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While Industrie 4.0 has become a planetary buzz, the program “Industrie du Futur” has obtained little attention from the global press, the public or industrial players. The community’s understanding of Industry 4.0 is still evolving and there are many different interpretations and opinions. IT au-tomation and equipment suppliers have adapted their messaging and solutions, and the industry picks from the rich offerings to build production systems corresponding to their vision.
The French case, is quite different. Industrie du Futur has only been treated in a few articles in the press, and has not obtained major attention from providers. However the program is significant in its breadth and depth, targeting disruptive technologies, and very concrete about managed innovation and economic objectives.
The first phase of the program was launched in 2013 by Arnaud Montebourg, then the French minister of reindustrialization. While receiving ample press coverage for his desperate attempts to avoid the closing or relocation of industrial production sites, in the background he launched a program with 34 industry-focused projects. In April 2014, Emmanuel Macron, the current minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs has launched the second phase, positioned as a more focused approach, but in fact is a more readable communication strategy about the initial program. Macron’s nine industrial solutions for priority markets are:
• New resources
• Sustainable cities
• Ecological mobility
• Transportation of the future
• Health of the future
• Digital economy
• Intelligent objects
• Digital trust
• Intelligent food
The Table below provides more specifics on the program. Three projects of the 2013 program have been merged with other national programs: heavy-load drones, e-learning for schools and renewable energies.
Each project in the program has one or more executive-level project managers and sponsors, usually with corporate responsibilities in well-known companies. Carlos Gohn, CEO of Renault, and Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systemes are a few of the more well-known personalities. The project leaders have the responsibility to manage clearly defined innova-tion, as well as social, economic and environmental goals, according to specified roadmaps with milestones until 2020 or 2030. In some cases national or European regulation improvements are also part of the project goals. While this structure creates clarity and accountability, more critical voices fear that the participation of a myriad of industrial, research and economic organizations in the project management, creates a risk of loss of focus and inefficiency due to political and power struggles.
Research institutions, startup’s, SME’s and national majors cooperate in the projects which target a wide range of economic objectives, from supporting growth of low-tech SME’s to developing world-class offerings of advanced products and services. All projects are related to industrial production within specific industrial sectors, with a heavy focus on digitization, digital products, solutions and applications, but often impact a wider range of economic activities, citizens or society as a whole. Most projects target pro-gress in underlying biological, physical, and digital technologies, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology or electric propulsion, and/or the application of IT, OT and IoT technologies in industrial production, i.e. smart manufacturing. The exception is a cross-industry initiative focused on just that topic, dubbed “factory of the future”. This project is considered one of the keys to France’s industrial modernization strategy. This is essential, as the consensus among economists is that the slow growth of the French in-dustry is due to underinvestment in production technologies and facilities, leading to a decline of competitiveness.
Concretely, over 330 sub-projects have been started up as part of the program, involving over 400 companies, with a cumulative projected investment €3.7 billion, including €1.5 billion support from the French state.
I believe it is likely that this program will boost industries providing enabling technologies, as well as increase the competitiveness of existing industries. As the program targets a very wide range of activities, ranging from low to high-tech and from very small to very large, it is capable of impacting the large majority of French companies, and create a substantial economic impact. As associated benefits such as energy and material sustainability, accessibility and affordability of mobility, quality of food and healthcareare part of the managed objectives, it is also realistic that an important part will be reached. Some innovations could potentially be disruptive and significant on a global scale such as the next generation of high-speed trains. France is well on track with this very practical program. Yet France must be careful, just like Germany, to not miss the connection to global iniatives, e.g. in the area of standardisation or miss opportunities for international cooperation, for example in the domain of electrical cars, planes and ships.
In its very specific approach, with quantified objectives to impact economy, jobs and quality if life, the program has many commonalities with the European innovation programs, which has a budget of Euro €80 billion, that France also benefits from. The “Factory-of-the-Future” initiative within that program and the French project of the same name have a perfect fit for synergies, that should be exploited.
All in all, the program has a clear strategy and well defined and managed tactics, that inspire confidence in its realization.
The French case, is quite different. Industrie du Futur has only been treated in a few articles in the press, and has not obtained major attention from providers. However the program is significant in its breadth and depth, targeting disruptive technologies, and very concrete about managed innovation and economic objectives.
The first phase of the program was launched in 2013 by Arnaud Montebourg, then the French minister of reindustrialization. While receiving ample press coverage for his desperate attempts to avoid the closing or relocation of industrial production sites, in the background he launched a program with 34 industry-focused projects. In April 2014, Emmanuel Macron, the current minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs has launched the second phase, positioned as a more focused approach, but in fact is a more readable communication strategy about the initial program. Macron’s nine industrial solutions for priority markets are:
• New resources
• Sustainable cities
• Ecological mobility
• Transportation of the future
• Health of the future
• Digital economy
• Intelligent objects
• Digital trust
• Intelligent food
The Table below provides more specifics on the program. Three projects of the 2013 program have been merged with other national programs: heavy-load drones, e-learning for schools and renewable energies.
Each project in the program has one or more executive-level project managers and sponsors, usually with corporate responsibilities in well-known companies. Carlos Gohn, CEO of Renault, and Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systemes are a few of the more well-known personalities. The project leaders have the responsibility to manage clearly defined innova-tion, as well as social, economic and environmental goals, according to specified roadmaps with milestones until 2020 or 2030. In some cases national or European regulation improvements are also part of the project goals. While this structure creates clarity and accountability, more critical voices fear that the participation of a myriad of industrial, research and economic organizations in the project management, creates a risk of loss of focus and inefficiency due to political and power struggles.
Research institutions, startup’s, SME’s and national majors cooperate in the projects which target a wide range of economic objectives, from supporting growth of low-tech SME’s to developing world-class offerings of advanced products and services. All projects are related to industrial production within specific industrial sectors, with a heavy focus on digitization, digital products, solutions and applications, but often impact a wider range of economic activities, citizens or society as a whole. Most projects target pro-gress in underlying biological, physical, and digital technologies, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology or electric propulsion, and/or the application of IT, OT and IoT technologies in industrial production, i.e. smart manufacturing. The exception is a cross-industry initiative focused on just that topic, dubbed “factory of the future”. This project is considered one of the keys to France’s industrial modernization strategy. This is essential, as the consensus among economists is that the slow growth of the French in-dustry is due to underinvestment in production technologies and facilities, leading to a decline of competitiveness.
Concretely, over 330 sub-projects have been started up as part of the program, involving over 400 companies, with a cumulative projected investment €3.7 billion, including €1.5 billion support from the French state.
I believe it is likely that this program will boost industries providing enabling technologies, as well as increase the competitiveness of existing industries. As the program targets a very wide range of activities, ranging from low to high-tech and from very small to very large, it is capable of impacting the large majority of French companies, and create a substantial economic impact. As associated benefits such as energy and material sustainability, accessibility and affordability of mobility, quality of food and healthcareare part of the managed objectives, it is also realistic that an important part will be reached. Some innovations could potentially be disruptive and significant on a global scale such as the next generation of high-speed trains. France is well on track with this very practical program. Yet France must be careful, just like Germany, to not miss the connection to global iniatives, e.g. in the area of standardisation or miss opportunities for international cooperation, for example in the domain of electrical cars, planes and ships.
In its very specific approach, with quantified objectives to impact economy, jobs and quality if life, the program has many commonalities with the European innovation programs, which has a budget of Euro €80 billion, that France also benefits from. The “Factory-of-the-Future” initiative within that program and the French project of the same name have a perfect fit for synergies, that should be exploited.
All in all, the program has a clear strategy and well defined and managed tactics, that inspire confidence in its realization.
| Industry sector | Targets | Objectives |
| Automotive | small sustainable and affordable car | sustainability (CO2 130->50g/km) and affordability (focus on the small segment) |
| charging infrastructure for electric and hybrid cars | Sustainability, growth of e-car business | |
| charging infrastructure for electric and hybrid cars | Sustainability, growth of e-car business | |
| Battery power and life | increase e- and h-car range, stabilization of electric networks with renewable producers | |
| Autonomous car | safety, reduction of transportation time, improve accessibility | |
| Aerospace | hybrid, electrical aeroplanes | sustainability, mobility |
| electrical propelled satellite | ||
| Rail | Next generation high speed train | flexibility, modularity, sustainability, increased mobility |
| Marine | Hybrid and electrica ships | sustainability:50% environmental footprint reduction |
| Textile | technical and intelligent textiles | connected, for medical treatment, energy harvesting |
| Medical devices | instruments, implants, diagnostics, textiles | Price and quality of healthcare |
| Food and beverage | Innovative packaging, functional foods, sustainable refrigeration | quality, safety, sustainability and competitiveness |
| Wood products | construction materials | produce wood products in France, sustainable construction materials |
| Building and construction | Thermal performance renovation | sustainability |
| Digital / electronics | Big Data | industrial clusters, data infrastructure, digital education |
| Cloud computing | secure cloud, protective regulation, big data | |
| Telecom | industrial clusters, cloud integration, security and control, 5G | |
| Nano electronics | low consumption integrated circuits, vertically integrated with engineering, assembly and production | |
| Connected objects 1 | household and industrial appliances: industrialisation of innovation in startups, shortening of innovation cycles | |
| Connected objects 2 | infrastructure for contactless payment and contactless public transport ticketing | |
| Augmented reality | Smart solutions for aerospace, culture, health and cities | |
| Supercomputing | infrastructure for SaaS, modeling and simulation for health, energy, cities, etc. | |
| Cyber security | Trust in digital economy | |
| Embedded systems | h/w and s/w for household, commercial and industrial ‘objects’ | |
| Electronics / mechanical / digital | Robotics | industrial production, personal assistance, environment, remote/autonomous agents, mobility |
| Smart utilities | Smart electricity distribution | sustainability, economic growth, affordability |
| low footprint waste water treatment, smart water management, water desalination | reduce usage and optimise recycling | |
| Chemicals | green chemicals and biofuels | usage of biofeedstock, biofuels from biomass waste, decreased energy usage |
| Pharmaceuticals | biotechnological products | cell therapy, vaccination (cancer, immunity, heart, retina |
| Health care | e-Health (m-health) | IT supported ‘extended’ hospital, remote health monitoring, coordination of complex treatments |
| Factory of the future | Industrial production | sustainability, human-system integration, flexibility/agility, urban-social integration |