Interview with Jaime L. Ferrer, its chief executive and founder

Created in Spain in 1997 by professors from the operational and simulation research laboratory at UPC-Barcelona Tech University, the company develops and uses its road traffic simulation software.

Well before it became a commercial enterprise in 1997, the business had been developed and even exported! Its first destination was the U.S., the largest market for this high added-value service, and more particularly New York, where TSS carries out traffic flow simulation studies for the city. Although the company had a large distribution network with 55 countries covered and more than 1,500 Aimsun software users, there was a 'dead zone' in France. While we had expanded our business throughout Europe, the French market seemed to be growing less quickly than the other countries on our balance sheet, explains Jaime L. Ferrer. After 5 years of work in the French market, our software won the trust of various leading/prestigious public organisations; we won a major, one-year renewable contract with the City of Paris for all its traffic simulations.

Indeed, the decision to find a location in France, and more particularly in Île-de-France, was quickly made. We had met a consultant from the Paris Region Economic Development Agency at a fair in Stockholm, but at the time we were not thinking of setting up a subsidiary or even an office in France. Luckily, we stayed in contact and they were, in fact, the first that we called when our contract was announced! The consultants from the Paris Region Economic Development Agency had to act fast: finding premises, organising a schedule of visits in one day, fine-tuning job profiles and anticipating the legal aspects of creating a subsidiary. We really felt backed, helped, reassured and sometimes even morally supported, declares Jaime L. Ferrer. From Spain and on our own, we would never have managed to set up an office in Paris in record time - and in the middle of August as well. The Paris Region Economic Development Agency made every step easier for us, as much for the logistics as for the basic information they provided and the very useful and beneficial contacts they helped us establish.

And so, from its new HQ in Paris' 11th arrondissement, TSS will offer local support to a number of clients: the Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité (INRETS; French National institute for transport and safety research), the Mediterranean and Lyon Centres d'Études Techniques de l'Équipement (CETE; Technical research centre for infrastructure), the Direction Régionale de l'Equipement d'Île de France (DREIF; Regional office of infrastructure), the Moselle département council and the City of Lorient, to name but a few.

We would like to again welcome them to Île-de- France and wish them continued success.

Bureau TSS Paris

75 Avenue Parmentier

75 544 Paris CEDEX

Tel: 00 (+33) 1 402 14 244