Context and objectives
The energy transition has brought about significant change in energy investment programmes, with diverse energy sources (nuclear, renewable, hydrogen) as well as increasingly complex energy system architectures to accommodate the geographical, environmental, technological and geopolitical constraints of the energy mix to be implemented in the fight against climate change.
Tomorrow’s energy systems will be multi-technology, multi-scale and, in many cases, increasingly distributed.
Faced with this climate emergency, which demands an acceleration in energy transition programmes with ever-increasing performance challenges (costs and commissioning times), engineering, digital and project management services lie at the heart of project performance issues, with the need to carry out more projects using limited resources.
This is the backdrop for our “Imagine the Switch” programme, intended to step up the digital transformation of companies and provide increasingly innovative and competitive solutions.
The programme hinges on the convergence of Complex Systems Science and Data Science, coupled with the development of the Group's business knowledge and the creation of a dynamic innovation ecosystem.
It is structured around the following four guidelines:
- Skills development and talent management
- R&D for the benefit of the energy transition
- International development via innovation
- The development of an innovation ecosystem
Skills development and talent management
Skills development and talent management are carried out via R&D projects intended to acquire new knowledge on tools and technologies in the sphere of the energy transition. Through these R&D projects, our employees are able to sharpen their critical thinking, self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship, all of which represent sources of motivation and attractiveness not only for Assystem, but also for our customers. This new continuous training approach through R&D is vital if we are to provide stimulating career paths for our employees.
To shore up this company spirit, each year we organise an innovation challenge to rouse our employees’ creativity and self-discovery.
The R&D to support the energy transition
Our R&D strategy has a strong focus on developing Engineering, Digital and Project Management services to support the energy transition, which will be broken down into four main parts:
- Nuclear
- Renewable energies, including hydrogen
- Power grids of the future
- Increased engineering platform functionality
Among these projects are the latest generations of nuclear reactors that produce less waste while benefiting from superior safety characteristics (High Temperature Reactors, Molten Salt Reactors) and, following on from ITER, future fusion reactors. System modelling and artificial intelligence will serve to industrialise these projects, capitalise on progress made from one project to the next and, via automation, reduce the number of engineering hours necessary to successfully complete the scheduled undertakings. For renewable energy and power grids, the future R&D projects will focus on the development of system-level digital twins combined with simulation to facilitate the deployment of these technologies and their integration into the energy transmission and distribution network. This will in turn make it possible to meet growing energy needs while guaranteeing a reduction in greenhouse gases.
The international development through innovation
The Group's international development in the UK, India, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan is underpinned by significant investments in innovation to accommodate local specificities, as well as knowledge transfer and skills from one country to another, particularly from France to other countries.
the development of an innovation ecosystem
We develop an innovation ecosystem based on academic partnerships with universities and research centres in France, Uzbekistan, the UK and India, and strategic partnerships with major data platforms (AWS, Azure) and engineering platforms (Aveva, Dassault Systèmes, Oracle,Planisware).
Imagine the Switch is part of an open and collaborative approach with our employees and our partners in industry, academia, incubators, competitiveness clusters, startups, etc. in order to catalyse innovations and anticipate future needs in terms of skills and solutions for our customers.