5th century
The pilgrimage economy
Saint Martin’s shrine created flows of visitors, lodging, trade and craft, creating an early international visitor economy.
02 · Economy & Tech
From pilgrimage to silicon.
Tours has repeatedly turned movement, knowledge and craft into prosperity. Today, public health, higher education and advanced electronics anchor the economy. The year 2032 offers a chance to connect that strength to culture and inclusion.
01
Economic memory
Every boom began with an exchange of knowledge.
From 1470
Silk capital
Louis XI moved Italian weavers from Lyon to Tours. For roughly a century, before the Wars of Religion, the city led French silk production.
19th century
Print & rail
Mame publishing industrialised books while nearby Saint-Pierre-des-Corps became a strategic rail junction.
02
Three engines today
Care. Learning. Microelectronics.
≈10K
CHRU employees
A regional health anchor with around €680M in revenue.
≈30K
university students
Backed by an annual budget near €240M.
≈1.3K
STMicro local jobs
Part of a global $13.3B semiconductor group.
95%+
fibre coverage
Strong digital foundations across the city.
The honest picture
Prosperous on paper, uneven in practice.
Tours is a white-collar, service-led city: the overwhelming majority of local jobs are in services and public administration, while industry has a much smaller presence. Median income is close to the national level, but poverty and economic hardship remain concentrated in seven priority neighborhoods, including Sanitas, Rives du Cher and Maryse Bastié.
24%
poverty · 15% France
7
priority neighborhoods
€23,390
city median income
€25,600
metro median income
03
The 2032 opportunity
Make existing intelligence visible and make cultural access seamless.
Tours is not marketed as a ‘smart city’, yet it already runs traffic sensors, real-time Fil Bleu tracking, remotely managed LED lighting and underground waste systems.
One cultural door
Replace fragmented ticketing with one ECoC platform for discovery, access and neighborhood participation.
Research into practice
Connect STMicroelectronics, the University, CNRS and CERTeM with artists and public-space experiments.
A regional media stage
Activate La Nouvelle République, TV Tours, Radio Béton, Le Temps Machine and Le Petit Faucheux.