Monday, December 16, 2013 - Michelin Chief Executive Officer Jean-Dominique Senard will today lay the cornerstone for the main building at the Group's new research and development center. To be held at the Ladoux site in Clermont-Ferrand, the ceremony will be attended by members of the Michelin Executive Committee, local officials and the Chairman of Eiffage, the construction company, as well as by representatives of the Chaix & Morel architectural firm and the INGEROP engineering group.

This important modernization program for Michelin's global research and development center has thus entered a decisive phase, with the launch of construction of a new building called Campus RDI (Research, Development and Process Engineering), which will be the largest building in France's Auvergne region and over the long run will be staffed by some 1,600 people. While the construction will last until 2018, the first part of the building will be delivered in late 2015, when 600 people are scheduled to begin working there. The second part will be completed in late 2018 and 1,000 additional people will join the staff.

The architecture of the new campus has been designed to promote fast and flexible work methods. A total of 80 300-square-meter platforms that can be adjusted to needs will enable teams of around 20 individuals to work together using a transversal, multidisciplinary approach. In this way, job categories that were previously far apart will now work in close proximity, thereby simulating the cross-fertilization of ideas. These new design methods will enable the Group to strengthen its capacity for innovation and bring new products to market faster.

Because it is highly energy efficient, the new campus will optimize the quality of life in the workplace for Michelin engineers and technicians. Communication and the exchange of ideas will also be fostered through the inclusion of training facilities, documentation centers, a 250-seat multimedia room, a scientific and technical communication area and an exhibition room. The center will also house a company restaurant, fitness room and bakery, as well as a wide array of concierge services. A 320-meter atrium, called Rue de l'Innovation ("Innovation Street"), will encourage informal exchanges. It will be built across the site's no. 1 test circuit, thereby symbolically linking two key Michelin R&D units - materials and tire architecture.

Once the work is completed, Michelin's global research center will have been entirely modernized. It will house the 3,300 people that make up Michelin's R&D teams in France - representing more than 350 job categories - and who will be in liaison with other research teams around the world. With a total cost of €270 million, the project constitutes a major step forward in the deployment of the Group's global innovation strategy and will be a powerful driver of innovation - and thus success - for the future. By basing the complex in Clermont-Ferrand, Michelin is reaffirming its commitment to maintaining very strong ties with its origins in Auvergne while giving itself the most advanced resources for developing its communication and international renown.

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