The capital of Britanny, Rennes is a vibrant yet quite relaxed city, the place to enjoy some Breton culture and medieval heritage. As a knowledge hub, it’s a leader, among many fields of endeavor, in health technology. No wonder the International Conference on Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) chose it and its now famous Couvent des Jacobins for their next venue.
The CARS conference is an international and interdisciplinary conference bringing together radiologists, surgeons, computer scientists, engineers, physicists, and other researchers at a unique meeting, where together they contribute to, and in fact lead, the development of novel methodologies and applications in this fast-growing field of technology for health care.
For its 33rd conference, it will be hosted at the brand-new conference centre, the Couvent des Jacobins, in the capital city of Brittany. Rennes’s history goes back more than 2,000 years, at a time when it was a small Gallic village named Condate. Regularly cited as “the most liveable city in France”, Rennes has been selected not only for its historical ambiance, exquisite cuisine and affordable hotels, but also because it’s a leader in health technology, imaging and e-health, and with a unique expertise in biotechnology. Rennes, indeed, bridges the divide between scientific research and clinical excellence with a very specific entrepreneurial spirit.
Only an hour and half from Paris by high-speed train, Rennes is the beating heart of the Brittany economy with four competitiveness clusters leading the way, including Images et Réseaux (Images and Networks), ID4CAR (vehicles and mobility) or Valorial (food sector) and Sea Brittany. Its health sector has been heavily invested in, and isstructured around an academic research hub of 25 research institutes and a network of over 200 companies. Two high-profile university hospitals complete the picture.
If you add the pleasant parks and gardens, as well as a delightful old town with restored streets and squares, colourful traditional timber-framed houses, outstanding buildings by famous architects and one of the biggest outdoor markets in France to this, you might have the most intriguing conference destination worth exploring.
Since its opening, the Couvent des Jacobins (pictured), Rennes’ main convention centre, has increasingly been attracting the attention of international and European associations. Able to accommodate events of all nature and format, it boasts two auditoria for up to 1,000 people, 4,000 sqm of exhibition space and 25 meeting rooms, and is housed in a former convent, making it really one-of-a-kind. With 4,000 hotel rooms, 2,100 of which are in the city centre, a stone’s throw from the Couvent, Rennes is definitely one of those emerging destinations that clearly stand out on the meetings map.
Contact couvent@destinationrennes.com/ www.centre-congres-rennes.fr/en. This article was written by Boardroom Chief Editor Rémi Dévé and is part of an extensive France feature in the May edition of Boardroom.