Its teams competed in the tenders of the RDA

Not a barrier, not one more visible, The new central laboratory that Thales opens today at Palaiseau wants to initiate a more open research of the industrial era. "Our researchers were until then of the science behind concrete walls and barbed wire" fun Dominique Vernay, technical director of the group.

The defence sector ends not digest the revolution of the fall of the Berlin wall. The inauguration of the new Thales research centre is a new illustration. "When Denis Ranque became the CEO of Thales, he gave me carte blanche to reform research obsolete in a group already changing" recalls Dominique Vernay.

Gone are the days where the defence was for teams of scientists self-sustaining and cloistered technological research. Today, most new technologies come from civilian or security-related areas. The next approximation with Alcatel, the activities of the group will even reach parity between civil and military. "We need connect us on work best public research teams, work network," he said.Located in the heart of the Saclay plateau, a novel, and associated concentration of brains at the Ecole polytechnique, Palaiseau laboratory is now a forum for researchers. With a capacity of 500 people, he will host 250 researchers from Thales, but will be especially pass the cadors of the technologies that it will cover.

Dominique Vernay has designed this research model in response to the specificities of the French research: "relations between researchers are here more based on the Exchange on merchant links." "Or to take advantage of this Exchange, our researchers need to be met by their level, participation in scientific conferences, etc.," he says without irony. While it is fashionable now to denounce the specificities of the French researchers, this adaptation of the industrial strategy is an interesting example. "In the US, we would not central laboratory, we would be at the MIT" explicit Dominique Vernay.

Thales has already begun to implement this strategy to insert it into the public network. The group is much involved in research networks on information (RRIT) and the RNRT telecom technologies. He has been very active for the preparation of the 7th FPRD in particular on technology platforms. Its teams competed in the tenders of the RDA. Dominique Vernay also pushed them into poles of competitiveness up to endorse the costume of the Presidency of the Systematic pole itself. This approach ensures the group access to the results of the studies but also upstream on the themes of research.

In 1995, the Group had experienced pioneer for the structure of the joint research unit with a team of physicists of the CNRS. This common adventure continues, but this form of partnership research has not spread. Found too engaging and little flexible, it will work as part of a joint project, the "spin" and the high critical temperature superconducting electronics. It can also be justified to share large scientific tools.

The centre of Palaiseau will be also attended by scientists of the divisions. "The objective of our research is as much to produce results that form high-level engineers." Our 20,000 engineers, 4,000 are the actors of innovation working up programs. Part of the innovation is drawn by applications but other technologies. That is why it is useful that these engineers come attend the best specialists at the central laboratory.