Maritime transport and routes, naval technologies and industries, submarine cables, data centres and yachting: these are the major themes of the blue economy that led the students of the 'Maritime Issues and Strategies' (ESM) major of the IHEDN national session to Marseilles and Toulon for a two-day seminar.
Greeted at potron minet on the morning of Friday 4 February in La Ciotat by LDA TRAVOCEANS by Olivier Le Nagard its director, listeners were immediately plunged into the depths of the ocean where the very high-tech robots designed by this company safely bury power or telecommunications cables whose strategic importance often escapes the uninitiated.
Antoine PersonDeputy Managing Director of Louis-Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) and a former auditor at the session, had travelled to present his successors with the major issues in maritime transport and discuss with them the challenges that France must meet to demonstrate its resilience in the event of a crisis.
Then it was off to Marseille to join Interxiona world leader in data centres, where the auditors were welcomed by its Managing Director for France, Fabrice Coquiowho is also one of their alumni. He plunged them into the world of Big Data, with its unexpectedly high stakes.
Who would have thought that the value of data had just surpassed that of goods? The auditors were impressed by the size and level of security of the installations, by the meteoric growth of this sector and, above all, by the future implications of the digital revolution, the scale of which they had never imagined.   Â
After La Ciotat and Marseille, it was the turn of the town of Ollioules to welcome listeners to the Technopole de la Mer, where they were welcomed by Didier GilavertNaval Group site manager. Once again, they were able to appreciate a field where high technology is king at this European leader in naval defence.
At the presentation of Didier Gilavert was followed byAurore NeuschwanderNaval Group's Director of Strategy, who flew in specially from Paris to meet the listeners.
They realised the extent to which this flagship of French technology belonged to the hard core of the Defence technological and industrial base (BITD).
Naval Group is at the heart of our country's independence and sovereignty, building its nuclear submarines and, more generally, some of the world's most advanced combat vessels.
Then, during a fascinating round-table discussion on innovation in the naval industry, the French naval engineer Jérôme PerrinDirector of Naval Techniques at the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), Nicolas CiaravolaNaval Group's Director of Federative Axes and Experimentation, and Jean-Charles NahonChairman of the Technical Committee of the Groupement des Industries de Constructions et Activités Navales (GICAN), presented the sector's major technological breakthroughs: clean and intelligent ships, cyber security, drones, etc.
The visits that followed were a perfect illustration of the high level of technology that is essential to maintaining the French Navy's warships at the highest level of performance and Naval Group's competitiveness in the export market.
Saturday also got off to an early start at Toulon's town hall, where listeners were welcomed by Yannick Chenevarddeputy mayor and vice-president of the Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée metropolitan area, accompanied by vice-admiral (2s) Charles-Henri GariéDirector of the Campus d'Excellence des Métiers et Qualifications "économie de la mer" at the University of Toulon.
The audience discovered the potential for economic development offered by one of Europe's most beautiful harbours and France's leading region in terms of maritime employment. Above all, they were able to appreciate the impressive support given to the blue water economy by this region and the Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée (TPM) urban community, particularly in the area of human resources to provide the maritime industries with the talent they need.
The theory was quickly put into practice with a trip around the harbour, in glorious sunshine and calm seas, with a stopover at Monaco Marine.
Pierre-François LepoutreThe site manager explained the major issues involved in the maintenance of luxury yachts, a fast-growing sector in which half the world's fleet sails in the Mediterranean. He showed the major investments made by his company in partnership with the Metropolitan Council, as well as the magnificent yachts undergoing refit.
It was then a quick transit to the naval base to attend a fascinating conference on submarine cables given by Cyril DefaisDirector of the Orange Marine site at La Seyne sur Mer.
Listeners are now well aware of the strategic issues at stake, and of the high level of expertise and technical sophistication of the submarine cable industry, the little-known but essential highways that carry more than 99 % of the world's Internet communications.
After a quick lunch at Fort Saint-Louis, a cannon tower built at the end of the seventeenth century, you'll have a chance to see what the city has to offer.e Built in the 19th century on the initiative of Louis XIV to protect the harbour from enemy intrusion, Saturday afternoons were devoted to committee work in the rooms provided by the admiral commanding the naval action force (ALFAN).
Annie Jafalian, head of the IHEDN 'Pedagogy' office, came down to join the auditors and was able to present their work and express her deep satisfaction with the work carried out and its level of progress. Â
