Three French associations of sports companies and research laboratories -? EuroSIMA, Outdoor Sports Valley (OSV) and Sports Loisirs Montagne ? have been retained as industrial clusters worthy of financial aid by a French governmental committee, Datar, and this should help reinforce their existing collaboration. As the European surf industry association, EuroSIMA is a network of companies specializing in products for surfing, windsurfing and snowboarding as well as training and research centers located in the southwestern region of Aquitaine. This cluster, which employs a total of 3,500 people and generates an annual turnover of €1.7 billion, is expected to get €200,000 from the central government over three years. OSV groups about 50 producers of outdoor equipment in the Rhône-Alpes region. Based in the same area, Sports Loisirs Montagne comes out of the recent merger of two other clusters, Sporaltec and CIM, aggregating mountain sports companies, which were both recognized as clusters by Datar. The body will distribute €24 million to 84 clusters.