Faced with a shortage of talent and a lack of young people graduating from scientific training, the Software République, an open innovation ecosystem for intelligent, secure, and sustainable mobility launched by Dassault Systèmes, Eviden, an Atos business, Orange, Renault Group, STMicroelectronics, and Thales, presents for the first time the achievements of its “Talent Academy,” with the goal of enhancing the employability of talent and the competitiveness of companies.
As part of the European Year of Skills 2023, the presentation of this collaborative training ecosystem took place in the presence of Mr. Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs to the Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and Mme Marianne de Brunhoff, Deputy Coordinator of the European Year of Skills, Ministry of Labor, Full Employment, and Inclusion.
Unique in France and Europe, the “Talent Academy” addresses the challenges of training and skills development in the field of digital and engineering sciences, serving young people and employees of companies in the Software République. Its objective is to guide young people, especially young women, towards scientific and technical careers, attract future talent to the Software République ecosystem, and promote the development and upgrading of skills through training and retraining programs.
“This initiative will interest first-year and final-year students specializing in Science of Engineering (SI), as well as high school teachers and CPGE[1] students and their professors. Concepts related to AI and learning are new in SI programs in high school and CPGE, and many colleagues are looking for applications to illustrate their courses,” said Sébastien Gergadier, President of the Union of Teachers of Industrial Science and Techniques (UPSTI).
The achievements of the “Talent Academy” revolve around three programs that mark the significant moments in a professional career: educating, recruiting, and training.
EDUCATE
The “Talent Factory”: This program is dedicated to young people (15-20 years old). It includes:
- 3rd-grade classes’ internships in companies: set up for the 2023-2024 school year, this program is particularly focused on priority neighbourhoods. It is also aimed at young women interested in tech careers (engineers and technicians).
- High school students and students in Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (CPGE). In June 2023, a partnership was signed with the “Union of Teachers of Industrial Science and Techniques – UPSTI,” which brings together 700 teachers in more than 200 public and private high schools. This initiative aims to engage high school students who have chosen the Science of Engineering (SI) specialty, as well as CPGE teachers and their students whose courses are related to future mobility challenges.
RECRUIT
“Talent Incubator”: This program aims to promote the use of apprenticeships as a recruitment lever for candidates with tech skills. The ambition for 2025 is to achieve 20,000 recruitments through all programs. In partnership with the training ecosystems of the members of the Software République and with two schools, École 2600 and EFREI, a community of apprentices was launched in 2022 with two certified training programs in cybersecurity (from Bac+3 to Bac+5). Today, this program has been extended to other schools and other areas, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)/data or software development. It now brings together 600 apprentices (young people between 20 and 25 years old) within the community led by the “Talent Academy.” This program also offers engineering school students the opportunity to work on projects directly related to the industrial challenges of Software République members.
The goal is also to retain apprentices within the Software République through concrete actions:
- Organizing conferences with experts from the Software République on tech topics (cybersecurity, data, etc.).
- Meetings with startups from the Software République’s incubator.
- Visits to industrial sites.
- Sharing immersive experiences (“H1st Vision,” the Software République’s concept car revealed at VivaTech 2023).
TRAIN
“Talent Accelerator“: The goal of this program is to consolidate skill development and retraining courses for employees from the moment they join the founding companies of the Software République. This program is a complementary pillar to the training policies already implemented by each of the groups by sharing their corporate university training programs. Several of these programs have already been shared among its members, such as excellence-certified training in cybersecurity with the Polytechnic Institute of Paris and Orange Cyberdefense, to support skills transformation. The ambition for 2025 is to contribute to the training of around 40,000 Software République employees in tech-related fields.
In support of this program, the Software République participates in events such as the 14th national final of the “Olympiades de Sciences de l’Ingénieur” (Mobility Award for All – June 2023) and the “Viva Technology 2023” event (Mobility Innovation Prize 2023), and organizes numerous testimonials from leaders of major companies or startups, engineers for schools (IPE), and female engineers with the “Elles bougent” association, for example.
Thus, with its innovative approach that facilitates access to knowledge, the Talent Academy is the first collaborative training ecosystem established by large companies, demonstrating the actions they have been able to implement in each of these three programs.
[1] CPGE = Classes Préparatoires aux grandes écoles
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