Technical communication is a new discipline in France, contrary to the United States. In France, teaching and research on the subject have been going on in particular at University Paris Diderot. The profession is facing a high demand for technical communicators in Europe. Research on competencies to create new curricula is particularly important for the profession. Distant collaboration projects are run at University Paris Diderot with American and European universities because technical communicators and translators have contiguous activities and should be aware of their competencies to foster collaboration.