Mérignac economic news week of November 2, 2026, Digi Mart USA News (Mérignac, France): The City of Mérignac published its weekly roundup of local economic developments, including business briefs, entrepreneur profiles, employment news and upcoming economic events. The city reported that the information was published as a publisher article and has not been independently verified.
The Mérignac business club celebrated its 30th anniversary on Thursday, October 15, at the Château Luchey-Halde. Co-founder and historic second president Jean-Marie Bottero, deputy mayor for economic development Vanessa Fergeau-Renaux, deputy Marie Récalde and 150 other participants attended the event.
The club is primarily a business network that organizes social and professional events to help members build local professional relationships. It has had eight presidents over its three decades.
Founded in August 1996 by a group of business leaders from the Le Phare zone, the club has grown back above 200 members after peaking at 350 in 2019 and being hard hit by the health crisis.
According to its current president, Grégory Makiela, the club aims to reach 300 members in the medium term, which would make it the largest economic network in the metropolitan area.
Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport, which handles 6 million passengers a year, launched construction on October 13 of a new central building connecting halls A and B. The total investment is €140 million, including €70 million in construction costs.
The project is one of the largest in the city’s economic history; for comparison, the tram extension to the airport, opened in April 2023, cost €95 million.
The new building will include a 3,000 square meter security area, a 5,000 square meter central waiting and retail space, a 4,200 square meter baggage claim hall, and offices, changing rooms and workshops for staff. The share of services located beyond security checkpoints is expected to rise from 30% to 70%.
Work will proceed while the airport remains operational. The new city-facing façade is scheduled to be unveiled at the end of summer 2027, with final commissioning planned for the end of 2029.
A website tracking the project has been launched.
On October 15, Capgemini hosted a stop of the Jonction program, run by Bordeaux Technowest since 2018, at its campus in the James Watt building at Chemin Long. With 1,500 employees, Capgemini is now the fifth-largest private employer in Mérignac.
The morning included a conference on robotics and artificial intelligence and demonstrations of the company’s cybersecurity, process optimization and operational maintenance solutions.
Jonction aims to connect large corporations with technopole start-ups by identifying specific technological or operational challenges, linking industrial groups with suitable innovative start-ups, and structuring commercial partnerships, proofs of concept and R&D collaborations. The program now includes 35 major industrial partners alongside the technopole’s start-ups.
The article also profiles François Avinent, 25, founder of Outrevol, who created the company at the end of 2024. Born in 2001 in Lot-et-Garonne, he is the youngest leader among the 65 companies hosted in the Cockpit at Bordeaux Technowest in Mérignac.
He began building and selling drones while still in secondary school, studied at the Arts et Métiers in Talence and at École polytechnique de Montréal, and later worked in Silicon Valley before founding Outrevol. The company, named after Pierre Soulages’ concept of “outrenoir,” moved into the Cockpit in April 2025 and now has nine staff members.
Its Rover-Drone is a hybrid robot designed to fly to a structure, land on it and perform inspection, maintenance, cleaning or surface treatment tasks. Chinese manufacturers reportedly hold up to 80% of market share in some drone segments.
Outrevol is preparing its first fundraising round.
The city is also hosting “L’Appel du ciel” on Tuesday, January 12, 2027, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Pin Galant auditorium, an event focused on careers in the aeronautics sector.
Six professionals from five companies will share their paths. The event is aimed at students, jobseekers and people changing careers, and businesses are asked to share the information with employees and networks.
