.