For more than 30 years, the microelectronics sector has made a substantial contribution to the growth of the world economy. It has enriched our daily existence with many new inventions such as computers, mobile phones, DVD players, and so on, which have profoundly changed the way we live. The microsystems these inventions already employ, together with the nanosystems of the future, are poised to enhance the role of the sector even further. This means that an opportunity is there to be grasped. As competition in these essential markets emerges around the world, the leading competitors of France and Europe are demonstrating levels of government enthusiasm that stand in sharp contrast to our own response. For this reason Claude Saunier, drawing on the lessons that stem from this study, is putting forward proposals for appropriate support for our high-tech industries, upon which, in the final analysis, our economic future depends.